Accredited official statistics

Insolvency Statistics, October to December 2018

Statistics on new corporate and individual insolvencies in England and Wales, and related statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Documents

Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 release

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Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 tables

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Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 industry breakdown

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Insolvency Statistics 2018 annual company insolvency infographic

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Insolvency Statistics 2018 annual individual insolvency infographic

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Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 company insolvency infographic

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Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 individual insolvency infographic

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Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 data (CSV format)

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Insolvency Statistics October to December 2018 pre-release access list

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Details

This statistics release contains the latest data on company insolvency (companies which are unable to pay debts and enter liquidation, or enter administration or other company rescue process) and individual insolvency (people who are unable to pay debts and enter formal procedures).

Statistics are presented separately for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland because of differences in legislation and policy.

Main messages

Insolvencies in 2018

  • The underlying number of company insolvencies increased in 2018 to 16,090, the highest level since 2014
  • All types of company insolvency increased in 2018 compared with 2017 except administrative receivership

  • Total insolvencies increased for the third consecutive year to 115,229, the highest since 2011
  • This was primarily driven by increases in individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) which reached their highest annual total on record

Insolvencies in Q4 2018

  • The underlying number of company insolvencies decreased in Q4 2018 on the previous quarter but is higher the same quarter in 2017.
  • Total individual insolvencies rose in Q4 2018 to the highest level since Q2 2010
  • This was driven by a record number of individual voluntary arrangements being registered in Q2 2018

Updates to this page

Published 29 January 2019
Last updated 13 January 2020 + show all updates
  1. Minor punctuation change to title for consistency

  2. A mistake in the commentary main messages was discovered. Total insolvencies were reported to be 115,229 when this should have been 115,299. The tables and the rest of the commentary are correct and unaffected.

  3. First published.

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