An Insolvency Practitioner, often shortened to IP, is the licensed professional who sets up and runs a formal insolvency solution such as an IVA. They are the only people legally allowed to propose and manage an IVA, and they owe duties to you and to your creditors.
An Insolvency Practitioner is an authorised, regulated professional, usually an accountant or solicitor, who is licensed to act in formal insolvency procedures. For an IVA, the IP assesses whether the arrangement is realistic, draws up the proposal, puts it to your creditors, and then administers it for its full term.
Importantly, an IP is not acting for you alone or for your creditors alone. They have a legal duty to act fairly and properly toward everyone involved, and that independence is part of what gives an IVA its formal, binding status.
An IVA is supervised by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner, the same regulated professional described above. Once your proposal is approved by your creditors, the IP is formally known as your supervisor, and they run the arrangement from approval right through to completion.
You may also come across the term nominee. That is the role the same practitioner plays before approval, when they assess your finances, draft your proposal and put it to your creditors. After the creditors vote it through, the nominee becomes the supervisor, usually the same person throughout, with the change of title simply reflecting the stage of the process.
In an IVA the practitioner reviews your income, spending, debts and assets, works out an affordable monthly payment, and prepares a formal proposal. They put it to a creditors' vote, and if creditors holding at least 75% by value of those who vote agree, the IVA is approved and becomes binding on all included creditors.
From then on, the IP collects your payments, carries out the annual reviews, distributes the money to your creditors, and issues your completion certificate at the end. If payments are missed, it is also the IP who decides whether the IVA can continue or has failed.
Only a licensed IP can propose an IVA, so it is worth checking. Each practitioner is authorised by a recognised professional body and overseen by the Insolvency Service. You can ask for their licence details and confirm them with their regulator before you commit.
Be cautious of firms that advertise as ‘debt advisers’ but are not themselves IPs and simply pass you to one. The firm that first advises you may be separate from the practitioner, so make sure you understand who is regulated, who is paid, and how, and that you have been told about free advice and any cheaper alternatives such as a DRO or a Debt Management Plan.
An advisor can explain how an IVA would work for you and introduce a licensed practitioner if it looks right.
You never have to pay anyone to understand your options. These services are free, independent and will go through every route with you.