1,882 companies in England and Wales entered insolvency in September 2026, down 5% on 1,973 a year earlier. Over the last 12 months, 49.9 in every 10,000 companies became insolvent.
Insolvency Service data, England and Wales · updated September 2026September 2026 was 24% below the 10-year peak of 2,480 in May 2023.
| Month | Total | CVL | Compulsory | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 1,882 | 1,420 | 341 | 102 |
| August 2026 | 1,953 | 1,431 | 321 | 182 |
| July 2026 | 1,938 | 1,495 | 293 | 128 |
| June 2026 | 1,847 | 1,371 | 278 | 184 |
| May 2026 | 1,855 | 1,415 | 283 | 132 |
| April 2026 | 2,078 | 1,496 | 383 | 178 |
| March 2026 | 2,025 | 1,466 | 303 | 236 |
| February 2026 | 1,894 | 1,476 | 258 | 150 |
| January 2026 | 1,759 | 1,332 | 256 | 157 |
| December 2025 | 1,694 | 1,323 | 248 | 108 |
| November 2025 | 1,856 | 1,441 | 255 | 141 |
| October 2025 | 2,022 | 1,561 | 317 | 127 |
Company insolvencies in England and Wales fell 4% to 5,773 over July to September 2026, against 6,022 over July to September 2025.
49.9 in every 10,000 companies in England and Wales became insolvent in the last 12 months, against 49 in Scotland and 42.6 in Northern Ireland.
Creditors’ voluntary liquidations were the most common procedure in September 2026, at 75% of insolvencies (1,420 of 1,882).
Compulsory liquidations rose to 341 from 273 a year earlier.
The other 19 were company voluntary arrangements and receiverships.
Construction had the most company insolvencies over Oct 2025 to Sep 2026, with 3,873, 17% of the total.
Counts, not rates: sectors with more companies have more cases. Days to pay are the median for large companies in that sector. This page reports how long large companies take to pay, from government payment filings. How long small businesses wait to be paid is a different measure on a different group of businesses, and it is on the accounts receivable statistics pages.
22,803 companies in England and Wales entered insolvency in the last 12 months, and each one can leave its suppliers with unpaid invoices.
When a customer becomes insolvent, unsecured suppliers rank behind secured creditors and preferential creditors such as employees and HMRC, and often recover little, so the time to act is while an invoice is still only late. UK credit control software sends the reminders and statements that keep overdue invoices moving, and the late payment interest calculator shows what the law lets you add to them.
For how long UK businesses wait to be paid across the whole economy, see the UK accounts receivable statistics.
In England and Wales, a company insolvency is a compulsory liquidation, a creditors’ voluntary liquidation, an administration, a company voluntary arrangement or a receivership, and there were 1,882 of them in September 2026.
The Insolvency Service publishes company insolvency statistics every month, and this page carries 120 months of them, from October 2016 to September 2026.
The monthly counts are the Insolvency Service’s seasonally adjusted company insolvency statistics for England and Wales, and the industry counts are its Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 figures by SIC section, covering 22,461 insolvencies.
22,803 companies in England and Wales entered insolvency in the last 12 months. When a customer becomes insolvent, unsecured suppliers rank behind secured creditors and preferential creditors such as employees and HMRC, and often recover little, so the time to act is while an invoice is still only late.
Cite: Paidnice (2026). UK company insolvency tracker. https://www.paidnice.com/payment-times/uk/insolvencies. Source: Insolvency Service monthly company insolvency statistics, England and Wales, seasonally adjusted, October 2016 to September 2026. Industry counts: Oct 2025 to Sep 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Insolvency Service company insolvency statistics.
UK figures cover England and Wales. The payment-days figures come from UK payment practice reports, which cover payments to all suppliers.
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