AiB AgentBy email / Our Ref: GP/SEDREV
Your Ref:
Email:
Tel: 0300 200 2743
Date: 5 September 2011
Dear Agent
Important changes from 19 September 2011
Item 1. Changes to Sederunt Book process
Item 2. Key Documents – new process
This letter details changes to the process for submitting Agency case Sederunt Books to the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB), which will come into force from 19 September 2011. I would be grateful if you would take time to read about the changes and bring this letter to the attention of all of your staff who are involved in the Sederunt Book process.
If you have any questions regarding this letter or the changes you are being asked to make, please contact me.
Item 1. The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB), in conjunction with the National Registers of Scotland (NRS), formerly known as the National Archive of Scotland (NAS), have reviewed our processes for receiving and storing Sederunt Books.
In December 2009, NRS informed AiB that they no longer required Sederunt Books from us and will not be retaining any sederunt books that they currently store. Since December 2009, we have been retaining Sederunt Books in our office, or in off-site secure storage.
AiB has reviewed her statutory responsibilities with regards to the retention of the Sederunt Book and it is clear that there is no statutory, or other reason, why AiB is required to keep Sederunt Books beyond six months after her discharge as trustee.
Therefore, it is our intention to destroy all Sederunt Books, six months after we have been discharged as trustee.
We are very conscious of the amount of time, trouble and cost for Agents to compile and submit Sederunt Books to us and for us to process received Sederunt Books.
We still retain a legal responsibility to make Sederunt Books available to be viewed by interested parties during the six month period after our discharge as trustee. However, research by NRS has shown that there have been very few occasions when a sederunt book has been viewed after the trustee has been discharged.
AiB would like Agents to stop submitting Agency case Sederunt Books and final case documents to AiB with effect from 19 September 2011.
.
We would like your support to reduce the amount of documents that you are currently required to send to our office and ask that, with effect from 19 September 2011, you retain your Agency case Sederunt Books and all supporting case files, in hard copy or electronic format, at your premises for a period of six months after AiB has been discharged as trustee and you have been discharged as our Agent. At the end of the six month period, unless otherwise advised by us, all case documents must be destroyed, including the Sederunt Book.
If, within the six month time period, AiB receives a request to view an Agent’s Sederunt Book, or we are required to review any other case document(s), we will request you send these to us, preferably in electronic format.
If you are content to retain your Agency case documents for six months following your discharge as our Agent, the following new process will be introduced from 19 September 2011 for you to obtain their discharge:
- On completion of all case work, you will submit a signed declaration (attached at Annex A) to AiB, confirming the completion of all administration duties and confirming that you have and will retain, all Sederunt Book documents for a six month period.
- AiB will check which documents we retain in our Case Management System and if we are missing any Key Documents (see Item 2 below), you will be asked to submit these to us, preferably in electronic format.
- You will be notified of the date AiB has been discharged as trustee, and the six month document retention period will commence from this date.
- You will retain the Sederunt Book and other case documents, for a period of six months from the date of discharge and then destroy them and notify AiB when the Sederunt Book and documents have been destroyed (see declaration at Annex A). Notes on our destruction policy are at Annex C.
AiB is aware that, on introducing this new process, we are asking you to undertake a duty on our behalf after you have been discharged as our Agent. It is our belief that this new process will create a financial and resource saving for Agents, by removing the need to prepare and submit Sederunt Books to us. Furthermore, with the rapidly reducing number of live Agency cases, this process will only apply to your few remaining Agency cases.
Therefore, it is our wish that this new duty is introduced without the need to amend the terms of the existing Agency Contract. Due to the expected saving to Agents and the minimal expectation that documents will ever be requested from an Agent during the six month period prior to their destruction, AiB does not propose to pay a fee to an Agent if they are required to submit documents or a Sederunt Book to AiB.
I would be grateful if you will confirm if you are agreeable to the introduction of this new Agency case Sederunt Book process and that you can introduce this new process from 19 September 2011?
If you will be unable to retain the Sederunt Book and case documents for six months, or you will be unable to comply with the requirements for destruction of the documents after six months, we will continue to accept Sederunt Books documents from you.
However, to reduce the amount of documents that you are required to submit to us, the following new process will be introduced, to prevent the need for the full Sederunt Book to be sent to us.
- On completion of all case work, you will submit a signed declaration (attached at Annex B) to AiB, confirming the completion of all administration duties and confirming that you are ready to submit the Sederunt Book to AiB.
- AiB will check which Sederunt Book documents we already retain in our Case Management System and if we are missing any documents you will be asked to submit only those missing documents to us, preferably in electronic format.
- When we are content we have copies of all Sederunt Book documents, you will be notified of the date AiB has been discharged as trustee and you are discharged as our Agent and you may then destroy your copy of the Sederunt Book and any other case documents. Notes on our destruction policy are at Annex C.
This new process will be introduced for all Agents who are unable to retain the Agency case Sederunt Books at their premises, with effect from 19 September 2011.
Item 2. There are a number of reasons why, after the Sederunt Book has been destroyed, there may still be the potential for AiB to seek the reopening of a bankruptcy and her reappointment as trustee. This will include when additional assets are brought to our attention after our discharge as trustee, which could be realised for the benefit of creditors.
In order to ensure AIB has sufficient information with which to make an informed decision on whether to seek our reappointment as trustee, we have identified a number of Key Documents that we will retain for each case, for a period beyond the six months, that we believe should provide all the information we require.
I have highlighted these Key Documents, which are all currently held in the Sederunt Book, in the Sederunt Book document list at Annex D to this letter.
To ensure we have the Key Documents in all our closed case files, on receipt of your notification that you wish to seek your discharge as our Agent, and submission of the declaration at Annex A or Annex B to this letter, we will check our case records, and, if we do not have any of the Key Documents, we will ask you to submit these, preferably in electronic format, prior to notifying you of our discharge as trustee.
Key documents will be retained by AiB for all cases where AiB is the appointed trustee, for a minimum period of five years from the date of the debtor’s bankruptcy.
From 19 September 2011, if you are asked to submit documents to AiB and you wish to do send these documents to us in electronic format, we will only be able to accept them in this format if they have been saved to an encrypted memory stick, which we will send to you on request. Please e-mail to : . An encrypted memory stick will then be sent to you with further instructions.
Our IT and Data Protection Officers have assured us that this is an appropriate means to transfer electronic data, to ensure compliance with Data Protection and IT security requirements.
All paper documents which are forwarded to AiB must be submitted via Legal Post or other secure mail service, such as, in person or by an approved courier, or by Recorded Delivery.
I trust that the above changes in process will meet with your approval, as it is expected this will save Agents and AiB a considerable amount of cost, time and trouble in compiling and submitting Sederunt Books and other documents, when history has shown that there have been very few occasions when these documents have ever been required, post discharge of trustee.
If you have any questions regarding these changes and what you have been asked to notify us about, please contact me by 9 September 2011
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
Graeme Perry
Case Operations Branch Manager
13
An agency of
Annex A
APPENDIX D1(A)
To: The Accountant in Bankruptcy
Case Reference Number: ______
Debtor’s Name: ______
I now apply for an Agent Contract termination letter and confirm that
· all appropriate assets have been realised
· the debtor and creditors have been circularised
· there are no other outstanding administrative matters
· all required documents are retained in the Sederunt Book
· the Sederunt Book will be retained for 6 months after the Trustee’s discharge date
· upon expiry of the 6 month period all case documents will be destroyed in accordance with Scottish Government destruction procedures and I will notify the Accountant in Bankruptcy.
· The 8 week period after the end of the final accounting period ends on:
pp ______
Agent
13
An agency of
Annex A
APPENDIX D1(B)
To: The Accountant in Bankruptcy
Please be advised that the following Sederunt Books and supporting documents have been destroyed:
Case Name / Case Reference / Date of destructionpp ______
Agent
13
An agency of
Annex B
APPENDIX D2
To: The Accountant in Bankruptcy
Case Reference Number: ______
Debtor’s Name: ______
I now apply for an Agent Contract termination letter and confirm that
· all assets have been realised
· the debtor and creditors have been circularised
· there are no other outstanding administrative matters
· all required Sederunt Book documents are retained
· upon expiry of the 6 month period following discharge of AiB as trustee, I will destroy all case documents in accordance with Scottish Government destruction procedures.
pp ______
Agent
13
An agency of
Annex C
Destruction of Sederunt Book Documents
Paper documents that do not have a protective marking level, or are marked “PROTECT” or “RESTRICTED” must be destroyed on any paper shredder.
If you have any documents which have been marked by The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) as “CONFIDENTIAL” these should be returned to AiB for destruction.
All paper documents which are forwarded to AiB, must be submitted via Legal Post or other secure mail service such as an approved courier or Recorded Delivery.
Documents may be transferred to AiB in electronic format if submitted on an AiB approved encrypted Memory Stick, which will be sent out on request.
13
An agency of
Annex D
Agency contract cases - proposed change to Sederunt Book process.
Sederunt Book content
(Key Documents)
Documents that must be included in the Sederunt Book, if brought into existence during the administration of the sequestration.
Sederunt Book entries must not contain information that is deemed to be confidential or would not be released under the terms of the Data Protection Act - such documents/information should be excluded from the Sederunt Book or have personal information redacted prior to inclusion.
1. PETITION/APPLICATION FOR SEQUESTRATION, to include:
Supplementary documents/Forms accompanying
petition/Application
2. WARRANT TO CITE
3. AWARD, to include:
Notice of appointment of trustee/Agent
4. LIST OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
5. EDINBURGH GAZETTE NOTICES/PRINT FROM ROI
6. STATEMENT OF AFFAIRS
7. CIRCULAR TO CREDITORS ADVISING OF STATUTORY
MEETING
8. CIRCULAR TO CREDITORS ENCLOSING FINAL STATEMENT
OF AFFAIRS
9. MINUTE OF STATUTORY MEETING, to include:
Mandate(s) from creditor(s) presented at Statutory meeting
10. MINUTES OF MEETING(S) OF COMMISSIONERS
11. ACT & WARRANT
12. SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONNAIRE
13. INVENTORY & VALUATION
14. ADJUDICATED LIST OF CREDITORS’ CLAIMS, to include: