UK business distress data

Official figures on UK company distress, collected in one place so you do not have to piece them together from separate government releases. Creditor enforcement such as winding-up petitions and HMRC tax debt tends to move before the headline insolvency count, so both sit here side by side. Figures are linked to their source, dated wherever the source gives a date, and free to cite. Insolvency Service; The Gazette; National Audit Office

Data series

UK company insolvency tracker 1,946 company insolvencies in England and Wales in August 2026, and 1 in 200 companies over the last 12 months. Monthly trend, procedures, industries and nations (Insolvency Service). Insolvency data as CSV and JSON The tracker's monthly, procedure, industry and nation tables as free CSV downloads and one JSON file, with every column explained (Insolvency Service, Open Government Licence). Insolvencies by type: 2025 annual breakdown How 2025 company insolvencies split across CVLs, compulsory liquidations, administrations and CVAs (Insolvency Service). Winding-up petition tracker The latest winding-up petitions advertised in The Gazette, the petition timeline, and why HMRC is among the most active petitioners. UK pub closures tracker How many UK pubs are closing, from BBPA figures and the CGA by NIQ Hospitality Market Monitor. Every figure dated and sourced.

Reference guides

Strike-off objection timeline and Gazette notice guide Every time limit in a compulsory, voluntary or false-basis strike off, the objection and restoration deadlines, and how to read a Gazette strike-off notice line by line. Winding-up petition statutory timeline Every fixed time limit in a creditor's winding-up petition, from statutory demand to hearing, with the rule behind each one and the rule changes since 2017. How long insolvency takes: petition notices and CVL duration How many days a winding-up petition runs before its Gazette notice, measured from a month of real notices, and how long a CVL takes to reach dissolution. Insolvency practitioner directory Every practitioner on the Insolvency Service register, searchable by name, firm, town or postcode, with IP number and licensing body. Gazette publication dates and court sitting days When The London Gazette publishes and its copy deadlines, which days court offices close, and the High Court term dates for 2026 and 2027. Personal guarantee enforcement matrix What happens to a director's personal guarantee and home under a CVL, administration or a CVA, with the law behind each answer. Qualifying floating charge enforcement: law and timeline How a lender with a qualifying floating charge appoints an administrator today, step by step, and the legal landmarks from 1986 to 2026. Company insolvency procedures explained The four main company insolvency procedures in England and Wales, what each one is, and how common each was in 2025, from official Insolvency Service statistics. HMRC tax debt: the scale and the director risk How much tax debt is owed to HMRC, from National Audit Office reporting, and where company tax arrears build and put directors at risk. Director disqualification: the common grounds The most common grounds for UK director disqualification, and why a strike off does not avoid scrutiny, from Insolvency Service and Companies House sources. Bounce Back Loans: repayment problems and director risk What Bounce Back Loan arrears and default mean for a company director, and when personal liability arises. How many insolvency practitioners are there in the UK? How many Licensed Insolvency Practitioners there are in the UK, who regulates them, and how to check one is licensed. UK late payment: the key figures How late UK small businesses are paid, from FSB research, and how to check a named company's own payment record on the government Payment Practices Reporting service. Strike-off objection process guide How company strike-off applications get objected to and suspended, and by whom, from The Gazette and Companies House guidance. Employee rights when an employer becomes insolvent: the timeline What happens, in order, when an employer becomes insolvent: getting a case reference, the RP1 and RP2 online claims, the claim deadline, and how long payment takes. Sourced to gov.uk and the Insolvency Service. HMRC enforcement escalation: the timeline How HMRC escalates when a company tax debt goes unpaid: reminders, a Notice of Enforcement, taking control of goods, and a winding-up petition. Sourced to the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 and gov.uk. State of UK company insolvency: 2025 in figures A single, dated snapshot of the UK company insolvency picture for 2025: how many companies failed, by which procedure, and what changed on tax debt priority, winding-up petitions and director disqualifications, drawn from this site’s own maintained trackers.

How we put it together

Every figure is tied to a named UK source, and we show the date of the release wherever the source gives one. We never invent numbers. Where a figure is the most recent published release rather than a live feed, we say so and link to the source. For the sources we use and how we treat them, see our methodology.

Cite this dataset: Parker, A. (2026). UK Director Distress Index: Composite Company-Distress Signal Tracker. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22014182

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UK business distress data

Data series

Reference guides

How we put it together

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