Individual Voluntary Arrangement
Formal insolvency agreement in which a debtor repays creditors over a fixed period.
Individual voluntary arrangements in England and Wales rose 8% on a year earlier to 7,039 in August 2026, The Insolvency Service said on 18 September, in a release that put bankruptcies up 14%.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Individual Voluntary Arrangement
Mentioned in: Bankruptcies up 14% in England and Wales
Is Britain Actually Broke?Background
An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is a formal agreement between a debtor and their creditors under Part VIII of the Insolvency Act 1986, which covers England and Wales. The debtor proposes a composition of their debts or a scheme of arrangement of their affairs, supervised by an insolvency practitioner.
Once 75% or more of creditors approve it, the arrangement binds every creditor entitled to vote, as if each were a party to it. The Insolvency Service publishes monthly IVA registrations, and IVAs count towards the individual insolvency rate it reports for England and Wales.
The Insolvency Service recorded 7,039 IVAs in August 2026, 4% fewer than in July but 8% more than in August 2025.
Registrations rose 8% on the year
The Insolvency Service recorded 7,039 IVAs in August 2026, in figures published on 18 September. That was 4% fewer than in July but 8% more than in August 2025.
The same release put bankruptcies up 14% on a year earlier, while the twelve-month individual insolvency rate rose 0.1 to 27.8 for every 10,000 adults in England and Wales. Because that rate counts insolvencies over a rolling twelve months, a run of monthly rises in IVAs feeds into it slowly. Breathing space registrations fell 32% in the same month, a drop The Insolvency Service put down to one provider's tighter criteria.