What does the CAA/ATOL licencing of holiday operators actually do to oversee such situations ? Surely they require operators to provide them with cash flow forecasts for cash in and out looking forward, and then require actual reports to show reality is conforming. If a problem seems to be arising you move on to doing this each week, and ultimately every day, ensuring there is always a buffer of cash available.
It's not rocket science, just straightforwardly what happens elsewhere in the financial world. In this was you can manage things before they get out of control. Isn't that what the whole ATOL scheme was meant to do in the first place ?