UK company insolvency statistics: the sourced numbers
23,942 registered companies entered insolvency in England and Wales in 2025, according to the Insolvency Service — broadly level with 2024 and about 5% below 2023, which was the highest annual total since 1993. Expressed as a rate, the 12 months to December 2025 saw 52.5 liquidations per 10,000 active companies: roughly 1 in every 190 companies. This page keeps the headline numbers in one place, sourced, for anyone writing or deciding on the back of them.
What kind of insolvency dominates?
Creditors' voluntary liquidations — directors choosing to close an insolvent company — made up 77% of 2025's insolvencies, with compulsory liquidations at 16%, administrations at 6% and CVAs around 1%. The CVL share matters for how you read the total: most UK insolvencies are directors closing the door themselves, not creditors forcing it.
Which sectors carry the most insolvencies?
In the 12 months to December 2025, construction led with 3,950 insolvencies (17% of the total), followed by wholesale and retail trade at 3,773 (16%) and accommodation and food services at 3,372 (14%). Those three sectors — building, shops, hospitality — account for nearly half of UK company failures, and they are also three of the most cash-flow-exposed trades in the economy: project payment cycles, stock cycles, and seasonality respectively.
What should a trading business take from this?
Two things, held together. First, perspective: 1-in-190 annually means the overwhelming majority of companies, even in a hard year, trade on. Second, the pattern behind the failures: insolvency practitioners consistently point to cash flow — not profitability — as the proximate killer, which is why the boring disciplines (an 8-week cash view, early conversations with HMRC and suppliers, funding arranged before the cliff rather than after) appear in every post-mortem. Our pages on cash flow problems and HMRC Time to Pay cover those disciplines; where a position is already unserviceable, a licensed insolvency practitioner or Business Debtline is the right early call, not a lender.
Sources
- The Insolvency Service, Company Insolvency Statistics — 2025 annual totals, procedure mix, liquidation rate, sector breakdown (monthly releases; figures as published for December 2025).
The Insolvency Service publishes monthly; newer releases supersede these figures. England and Wales only — Scotland and Northern Ireland are published separately.
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