It is not always that the NTI newsroom reports numbers and those heading north and beyond are the most welcome. However, with the UK inflation rate slowing to a better-than-expected 7.9% in June as released today (Wednesday 19 July), we welcome (don't we?) the official June insolvency statistics published by the Insolvency Service, as they are - again - up, up, up and away.
This time it is not just the corporate numbers that demonstrate heavy uplifts, but we start with those. The Insolvency Service report that the number of registered company insolvencies in June 2023 was 27 per cent higher (at 2,163) than in June last year (when there were 1,698 of the little blighters). Significantly, this figure is higher than levels seen while the Government support measures were in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also higher than pre-pandemic numbers. This follows an unexpected dip in the figures published in May (down 23 per cent), which in itself followed a 15 per cent decrease of CVLs in April (as compared with the same month in 2022).
There were 260 Compulsory Liquidations in June 2023, which was a whopping 77 per cent higher than last year's June numbers. The amount of Compulsory Liquidations have increased from historical lows seen during the mayhem of Coronavirus, partly as a result of an increase in winding-up petitions presented by HMRC.
Breaking down the numbers further, last month there were 1,759 CVLs, which represents a 21 per cent uplift on June 2022. To complete the corporate picture, the numbers of Administrations and Company Voluntary Arrangements were also higher than in June 2022. NTI reported this in a separate news bulletin earlier this month.
Turning now to individual insolvencies, 643 Bankruptcies were registered, which was 29 per cent higher than last June, but it is fascinating to see that this number is still less than half of pre-2020 levels. There were 2,320 Debt Relief Orders ('DROs') in June 2023, which was 21 per cent higher than June 2022. Monthly DRO numbers between April and June 2023 were similar to pre-2020 levels.
There were, on average, 6,026 Individual Voluntary Arrangements registered per month in the three-month period ending June 2023, which is 22 per cent lower than the three-month period ending last June. IVA numbers in the first half of 2023 were lower than in the first half of 2022. However, we save the most interesting number until last. There were 7,936 Breathing Space registrations in June 2023, which is 37 per cent higher than the number registered last June. 7,825 were 'Standard' Breathing Space registrations, which is 38 per cent higher than in June 2022, and 111 were 'Mental Health' Breathing Space registrations, which is 31 per cent higher than the number in June 2022.
