ABSTRACT
A major difficulty faced by the law is the balancing of the legitimate interests of those involved in an insolvent business. It has to be decided how the inevitable losses should be shared between the providers of capital, trade creditors, workforce and customers and, in particular, what emphasis should be placed on the preservation of jobs. The question of priority of claims against a business which is being liquidated is considered in Chapter 34. Where the insolvency practitioner is attempting to rescue a business, two specific questions may arise; firstly, the extent to which continuing to employ the workforce during an insolvency gives rise to liability and, secondly, the extent to which the rights of the workforce reduce the value to a purchaser of the business as a going concern. The first question is dealt with by the insolvency legislation, but the provisions relating to the second, although clearly affecting distributional rights within an insolvency, are to be found within the ambit of employment law.
