16 Nov 2015 / Back to latest updates

Insolvency Statistics – July to September 2015

The Debt Collection Centre (#tdcc) comments that it is good to see both company and personal insolvency continues to decline as per the statistics release from the Insolvency Service.

• The number of company insolvencies in England and Wales continued to decrease.
• This decrease was mainly driven by a decrease in compulsory liquidations, which fell to the lowest level since Q3 1989.
• The total number of people who became insolvent in England and Wales decreased compared with the same quarter in 2014, but increased compared with the previous quarter.
• This quarterly increase was driven by a rise in individual voluntary arrangements, the first such increase since Q2 2014.
• The number of bankruptcies and debt relief orders continued to decline.

Key findings for Q3 2015

• Company insolvencies continued to decrease – An estimated total of 3,539 companies entered insolvency in Q3 2015, which was 4.4% less than Q2 2015 and 10.2% lower than Q3 2014.
• Compulsory liquidations decreased to their lowest level since Q3 1989 – A total of 612 companies were subject to a compulsory winding-up order in Q3 2015, a 20.4% decrease on the previous quarter and 29.2% lower than Q3 2014. This was the main driver of the decrease in total company insolvencies.
• Creditors’ voluntary liquidations have been decreasing since Q2 2013 – An estimated 2,451 companies entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation in Q3 2015, a 0.7% decrease on the previous quarter and 4.3% lower compared to the same period in 2014.
• Administrations and CVAs decreased on the year. – There were an estimated 363 administrations in Q3 2015, a decrease of 2.4% compared to the previous quarter and 5.5% lower than the same quarter last year. There were an estimated 111 CVAs in Q3 2015, an increase of 32.1% on the previous quarter and 14.6% lower than Q3 2014. There was an estimated one administrative receivership.
• The liquidation rate was at its lowest level since comparable records began – The estimated liquidation rate in the 12 months ending Q3 2015 was 0.46% of active companies, the lowest level since comparable records began in Q4 1984.

Individual insolvency in England and Wales

Individual insolvencies increased for the first time since Q2 2014 – There were a total of 19,683 individual insolvencies in Q3 2015, 2.8% higher than Q2 2015 but a decrease of 18.5% compared to Q3 2014.

This was driven by an increase in individual voluntary arrangements – There were 10,197 IVAs in Q3 2015, which was a 9.3% increase compared to Q2 2015 but 17.9% lower than Q3 2014.

The number of bankruptcies was at the lowest level since Q4 1990 – There were a total of 3,857 bankruptcy orders in Q3 2015, 3.3% lower than Q2 2015 and 21.4% lower than Q3 2014. The number of bankruptcy orders has been on a decreasing trend since 2009. However, the introduction of debt relief orders (DROs) in 2009 is likely to have affected the number of bankruptcies.

The number of DROs was at the lowest level since Q4 2009 – There were 5,629 DROs in Q3 2015, which was a 3.5% decrease compared to Q2 2015 and 17.3% lower compared to the same period in 2014.

The rate of insolvency decreased – In the 12 months ending Q3 2015, 1 in 550 adults (0.18% of the adult population) became insolvent. This was the lowest rate since the 12 months ending Q4 2005.

Company insolvency in England and Wales

In the third quarter of 2015, there were an estimated 3,063 company liquidations – a 5.4% decrease on the previous quarter and 10.6% less than in Q3 2014.

There were an estimated 2,451 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs) in Q3 2015, a decrease of 0.7% on the last quarter, 4.3% lower than the same period a year ago and the lowest since Q2 2008.

In July to September 2015 there were 612 compulsory liquidations, a decrease of 20.4% on the previous quarter, and down 29.2% compared with the same quarter in 2014. The number of compulsory liquidations was at the lowest quarterly level since Q3 1989.

In the third quarter of 2015, an estimated 157 companies entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation following administration, a decrease of 28% on the same quarter of 2014.