Q3 2022: Company Insolvency Statistics

The company insolvency statistics for the third quarter of 2022 (July to September) have been released, and so we discuss the findings here.

Company Insolvency in England and Wales

Q3 2022 saw 5,595 company insolvencies which is 1% lower than the amount registered in the previous quarter, but 40% higher than that during the same quarter of 2021.

In terms of procedures:

• Creditors voluntary liquidations accounted for 86% of cases (down by 2% from 2022 Q2 and 30% from 2021 Q3) – in total, 4,800 recorded in this quarter
• Compulsory liquidations accounted for 9% of cases (up by 28% from 2022 Q2 and 332% from 2021 Q3) – in total, 492 recorded in this quarter
• Administrations accounted for 5% of cases (down by 14% from 2022 Q2 and 61% from 2021 Q3) – in total,274 recorded in this quarter
• Company voluntary arrangements accounted for 1% of cases (down by 9% compared to 2022 Q2 and up 45% compared to 2021 Q3) – in total, 29 recorded in this quarter
• There were no receivership appointments

It should be reflected on that there were 40 companies (1 more than in Q2 2022) obtaining a moratorium and 12 (the same as in Q2 2022) companies having restructuring plans registered at Companies House, between 26 June 2020 and 30 September 2022.

Liquidation Rates per 10,000 active companies

In the four quarters ending Q3 2022, the liquidation rate for companies was 46.9 per 10,000 active companies in England and Wales (1 in 213 companies liquidated in the 12 months ending Q3 2022).

Company Insolvencies by Industry

From analysing SIC codes of companies and the insolvency statistics, it has been shown that the industries experiencing the highest amount of insolvencies in the 12 months ending Q3 2022 were:

• Construction – 3,949 insolvencies
• Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of vehicles – 2,910 insolvencies
• Accommodation – 2,478 insolvencies

Such results match that of the same period the year before, with these three sectors experiencing the most insolvencies too. For all industries, an increase was seen in insolvency numbers in the 12 months ending Q3 2022 compared to the period ending Q3 2021.

Company Insolvencies in Scotland 

In Scotland, there were 276 company insolvencies recorded for Q3 2022. This was 19% higher than in the same period of 2021. Statistics included 76 compulsory liquidations, 188 CVLs, 11 administrations and 1 CVA. There were no receiverships.

The liquidation rate for the 12 months ending Q3 2022 was 44.1 per 10,000 active companies. This was up by 17.1 compared to the same period the year before.

Company Insolvencies in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland saw 50 company insolvencies in Q3 2022 which was 47% higher than in Q3 2021. The statistics consist of 38 CVLs, 5 compulsory liquidations, 4 administrations and 3 CVAs. There were no receiverships.

The liquidation rate for the 12 months ending Q3 2022 was 25.0 per 10,000 active companies in Northern Ireland. This was an increase of 11.5 from in the same period the year before.

The full report and findings can be seen here.