Monthly insolvency statistics – February 2025

Corporate Insolvencies

England and Wales

In February 2025 company insolvencies totalled 2,035.  This was 7% lower than February 2024.

This follows a similar trend to the second half of 2024 with lower total insolvency appointments when compared with the previous year. 

Total insolvencies appear to be lower over the last 6 months when compared to the comparative months in the prior year.  Stresses within the economy such as the changes to National Insurance and increase in National Minimum Wage occupy the minds of businesses, however, there appears to be no spike in appointments prior to those changes.

Compulsory liquidations are bucking this trend.

Creditors Voluntary Liquidations (“CVLs”) totalled 1,520 and were 13% lower than February 2024.  CVLs continue to be the most utilised process, being 75% of all insolvency procedures in the month.

Compulsory Liquidations (“WUCs”) saw a significant spike with 393 orders,49% higher than in February 2024.

Administrations totalled 115, 13% lower than February 2024 but similar to January 2025 levels.  

There were seven CVAs which is 42% lower than February 2024. 

Scotland

In February 2025 there were 103 company insolvencies registered in Scotland, 10% higher than February 2024. 38 compulsory liquidations, 60 CVLs and 5 administrations. There were no receivership or CVA appointments.

 Northern Ireland

In February 2024 there were 21 company insolvencies registered in Northern Ireland, 19% lower than February 2024. This is comprised of 8 CVLs, 9 compulsory liquidations, 2 CVAs and 2 Administrations. There were no receiverships.

Personal Insolvencies

England and Wales

There were 10,147 individual insolvencies in February 2025, which was 5% lower than February 2024 and 4% higher than the numbers seen last month (9,752).

The number of Debt Relief Orders (DRO’s) was very similar to the numbers seen last month (3,847), although significantly lower than the record high seen in June 2024 (4,353) with 3,865 applications in February.

With DRO’s now increasingly being the debt solution of choice for many, bankruptcy numbers have decreased, with the total number of bankruptcies in February (600), being lower than the 2024 monthly average (634), and still significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.

However, in February there were 159 creditor petitions, showing an increase on the 2024 monthly average of 153, with HMRC leading the push on filing petitions.

Debtors’ applications are being replaced by DRO applications by many of those with liabilities up to £50,000, with debtors’ bankruptcy applications dropping to 441 in February, compared to 542 in the same month last year.

Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) numbers over the past year have been significantly lower than during 2022. The number of IVA’s registered in February (5,682) was 21% lower than the same month last year (7,167) but slightly higher than the numbers seen last month (5,284).

There were 7,889 Breathing Space (BS) registrations in February, a slight decrease from registrations last month (8,240). Standard BS registrations stood at 7,775 and there were 114 Mental Health BS registrations.

The numbers indicate a slight pause in the steady increase in BS applications since their introduction, although, this procedure is merely a pause in the process and the individuals concerned will still have to deal with their indebtedness.

The numbers suggest that those exiting a BS application are being sign-posted to a DRO as their chosen exit route once the BS period had expired.

Plans to modernise the current Personal Insolvency framework could result in a single gateway to enable people to access independent, regulated debt advice, via a digital platform, or dovetailed with the current BS scheme, which may see the removal of previous barriers into appropriate and regulated insolvency procedures.

Scotland

The Accountant in Bankruptcy produces individual insolvency statistics on a quarterly basis. Therefore, the numbers in this section are only updated once every 3 months.

The quarters referred to are calendar year quarters, such that Q4 2024 covers the period 01 October to 31 December 2024. In Q4 2024, there were 1,784 individual insolvencies in Scotland, which was lower than in the same quarter of 2023.

The individual insolvencies were comprised of 1,167 protected trust deeds and 617 bankruptcies (also known as sequestrations), of which 342 went into bankruptcy via the minimal asset process route. The rules regarding bankruptcy differ to those in England and Wales, so numbers of bankruptcies are not directly comparable.

 Northern Ireland

In February 2025, there were 126 individual insolvencies in Northern Ireland. This was 3% higher than in February 2024. There were 83 IVAs, 21 bankruptcies and 22 DROs.