December 2023 Monthly Insolvency Statistics Released

The Insolvency Service has published its monthly insolvency statistics for December 2023.
 
Corporate

In corporate insolvencies, the number of registered insolvencies was 2,002, which was 2% higher than in December 2022. This was higher than both mid-pandemic and pre-pandemic numbers.

Of these 2,002 company insolvencies, there were 153 Compulsory Liquidations, 1,731 CVLs, 103 Administration and 15 CVAs. CVLs were higher than December 2022, and Compulsory Liquidation and Administration numbers were down compared to December 2022. CVAs saw a 50% increase from December 2022.

CVAs may have reversed their downward trend. There were 355 in 2019, 260 in 2020, 115 in 2021, 111 in 2022 but 186 in 2023.
 
You may be shocked to hear there were no Administrative Receivership appointments in December 2023.

Personal

The total number of personal insolvencies was 6,584 in December 2023, which was 20% lower than in December 2022 (when there were 8,254).

December 2023 saw 496 Bankruptcies, 2,472 Debt Relief Orders (DROs) and 3,616 IVAs.

IVAs saw a 38% decline from December 2022. IVAs overall were at a record high in 2022. DRO and Bankruptcy numbers were higher in 2023 than in 2022, with DROs seeing a 25% increase from December 2022.

IVA numbers remain on a largely downward trend from the start of 2022, whilst DRO numbers have generally increased since the criteria were increased in July 2021, which it could be argued was the main purpose of those changes.

There were 5,769 Breathing Space registrations in December 2023, of which 5,657 were ‘standard’ Breathing Spaces, and 112 were Mental Health Crisis Moratoria. The ‘standard’ Breathing Spaces were 15% higher than in December 2022, and their Mental Health counterparts 4% lower than December 2022.