Underlying company insolvency rate in England & Wales now highest in 8 years...
30 September 2022
The annual rate of company insolvencies in England and Wales is now the highest it has been in eight years, an analysis of the latest IS data by Recovery News shows.
In the 12 months to August, a total of 20,512 insolvencies were registered with the Insolvency Service. This is 16% more than any 12-month period since 2019 and 26% higher than any calendar year between 2014-2018.
The number of company insolvencies reported by the Insolvency Service for August was down 9% from the peak in March 2022. But the data shows the upward trend in the 12 monthly rolling numbers, which started in April 2021, has continued to rise at the same steady pace, and is now 72% higher than a year ago.
The picture for company insolvencies is very different in Scotland and Northern Ireland however.
While Scotland’s numbers almost exactly mirrored those of England and Wales’ during the lockdown periods and for nearly a year thereafter, in May Scotland’s previously rising trend in insolvencies appears to have almost completely flattened off, with only 980 company insolvencies in the 12 months to August, barely more than the 966 registered in the 12 months to May.
In Northern Ireland the upward trend in company insolvencies since April 2021 has been much weaker than the rest of the UK, with the total number in the 12 months to August at 185, which is still 47% lower than the total registered in 2019 of 347.
Meanwhile the trends in personal insolvencies and bankruptcies have been relatively flat in England and Wales in recent months, only rising very gently.
The number of individual voluntary arrangements registered with the Insolvency Service was 85,736 in the 12 months to August, only 4% higher than the same number a year previously in August 2021.
Bankruptcies and DROs in England and Wales have similarly increased only marginally in the last 12 months, with 31,223 registered, compared with 28,168 registered in the 12 months to August 2021, an 11 per cent increase. Nevertheless, the number of bankruptcies and DROs is still 30% lower than just before the first lockdown when 44,485 were registered in the 12 months to February 2021.
