Insolvency Service
The UK Government agency administering insolvency law and statistics.
The Insolvency Service said on 18 September 2026 that bankruptcies in England and Wales rose 14% on a year earlier, with the individual insolvency rate at 27.8 per 10,000 adults in the year to August.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Personal insolvencies are rising while company failures fall, so who is actually under strain?
Timeline for Insolvency Service
Reported the individual insolvency rate at 28.0 per 10,000 adults
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Individual insolvency rate rises to 28.0Reported the company insolvency rate at 49.9 per 10,000
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Company insolvency rate falls below 50Mentioned in: Cambium Networks Ltd entered administration on 14 September
UK Startups and InnovationReported the individual insolvency rate at 27.8 per 10,000 adults
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Bankruptcies up 14% in England and WalesReported the company insolvency rate falling to 50.3 per 10,000
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Company failures ease to one in 199Background
The Insolvency Service is the UK Government agency that administers insolvency law and publishes the official statistics on individual and company insolvency. Its Headline measures are rates: individual insolvencies per 10,000 adults and company insolvencies per 10,000 companies, which allow comparison across years of changing population and business counts.
In the twelve months to 30 June 2026 it recorded an individual insolvency rate of 27.1 per 10,000 adults, up from 24.2 a year earlier, or about one adult in 369. Over the same period the company insolvency rate fell to 50.5 per 10,000 companies, down from 52.4 and well below the 2008-09 recession peak of 113.1.
Its figures record distress at the formal end of the process, after arrears and debt advice have run their course. That makes them slower than lenders' arrears data but harder to dispute, and the split between rising personal and falling corporate insolvency is the clearest official sign of where financial pressure in Britain sits.
Individual insolvency keeps climbing
The Insolvency Service's individual insolvency rate for England and Wales reached 27.8 per 10,000 adults in the year to 31 July 2026, up from 24.3 a year earlier. Its 18 September release held the rate at 27.8 for the year to August and revised July to 27.7. Bankruptcies rose 14% and individual voluntary arrangements 8% on a year earlier, on a like-for-like reading that sets aside two moves with stated causes. One cause cited was a money advice body tightening its Breathing Space criteria in November 2025.
Company insolvency moved the other way. The August release put the company rate at 50.3 per 10,000 companies in the year to July, down from 52.5 and under half the 113.1 peak of the 2008-09 recession. The service's own figures show households under more strain than firms.
Are personal insolvencies rising in the UK?
Are UK company insolvencies rising or falling?
What does the Insolvency Service do?
How does today's insolvency rate compare with 2008?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 7 October 2026. Editorial standards.