Transparency
What this costs, and who pays for it
The first question almost everyone has is one most firms in our sector make you ring up and ask. Here is the answer, in advance.
You need to understand who the money comes from, who approves it and what makes a case more expensive than it needed to be.
As licensed insolvency practitioners we are required by Statement of Insolvency Practice 9 to provide our charge-out rates and expenses policy on request. We would rather simply publish them.
The part people get wrong
In most cases, our fees are paid from the assets of the case
Directors frequently assume they are personally funding an insolvency process. Usually they are not. Where it comes from depends on the process.
- A company insolvency: administration, CVL, compulsory liquidation
- Fees are met from realisations in the insolvency, not by the directors personally. Where there are insufficient assets to cover the cost of a liquidation, the directors may be asked to fund the initial fee so the process can proceed properly. We tell you that at the outset, not once you are committed.
- A solvent closure: MVL
- Fees are paid from company funds before the surplus is distributed to shareholders. Because the company is solvent by definition, the cost is known and agreed up front.
- A CVA or IVA
- There are two elements: a fee for preparing the proposal, and a supervisory fee taken from contributions during the arrangement. Both are disclosed in the proposal document that creditors vote on.
- Advisory work: options reviews, HMRC negotiation, business reviews
- Charged to the client on a time basis or, where the scope allows, for a fixed fee agreed before we start. The first conversation and the options summary that follows are free.
- Litigation support and expert evidence
- Charged on a time basis to the instructing solicitor or their client, against an agreed scope and, where you want one, a capped estimate for each stage.
- Lender instructions: security reviews, IBRs, receiverships
- Advisory work is charged to the instructing lender. In a receivership, fees are met from realisations of the charged asset.
Charge-out rates
Our published rates
Charge-out rates per hour, exclusive of VAT
| Grade | 1 November 2026 to date (current) | 12 November 2024 to 31 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Director | £545 | £495 |
| Associate Director | £490 | £445 |
| Senior Manager | £435 | £395 |
| Manager | £360 | £325 |
| Assistant Manager | £315 | £285 |
| Senior Administrator | £260 | £235 |
| Administrator | £205 | £185 |
| Assistant Administrator | £165 | £150 |
| Case Accountant / Support Staff | £130 | £115 |
Time is recorded in six-minute units at the rate applying when the work is done. Cases we consider complex carry a 25% uplift on these rates, and we explain why when fee approval is sought. Rates are reviewed periodically; material changes during a case are reported to creditors in the normal fee reporting. The time of support staff and executive assistants is not charged to a case except for initial set-up or a sizeable administrative task.
Download our charge-out rates and expenses policy (PDF)
Expenses
Category 1 expenses are payments to independent third parties. They can be paid without prior approval, and are charged as follows:
- Professional advice (solicitors, agents and valuers, pensions and employment specialists), typically on a time-cost or fixed-fee basis, chosen to represent best value.
- Statutory and other advertising, at cost.
- Anti-money laundering identity verification: £12.50 per person, or more where the searches required are complex.
- Indemnity bond, at cost.
- Insurance of assets, at cost.
- Open banking, accounting and data storage costs of external providers, at cost.
- Travel other than mileage, at actual cost.
- Room hire, at actual cost.
- Record listing, storage and retrieval, at actual cost.
- Printing and postage by external providers, at cost.
- Virtual meeting platform, at cost.
Category 2 expenses are mileage at HMRC's approved rate (45p per mile), and any cost shared or allocated across cases. They require the same approval as our remuneration.
Our remuneration and expenses are subject to VAT, except in Individual and Company Voluntary Arrangements, which are VAT exempt.
Information about creditors' rights, including how an office holder's fees may be approved and the challenges available, is published by R3 at r3.org.uk. Hard copies are available free of charge from our registered office.
The same information is available on request by email to info@arafino.com, and we will send it to you the same day.
How the fee is calculated
An office holder's remuneration can be fixed on any of three bases, or a combination of them across different parts of the same case:
- Time properly spent: hours worked by each grade of staff at the published charge-out rate.
- A percentage of the value of assets realised or distributed.
- A fixed amount, agreed in advance.
Whichever applies, the basis has to be approved before it is drawn: normally by creditors or a creditors' committee, by the members in an MVL, or failing that by the court. We cannot simply decide what to charge.
What moves the number
Six things that drive the cost of a case
Some of these are within your control, and the first one especially. Cases where the records are in order cost materially less than cases where they are not.
The state of the books and records
Complete records make everything faster. Incomplete ones mean reconstruction, and reconstruction is the single biggest driver of cost we see.
Number and type of assets
One bank account is straightforward. Multiple properties, retention of title claims, hire purchase agreements and overseas assets are not.
Employees
Redundancy claims, RP14 submissions and TUPE questions all add work, and all have deadlines attached.
Disputes and litigation
Contested claims, whether brought by us or against the estate, are the least predictable element of any case.
Investigation requirements
Every office holder must report on directors’ conduct. Where something needs investigating properly, that takes time.
Creditor engagement
An engaged creditors’ committee usually reduces cost overall, because decisions get made once rather than three times.
Before you commit
What you will have in writing
- The realistic options, with the likely outcome of each.
- What each route costs, and where the money comes from.
- An estimate, and what would change it, so a later increase is never a surprise.
- The timetable, including anything that depends on a court date.
- Who is doing the work, and at what grade.
Free of charge
The first conversation, always
The initial discussion and the written options summary that follows cost nothing and commit you to nothing. A good proportion of them end with us saying that no formal process is needed.
We would rather give away an hour and be the firm you call next time than charge for a conversation that should be free.
Questions about fees
Why do you publish this when nobody else does?
Will the first conversation cost me anything?
Who approves an office holder’s fees?
What are the different bases of fee?
What happens if there are not enough assets to pay your fees?
Do you charge for disbursements and expenses?
Can I get a fixed fee?
Ask us what your situation would cost.
We would rather tell you now than have you find out later. There is no charge for asking.