Moratorium Chapter 2: sets out how an eligible company may obtain a moratorium
The directors of a company may obtain a moratorium by filing the relevant documents at court. If there is an outstanding winding-up petition against the company, or an overseas company is seeking to use these moratorium provisions, then the directors must apply to the court so that the court can determine whether it is appropriate to allow a moratorium (for a temporary period by operation of Schedule 4, a company (other than an overseas company) with an outstanding winding-up petition will be able to obtain a moratorium by filing at court, to account for the COVID-19 pandemic).
	An overseas company will only be eligible for a moratorium if it is one which could be wound up under Part 5 of the Insolvency Act 1986; it is anticipated that the courts will exercise the same discretion when considering such an application as they would when considering the winding up of an overseas company. Even during COVID-19 an overseas company will need to apply to court for a moratorium, to ensure that it is within the jurisdiction of the UK courts before receiving the protection of a moratorium.
	The documents that must be filed are notices and statements confirming that: the directors wish to obtain a moratorium; the proposed monitor is qualified and consents to act in relation to the proposed moratorium; the company is eligible; in the opinion of the directors, the company is, or is likely to become, unable to pay its debts; and, in the proposed monitor’s view, it is likely that a moratorium would result in the rescue of the company as a going concern (although this requirement will be modified by Schedule 4 for a specified period to account for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic). Rescue may be achieved by, for example, a company voluntary arrangement, a restructuring plan or simply a refinance. The notice does not need to specify via which route ‘rescue as a going concer n ’ is to be achieved .
	Where it is proposed that more than one person should act as the monitor, each of them must make the necessary statements and their statement of consent to act must include details of which functions are to be carried out by which monitor; or whether they are to be carried out jointly. The list of documents that must be filed may be added to by secondary legislation.
	A moratorium for a company comes into force on the date and time at which either the relevant documents are filed at court or, if the directors have applied to the court, at such time as the court makes the order. When the moratorium comes into force, the proposed monitor becomes the monitor in relation to the moratorium.
	The monitor must notify the registrar of companies and all the company’s creditors, of which the monitor is aware, as soon as reasonably practicable that the moratorium is in force and when it will end. In addition, where the company to which the moratorium relates is or has been an employer in respect of an occupational pension scheme that is not a money purchase scheme, any notice required to be sent to creditors of the company must also be sent to the Pensions Regulator. Where the company is an employer in respect of a pension scheme eligible under section 126 of the Pensions Act 2004, any notice must be sent to the Board of the Pension Protection Fund.