Unfortunately, business failures are a fact of life and it's sensible to be prepared; one way to do this is to stay in touch with what's happening in the economy. To help you do that we will keep this section updated with the latest information provided by the Insolvency Service.
Statistics showing insolvencies in the first quarter of 2010 were published on the 7th May 2010 by the Insolvency Service.
COMPANY INSOLVENCIES
There were 4,082 compulsory liquidations and creditors’ voluntary liquidations in total in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2010 (on a seasonally adjusted basis). This was a decrease of 8.4% on the previous quarter and a decrease of 17.8% on the same period a year ago.
This was made up of 1,314 compulsory liquidations (which are down 1.3% on the previous quarter and down 14.8% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year), and 2,768 creditors voluntary liquidations (which are down 11.4% on the previous quarter and down 19.1% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year).
In the twelve months ending Q1 2010, approximately 1 in 120 active companies (or 0.8%) went into liquidation, which is a decrease from the previous quarter, when this figure stood at 1 in 114 (0.9%).
Table I. Company Liquidations in England and Wales (seasonally adjusted) 1
| |
% change – Q1 2010 on |
| |
09Q1r |
09Q2r |
09Q3r |
09Q4r |
10Q1p |
Q1 2009 |
Q4 2009 |
| Company Liquidations |
4,964
|
5,041
|
4,615
|
4,457
|
4,082
|
-17.8
|
-8.4
|
| of which: |
Compulsory |
1,543 |
1,480 |
1,289 |
1,331 |
1,314 |
-14.8 |
-1.3 |
| Creditors' Voluntary2 |
3,422 |
3,561 |
3,326 |
3,126 |
2,768 |
-19.1 |
-11.4 |
Source: Insolvency Service and Companies House
p = provisional, r = revised
1 Longer series back to 2000 are presented in the accompanying detailed tables.
2 Where the creditors’ voluntary liquidation is the first insolvency procedure entered into (see Notes to Editors).
Additionally, there were 1,343 other corporate insolvencies in the first quarter of 2010 (not seasonally adjusted) comprising 356 receiverships, 783 administrations and 204 company voluntary arrangements. In total these represented a decrease of 24.7% on the same period a year ago
Table II. Other Corporate Insolvencies in England and Wales (not seasonally adjusted) 1
| |
% change – Q4 2009 on |
| |
09Q1 |
09Q2 |
09Q3 |
09Q4 |
10Q1p |
Q1 2009 |
| Receiverships2 |
316 |
345 |
410 |
397 |
356 |
12.7 |
| Administrations3 |
1,311 |
1,027 |
974 |
849 |
783 |
-40.3 |
| Company voluntary arrangements |
156 |
157 |
194 |
219 |
204 |
30.8 |
Source: Insolvency Service and Companies House
p = provisional,
1 Longer series back to 2000 are presented in the accompanying detailed tables.
2 Includes Law of Property Act receivers (see “Notes to Editors” paragraph 9).
3 Includes Administrator Appointments.
4 The figure for 08Q4 includes 729 separate managed service companies for which BDO Stoy Hayward was appointed administrator. The administrations were approved in September 2008, but the statistics are counted based on the date registered at Companies House (which fell in October 2008, i.e. Q4).
Note: The figures in Table II are not seasonally adjusted and are not, therefore, on the same basis as the headline figures in Table I. The accompanying detailed tables also include the non-seasonally adjusted series for corporate liquidations.
INDIVIDUAL INSOLVENCIES (not seasonally adjusted - see ‘Notes to Editors’ paragraph 13)
There were 35,682 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2010. This was an increase of 17.9% on the same period a year ago.
This was made up of 18,256 bankruptcies (which were down 10.7% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year), 11,782 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), (which were up 20.1% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year) and 5,644 Debt Relief Orders (DROs).
In the first quarter of 2010, 86.5% of bankruptcies were made on the petition of the debtor, slightly up on recent quarters. The percentage of bankruptcy orders involving trading debts (self-employed bankruptcies) was 13.0% in the fourth quarter of 2009 (first quarter 2010 figures for trading-related bankruptcies are not yet available), taking the figure for 2009 as a whole to 13.1%, up from 12.1% in 2008.
Table III. Individual Insolvencies in England and Wales (not seasonally adjusted) 1
| |
% change – Q1 2010 on |
| |
09Q1 |
09Q2 |
09Q3 |
09Q4 |
10Q1p |
Q1 2009 |
| Total Individuals |
30,253 |
33,073 |
35,242 |
35,574 |
35,682 |
12.7 |
| Bankruptcy Orders |
20,446 |
18,870 |
18,347 |
17,007 |
18,256 |
-40.3 |
| Debt Relief Orders |
: |
1,978 |
4,505 |
5,348 |
5,644 |
: |
| Individual voluntary arrangements |
9,807 |
12,225 |
12,390 |
13,219 |
11,782 |
20.1 |
Source: Insolvency Service
p = provisional
: = Not Applicable
1Longer series back to 2000 are presented in the accompanying detailed tables, as are seasonally adjusted figures for individual voluntary arrangements (and for bankruptcy orders up to Q1 2009 only)
INSOLVENCIES IN SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND
The following tables present recent trends in insolvencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, complementing those for England and Wales above (longer series back to 2000 are presented in the accompanying detailed tables).
Table IV. Insolvencies in Scotland (not seasonally adjusted)
| |
% change – Q1 2010 on |
| |
09Q1r |
09Q2r |
09Q3r |
09Q4r |
10Q1p |
Q1 09 |
| Company Liquidations 1 |
161
|
146
|
123
|
154
|
275
|
70.8
|
| of which: |
Compulsory |
124 |
107 |
95 |
106 |
202 |
62.9 |
| Creditors' Voluntary2 |
37 |
39 |
28 |
48 |
73 |
97.3 |
| Individuals 2, 3 |
5,743
|
6,294
p
|
5,767
p
|
5,678
p
|
5,175
|
-9.9
|
| of which: |
Sequestrations 3 |
3,772 |
3,730 p |
3,504 p |
3,350 p |
3,142 |
-16.7 |
| (of which: LILA) |
(2,284) |
(2,394) p |
(2,107) p |
(1,905) p |
(1,905) |
(-16.6) |
| Protected Trust Deeds |
1,971 |
2,564 p |
2,263 p |
2,328 p |
2,033 |
3.1 |
p = provisional
1 Source: Companies House
2 Source: Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB). Latest News Release http://www.aib.gov.uk/About/annualtargets/quarterlyreports/q4statistics0910
3 The sequestration figures include LILA (Low Income, Low Assets) cases. These were introduced as a new route into bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc (Scotland) Act 2007, wef 1 April 2008.
Table V. Insolvencies in Northern Ireland (not seasonally adjusted)
| |
% change – Q1 2010 on |
| |
09Q1r |
09Q2r |
09Q3r |
09Q4r |
10Q1p |
Q1 2009 |
| Company Liquidations |
57
|
65
|
51
|
74
|
102
|
78.9
|
| of which: |
Compulsory |
34 |
46 |
27 |
57 |
49 |
44.1 |
| Creditors' Voluntary2 |
23 |
19 |
24 |
17 |
53 |
130.4 |
| Individuals 1 |
446
|
558
|
381
|
574
|
554
|
24.2
|
| of which: |
Bankruptcies |
302 |
353 |
200 |
382 |
316 |
4.6 |
| IVAs |
144 |
205 |
181 |
192 |
238 |
65.3 |
1 Source: Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Northern Ireland (DETINI)
2 Source: Companies House
p = provisional