Main messages for England and Wales

• In March 2025, 9,205 individuals entered insolvency in England and Wales. This was 7% lower than in February 2025 but 2% higher than in March 2024.

• The individual insolvencies consisted of 613 bankruptcies, 3,490 debt relief orders (DROs) and 5,102 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The number of DROs in March 2025 was 4% lower than in February 2025. DROs have been at record-high monthly numbers since the abolition of the upfront £90 fee in April 2024, with the 45,804 DROs in the past 12 months being nearly twice as high as the long-term annual average. The number of IVAs registered in March 2025 was 9% lower than the average monthly number seen in 2024. Bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels and were also 11% lower than in March 2024.

• In the 12 months ending 31 March 2025, one in 415 adults in England and Wales entered insolvency (at a rate of 24.1 per 10,000 adults). This is higher than the rate of 21.3 per 10,000 adults (one in 469) who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March 2024.

• There were 8,033 Breathing Space registrations in March 2025. This is 4% higher than in March 2024.

Main messages for England and Wales

• After seasonal adjustment, 10,147 individuals entered insolvency in England and Wales in February 2025. This was 4% higher than in January 2025 and 5% lower than in February 2024.

• The individual insolvencies consisted of 600 bankruptcies, 3,865 debt relief orders (DROs) and 5,682 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The number of DROs in February 2025 was similar to January 2025. DRO numbers have been at record-high monthly levels since the abolition of the upfront £90 fee in April 2024. The number of IVAs registered in February 2025 was similar to the average monthly number seen in 2024. Bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels and were also 10% lower than in February 2024.

• In the 12 months ending 28 February 2025, one in 417 adults in England and Wales entered insolvency (at a rate of 24.0 per 10,000 adults). This is higher than the rate of 21.9 per 10,000 adults (one in 457) who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 29 February 2024.

• There were 7,889 Breathing Space registrations in February 2025. This is similar to February 2024.

• In October 2025, 10,552 individuals entered insolvency in England and Wales. This was 4% lower than in September 2025 and 14% higher than in October 2024.
• The individual insolvencies consisted of 599 bankruptcies, 3,846 debt relief orders (DROs) and 6,107 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). DRO numbers in October 2025 were lower than the record high seen in August 2025, but remained at the historically high levels seen over the past 18 months. The number of IVAs registered in October 2025 was higher than the average monthly number seen in the first half of 2025. Bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels and were similar to October 2024.
• In the 12 months ending 31 October 2025, one in 403 adults in England and Wales entered insolvency (at a rate of 24.8 per 10,000 adults). This is higher than the rate of 23.4 per 10,000 adults (one in 427) who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 October 2024.
• There were 7,701 Breathing Space registrations in October 2025. This is similar to October 2024.

Main Messages for England and Wales

• After seasonal adjustment, 8,708 individuals entered insolvency in England & Wales in March 2024. This was 19% lower than in February 2024 and 9% lower than in March 2023.

• The individual insolvencies consisted of 681 bankruptcies, 2,628 debt relief orders (DROs) and 5,399 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The number of IVAs registered in March was similar to numbers seen over the past 12 months. DRO numbers were slightly lower than the record high monthly numbers seen in the second half of 2023, but remained high compared to historical levels. The number of bankruptcies was similar to the past nine months and slightly higher than in March 2023. However, bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels.

• In the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, one in 470 adults in England & Wales entered insolvency (a rate of 21.3 per 10,000 adults). This is lower than the individual insolvency rate of 24.3 per 10,000 adults (1 in 412) who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March 2023.

• There were 7,710 Breathing Space registrations in March 2024. This is 7% lower than in March 2023.

Main Messages for England and Wales

Company Insolvencies

The number of registered company insolvencies in January 2024 was 1,769, 5% higher than in the same month in the previous year (1,685 in January 2023). This was higher than levels seen while the Government support measures were in place in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and also higher than pre-pandemic numbers.

The company insolvencies consisted of 339 compulsory liquidations, 1,294 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), 120 administrations and 16 company voluntary arrangements (CVAs). CVL numbers were lower than in January 2023, while compulsory liquidation and administration numbers were higher.

Individual Insolvencies

For individuals, the total number of insolvencies in January 2024 was 8,089, 4% higher than in the same month in the previous year (7,756 in January 2023).

The individual insolvencies consisted of 768 bankruptcies, 2,793 debt relief orders (DROs) and 4,528 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The higher number of individual insolvencies compared to January 2023 was driven by a 60% increase in the number of DROs and a 20% increase in the number of bankruptcies, while the number of IVAs was 16% lower. IVA numbers in 2023 were lower than in 2022, which saw a record high annual number. DRO and bankruptcy numbers in 2023 were higher than in 2022, although the number of bankruptcies remained well below pre-2020 levels.

There were 8,356 Breathing Space registrations in January 2024, which is 10% higher than the number registered in January 2023. 8,232 were Standard breathing space registrations, which is 10% higher than in January 2023, and 124 were Mental Health breathing space registrations, which is 27% higher than the number in January 2023.

Main messages for England and Wales

• After seasonal adjustment, 8,952 individuals entered insolvency in England and Wales in October 2024. This was 14% lower than in September 2024, but similar to October 2023.

• The individual insolvencies consisted of 596 bankruptcies, 3,793 debt relief orders (DROs) and 4,563 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). Monthly DRO numbers between April and October 2024 were at record highs. This followed the removal of the £90 administration fee to obtain a DRO from 6 April 2024. The number of IVAs registered in October was lower than the average monthly number seen over the past 12 months. Bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels and were also lower than in October 2023.

• In the 12 months ending 31 October 2024, one in 427 adults in England and Wales entered insolvency (at a rate of 23.4 per 10,000 adults). This is higher than the rate of 22.3 per 10,000 adults (one in 448) who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 October 2023.

• There were 7,099 Breathing Space registrations in October 2024. This is 7% lower than in October 2023.

• After seasonal adjustment, the number of individual insolvencies in January to March (Q1) 2023 was 2% lower than in Q4 2022. Numbers of debt relief orders (DROs) and bankruptcies were higher, but individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) were slightly lower. The total number of individual insolvencies was 9% lower than in Q1 2022.
• One in 408 adults (at a rate of 24.5 per 10,000 adults) entered insolvency between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023. This is an increase from the 24.1 per 10,000 adults who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March 2022.
• During Q1 2023, there were 29,017 (seasonally adjusted) individual insolvencies, as shown in Figure 1, comprised of 20,246 IVAs, 7,034 DROs and 1,737 bankruptcies.
• There were 23,179 Breathing Space registrations in Q1 2023. This is 34% higher than in Q1 2022. Of the 23,179 Breathing Space registrations, 22,770 were Standard Breathing Space registrations and 409 were Mental Health Breathing Space registrations.

• After seasonal adjustment, the number of individual insolvencies in April to June (Q2) 2022 was 10% lower than in Q1 2022. Numbers of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), debt relief orders (DROs) and bankruptcies were all lower. However, total individual insolvencies were 7% higher than in Q2 2021.
• One in 409 adults (at a rate of 24.4 per 10,000 adults) entered insolvency between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022. This is an increase from the 22.6 per 10,000 adults who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 30 June 2021.
• During Q2 2022, there were 28,946 (seasonally adjusted) individual insolvencies, as shown in Figure 1, comprised of 21,578 IVAs, 5,772 DROs and 1,596 bankruptcies.
• Between the launch of the Breathing Space scheme on 4 May 2021, and 30 June 2022, there were 75,385 registrations, comprised of 74,177 Standard breathing space registrations and 1,208 Mental Health breathing space registrations.

This statistics release contains the latest data on individual insolvency (people who are unable to pay debts and enter formal procedures).

Statistics are presented separately for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland because of differences in legislation and policy.

Main messages

Individual insolvencies in Q3 2020

Overall numbers of individual insolvencies in England and Wales decreased sharply in Q3 2020 when compared with both Q2 2020 and the same quarter in the previous year.

This decrease was driven by individual voluntary arrangements though this was somewhat artificial – a single provider submitted a large number of late registrations in May 2020 resulting in a high volume of IVAs in Q2 2020.

Bankruptcies increased while debt relief orders decreased in the latest quarter, though both remain low.

Annual 2021

• One in 429 adults (at a rate of 23.3 per 10,000 adults) entered insolvency in 2021. This is broadly similar to the rate in 2020 but a decrease from the 26.1 per 10,000 adults who entered insolvency in 2019 (pre-pandemic).
• The total number of individual insolvencies registered in 2021 was similar to the number registered in 2020 but 10% lower than 2019.
• IVAs reached a record high in 2021 and accounted for 74% of all individual insolvencies. 2021 saw the lowest annual number of bankruptcies since 1989, while numbers of DROs were similar to 2020 but remained below pre-pandemic levels.
• Between the launch of the Breathing Space scheme on 4 May 2021, and 31 December 2021, there were 41,127 registrations, comprised of 40,503 Standard breathing space registrations and 624 Mental Health breathing space registrations.

Quarterly Q4 2021

• After seasonal adjustment, the number of individual insolvencies in Q4 2021 was similar to Q3 2021, but 12% lower than in Q4 2020.
• During Q4 2021, there were 27,349 (seasonally adjusted) individual insolvencies, as shown in Figure 1, comprised of 19,662 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), 5,863 Debt Relief Orders (DROs) and 1,824 bankruptcies.