A Critical Review of UK Special Administrations and their Alternatives for Struggling Providers of Public Functions

The marketisation of public service provision in the UK has created new risks where the insolvency of private providers of public functions may threaten essential functions and public welfare. This article examines how the current English insolvency framework addresses such public-interest insolvencies. We argue that traditional tools—administration, liquidation, and restructuring plans—remain fundamentally creditor-oriented and ill-suited to safeguarding continuity of critical services. Special Administration Regimes (SARs) were introduced to fill this gap, but their sector-specific, path-dependent development has produced fragmentation, outdated provisions, and significant blind spots. After analysing recent cases, including Bulb and Thames Water, we argue that piecemeal statutory amendments would perpetuate these flaws and that the more principled and effective solution is a unified SAR with built-in funding, indemnities, and flexibility to adapt to future challenges.