A recent investigation by the Insolvency Service has seen a husband and wife disqualified from being directors for a total of 17 years. The husband and wife team were directors of a company that provided conference and event organisation services across the UK.

The male director had resigned as a director of the company in November 2014 after he was disqualified for 6 years. However, investigators discovered that the banned director had continued running the company behind the scenes in breach of his disqualification and his wife was fully aware of the misconduct. The company was eventually wound up in October 2018.

The disqualification means that the directors cannot be involved, directly or indirectly, in the formation, promotion or management of a company without permission of the court for 11 and 6 years, respectively.

Commenting on the case the Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service said:

'The length of this ban for the director and the disqualification of his wife, demonstrates that we will tackle those who try to get around their bans by appointing their spouse as director, while continuing to run the business themselves behind the scenes.’