Company insolvency by region: the UK figures for 2025

In 2025 the North East had the highest business insolvency rate of any English region, at 143.1 insolvencies for every 10,000 businesses, and the South West the lowest, at 104.8. London had the most cases by number, 5,085, simply because it has the most businesses: its rate was below the England and Wales average. Across England and Wales there were 22,455 business insolvencies, a rate of 115.9 per 10,000, close to 2024 (117.2) but well above 2019 (87.9). Every English region was still above its 2019 rate. Insolvency Service, Business insolvency demography 2015 to 2025

Data as of: calendar year 2025, published 19 June 2026; next edition due June 2027 · Source: Insolvency Service, Business insolvency demography, 2015 to 2025, Tables A1a and A1b · For the latest monthly total, see the UK company insolvency tracker.

English regions, ranked by insolvency rate

The rate is the fairer comparison: it divides each region's insolvencies by the number of active businesses registered there, so a region with more businesses does not look worse just for being bigger.

Compared with 2024, the rate rose in West Midlands, East Midlands, South East and South West and fell in North East, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East of England and London. The three northern regions, North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber, had the highest rates in 2025. The spread between the highest and lowest region was 38.3 insolvencies per 10,000 businesses.

The four nations

How companies became insolvent, by region

Creditors' voluntary liquidation, where the directors and shareholders choose to close an insolvent company, was the most common route in every English region and in Wales in 2025. Scotland and Northern Ireland look different: compulsory liquidations, where a court winds the company up, made up about 42% of Scottish cases and 52% of Northern Irish cases in 2025, against 15% in England and Wales. The last column is our own calculation from the published counts.

How these figures are measured

These are the Insolvency Service's business insolvency demography statistics, which match company insolvencies to the Office for National Statistics' Inter-Departmental Business Register. A business insolvency is a business where at least one of its companies entered a formal insolvency procedure, so a group with several insolvent companies counts once. That is why the England and Wales total (22,455) is lower than the monthly company count for 2025, and why the rate is per 10,000 active businesses rather than per 10,000 companies on the Companies House register. The two series are not directly comparable.

A business's region is its registered postcode on the business register, which is usually the head office or main site, not necessarily where its staff work. Counts are rounded to the nearest 5 and anything under 5 is suppressed, so rows may not add up exactly. Insolvencies that could not be matched to the register are left out of the totals and rates. Solvent closures such as members' voluntary liquidations and strike-offs are not included. The release covers administrations, compulsory liquidations, creditors' voluntary liquidations and an "other" group of company voluntary arrangements and receiverships. This page reports the published statistics and is general information, not advice.