Monthly insolvency statistics – July 2025

Corporate Insolvencies

England and Wales

The cumulative total appointments for the year to July 2025 is 5 more than the same period in 2024 at 14,449.

After a 6-month trend of falling appointments in comparison to the same months in 2024, July 2025 has 3 more appointments that in 2024 at 2,081. 

Creditors Voluntary Liquidations (“CVLs”) which totalled 1,583 were 2% lower than July 2024.

Compulsory Liquidations (“WUCs”) totalled 339 and were 11% higher than July 2024.

There were 147 Administration appointments, 5% higher than July 2024. 

Finally, there were only 12 CVAs in July 2025, 52% lower than July 2024. 

Scotland

In July 2025, there were 116 company insolvencies registered in Scotland, slightly lower than the number in July 2024. The total number of company insolvencies was comprised of 68 CVLs, 43 compulsory liquidations, four administrations and one CVA. There were no receivership appointments.

Northern Ireland

In July 2025 there were 14 company insolvencies registered in Northern Ireland, 30% lower than in July 2024. The total number of company insolvencies was comprised of one compulsory liquidation, 10 CVLs and three CVAs. There were no administrations or receivership appointments.

Personal Insolvencies

England and Wales

There were 10,515 individual insolvencies in July 2025, with very similar figures in the previous months. There appears to be very little monthly movement in the numbers for each procedure at present, which might indicate that those procedures are becoming more appropriate in addressing the various needs of indebted individuals.

The number of Debt Relief Orders (DRO’s) was less than the numbers seen last month (4,116) and the record high seen in July 2024 (4,168) with 4,001 applications in July.

Figures produced by the Insolvency Service recently revealed that 429 DRO applications had been refused or revoked between April 2024 and March 2025. This gives creditors some reassurance that the process is being properly monitored.

With DRO’s now increasingly being the debt solution of choice for many, bankruptcy numbers have decreased, with the total number of bankruptcies in July (599), being significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.

In July there were 146 creditor petitions, similar to 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 453 in July.

The number of Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) registered in July was 5,915, a 6% increase on last month.

A revised IVA protocol came into effect on 1 July 2025 which aims to bring further clarity and certainty for both consumers and creditors. However, it remains to be seen how these changes will affect future IVA numbers.

There were 8,400 Breathing Space (BS) registrations in July. Standard BS registrations stood at 8,286 and there were 114 Mental Health BS registrations. This trend continues to represent a 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 could 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 Q2 2025 covers the period 1 April to 30 June 2025. In Q2 2025, there were 1,935 individual insolvencies in Scotland, which was 6% lower than in the same quarter of 2024.

The individual insolvencies were comprised of 1,196 protected trust deeds and 739 bankruptcies (also known as sequestrations), of which 400 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 July 2025, there were 153 individual insolvencies in Northern Ireland. This was 1% higher than in July 2024. There were 114 IVAs, 9 bankruptcies and 30 DROs.