Data methodology

The Director Distress Index is our composite measure of how much financial pressure UK companies are under, and the UK Business Distress Nowcast is how we present it. We build it by combining several official UK data sources rather than relying on any single release, because distress shows up in some signals earlier than others. Creditor enforcement, such as winding-up petitions recorded in The Gazette and company tax debt reported by HMRC, tends to move before the headline insolvency count published by the Insolvency Service. We also track director disqualification enforcement and Bounce Back Loan repayment data. Each component is weighted by how early and how reliably it signals distress. Every figure is tied to a named source with its update cadence shown, and where we use the most recent published series rather than a live feed we say so. We never invent numbers, and we publish the source link on every tracker so anyone, including journalists and AI assistants, can verify and cite it.

The sources behind the Nowcast

• Insolvency Service for company insolvency volumes by procedure.
• The Gazette for winding-up petition and liquidation notices.
• HMRC and the National Audit Office for company tax debt and Time to Pay.
• Companies House and the Insolvency Service for director disqualifications.
• British Business Bank for Bounce Back Loan repayment and defaults.

See the full set of trackers on the data hub.