Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)

Helping insolvent companies and their creditors reach an agreement


Company Voluntary Arrangement (also known as CVA) is a legally binding restructuring procedure by which an insolvent company reaches an agreement with its creditors to repay its debts – in full or in part – at an arranged amount over an agreed period of time.

Under normal conditions, creditors receive between 25 per cent and 100 per cent of the debt owed to them, depending on what the company can afford to repay, over a set period (typically five years).


How it works


The CVA must be administered by a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner, who will examine the company’s history, reasons for failure and financial circumstances before submitting a plan to all creditors outlining assets and liabilities, offers for settlement of debts, and the proposed duration of the CVA.

Three quarters of the commercial creditors must agree to accept the terms of the CVA proposal, after which the arrangement becomes binding on all creditors. The company then makes repayment on the agreed term (usually monthly or quarterly) directly to the insolvency practitioner who then distributes the payments to the creditors on a periodical basis.

Whilst bound by the terms of a CVA, creditors may not start or pursue legal action against the company in respect of pre-CVA debts — this can be of enormous benefit to the insolvent business as it allows continued and uninterrupted trading free of the historic debts.

Once the arrangement has been successfully implemented, the company exits the CVA and continues to trade as normal.

Need our help?


Do you need help with any aspect of a Company Voluntary Arrangement? – Speak to one of our directors today.

What our clients think


“I have had the pleasure of working with Paul, his partners and their team for almost 20 years. They are friendly, knowledgeable, pro-active and thoroughly professional in all of their dealings and they are, without hesitation, our first choice when our clients or contacts are in need of corporate recovery advice. They have a huge amount of experience and are always available and able to provide clear advice and practical solutions for our clients at what can be a very stressful time. They are well known and very well respected within the Thames Valley business community for good reason and all of our clients who have worked with them have had nothing but praise for the advice and help that they had received.”

Barry Niven (Partner), Clifton Ingram LLP