The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 54:

"54A.

(1) Subject to any regulations made under subsection (4), nothing in this Act shall be taken to prevent any person (not being a personal insolvency practitioner)-

(a) employed by a personal insolvency practitioner or by a partnership in which a personal insolvency practitioner is a partner, or

(b) having a common employer with a personal insolvency practitioner,

from performing, when requested to do so by the personal insolvency practitioner (in this subsection referred to as the 'requesting personal insolvency practitioner') and under the requesting personal insolvency practitioner's direction and control, any function (or any act in relation to such function) that is authorised or required by or under this Act to be performed by the requesting personal insolvency practitioner.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall be taken to prevent a personal insolvency practitioner-

(a) in a partnership in which another personal insolvency practitioner is also a partner,

(b) employed by another personal insolvency practitioner or by a partnership in which another personal insolvency practitioner is a partner, or

(c) having a common employer with another personal insolvency practitioner,