Corporate report

Summary of user engagement feedback 2023

Updated 16 May 2023

Summary

To understand the needs of users of the Insolvency Service Official Statistics and in line with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, the Insolvency Service conducted a user engagement exercise between December 2022 and January 2023 which comprised an online survey, as well as an option for a follow-up discussion. This survey was advertised on gov.uk alongside all Insolvency Service Official Statistics that were published during the time of the survey. We are grateful to those who took the time to respond.

The feedback on the content, presentation and publication of Insolvency Service Official Statistics was on the whole very positive. Some users have identified some additional requirements, which are discussed in this document.

Alongside this response, we have published a consultation open until Friday 30 June 2023, including proposals to:

• Discontinue the monthly and annual Insolvency Service Enforcement Outcomes Official Statistics, instead publishing key enforcement outcomes metrics as management information
• Increase the frequency and scope of Official Statistics relating to individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and debt relief orders (DROs)

• Merge the monthly and quarterly insolvency statistics, while retaining the breadth of information currently provided.

• See Table 1 below for responses to the requests made by users.

Background

The Insolvency Service currently produces 6 regular Official Statistics publications:

• Quarterly Company Insolvency Statistics, a quarterly release that contains statistics relating to company insolvencies in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland;
• Quarterly Individual Insolvency Statistics, a quarterly release that contains statistics relating to individual insolvencies in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland;
• Monthly Insolvency Statistics: a monthly release with numbers of company and individual insolvencies in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
• Individual Insolvency Statistics by Location, Age and Gender, an annual release that provides a breakdown of individual insolvencies in England and Wales by region, local authority ward and parliamentary constituency;
• Individual Voluntary Arrangements Providers and Outcomes, an annual release that provides termination and completion rates for individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs); and
• Insolvency Service Enforcement Outcomes, an annual release along with tables updated monthly, providing information on: disqualifications of company directors (where the Insolvency Service played a significant role in the disqualification); companies wound up in the public interest; bankruptcy restrictions orders; and criminal prosecution outcomes.

Fifteen individuals responded to the survey, either on their own behalf or on the behalf of their organisation.

Survey Results and response

The respondents are not a representative sample of Insolvency Service Official Statistics users, but instead are those who chose to respond to the survey. Results below should not be understood as reflective of the entire user population.

• Respondents were interested in all insolvency types, with Administrations, Company Voluntary Arrangements or Receivership Appointments and Compulsory liquidations being the most selected types of company insolvencies. For individuals, Bankruptcies (Low-income low asset/minimal asset process) or Protected trust deeds (Scotland) and Bankruptcies were the most commonly chosen.

• Users ranked charts and data tables as the most preferable way to access insolvency statistics ahead of commentary, record-level data and interactive dashboards.

• Respondents most often indicated that they used the statistics to keep up to date with the latest trends. The next most popular uses were business intelligence and economic analysis.

• There were mixed responses from respondents as to whether they valued completeness or timeliness more.

• The publication that the most respondents use is the monthly insolvency statistics publication. This is consistent with web usage metrics.

• Users primarily access the statistics via a desktop or laptop however some respondents use a phone or a tablet.

• Further needs were suggested by users and the responses are in the table below.

Table 1: Additional needs identified by users of Insolvency Service Official Statistics

User need	Our response
Insolvencies by location (Quarterly Company Insolvency Statistics)	In many cases the address held by the Insolvency Service for company insolvency is the address of the Insolvency Practitioner responsible for the case, rather than the trading location while the company was active. Therefore, we are unable to publish accurate information on company insolvencies by location.
Insolvency rates by sector (Quarterly Company Insolvency Statistics)	We will explore whether we can use information held by Companies House on the total number of companies in each industry to produce rates of insolvency by sector.
More regular updates on IVA termination rates (Quarterly Individual Insolvency Statistics)	As part of the consultation opened at the same time as the publication of this document, we have set out a proposal for increasing the frequency and scope of statistics relating to IVA outcomes and providers.
Demographic information (Quarterly Individual Insolvency Statistics)	The Insolvency Service holds limited demographic information relating to individuals entering insolvency. There are currently no plans to publish this information more frequently than the current annual Individual Insolvencies by Location, Age and Gender publication.
Other debt information – total debt amounts and income of debtor (Quarterly Individual Insolvency Statistics)	This information is not held by the Insolvency Service for IVAs, which make up the majority of individual insolvencies. The information held about debts for bankruptcies is not considered suitable for use in Official Statistics. Debt and income information for DROs has been used in Official Statistics to show trends following change in eligibility criteria, but there are currently no plans to publish this on a regular basis.
Amount paid in IPOs/IPAs (Quarterly Individual Insolvency Statistics)	Some information has been released in response to Freedom of Information requests, such as FOI21/22-058 - The numbers of IPOs and IPAs started since 2011/12, and the total financial amounts collected through them - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). There are currently no plans to publish this information as Official Statistics.
Regional breakdowns (Monthly Insolvency statistics)	Company Insolvencies by region can not accurately be calculated for the reasons stated above. For individual insolvencies, the Individual Insolvencies by Location, Age and Gender, England and Wales publication will continue to be published annually.
Interactive dashboard (Monthly Insolvency Statistics)	Due to technical issues we are currently unable to publish interactive dashboards. However, we recognise the value in doing so. We will resume publishing the Individual Insolvencies by Location, Age and Gender dashboard once these issues are resolved and will then consider whether further insolvency statistics should be included in a dashboard.
IVA termination rates by provider	We are working to overcome difficulties in accurately attributing cases to providers when IVAs transferring from one provider to. Once these are resolved, we propose to publish this information on a quarterly basis.
Machine readable tables – issues with notes within tables	A new method of indicating revisions, using notes in a column at the end of the table, was trialled in the Individual insolvencies by Location, Age and Gender 2022 publication. We propose to implement this for all Insolvency Service Official Statistics publications. This change will improve the readability of the tables.