Corporate report

Insolvency Service Annual Plan 2025 to 2026

Published 22 July 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

We are pleased to introduce the Insolvency Service’s Annual Plan for 2025 to 2026, setting the Agency’s priorities for the year ahead.

Our plan focuses on how we will support businesses and citizens, delivering against the Government’s number one mission to kickstart economic growth, deliver economic stability and improve prosperity in the UK; with a regulatory regime that is fit for purpose and achieves value for money to the taxpayer.

We have developed this plan during a time of considerable change both nationally and within the Agency. The new Government has set out its plan for change and, as we enter our final year of our five-year strategy, we have made good progress on developing our new long-term plans to be launched in early 2026. We have achieved so much under this strategy to strengthen the insolvency regime, tackle financial wrongdoing, support people in financial distress and make the Agency a great place to work but there is still much to do to deliver further improvements and achieve our aims.

This year will see us welcome a new Chief Executive as we say goodbye to Dean Beale who has been at the helm since 2019 and with the Agency in various roles for over 20 years. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dean for all his hard work and dedication during that time.

Our current strategy aimed to improve the customer experience, modernise our technology and ensure the insolvency and enforcement regimes deliver for our stakeholders and the economy. We will continue our partnership working with HMRC and Companies House to tackle harm and identify and disrupt illegal activity such as money laundering. We will work with stakeholders to develop reforms that will modernise the personal insolvency regime and improve access to appropriate debt relief for people in financial distress.

Over the last twelve months, guided by our strategy, we have successfully delivered excellent services to support people with problem debt with 88,568 Breathing Space applications. We have efficiently processed 69,237 redundancy payments and will deliver process improvements this year to make this more efficient. We have tackled financial wrongdoing, maintaining a focus on those cases where taxpayers’ money has been abused by COVID loan misconduct with 729 disqualification outcomes and 87 bankruptcy restrictions directly linked to COVID abuse. There have also been 51 criminal prosecutions of which 18 individuals were sentenced to imprisonment. We have returned £57.5m in dividends, benefiting the wider UK economy, recycling productive assets through our routine casework and a further £288m from our work on Thomas Cook.

Looking ahead, we will continue to deliver improvements to the Agency and upskill and develop our people. The transformation of our technology continues and following the successful rollout of 2000 new laptops and 500 mobile phones to our staff last year, this year will see the launch of our new case management system that will bring benefits to our customers and our people by automating repetitive tasks, improving service efficiency and laying the foundations for new digital services in the future.

The final year of the strategy will see the completion of our ambitious transformation of our estate with all our new regional centres up and running, ensuring all our people have modern, collaborative workplaces that help make the Agency a great place to work. This will mean that our number of offices will have halved from 23 offices to 11, reducing costs and improving sustainability.

Our vision is to be at the centre of a fair, efficient and effective insolvency system that is a global leader in insolvency solutions for citizens and businesses. A system that is supported by a healthy, independent profession that is recognised for the highest professional, technical and ethical standards. To that end we will continue our work to reform the regulation of insolvency practitioners by working towards implementing the regulatory reforms outlined in the response to the ‘Future of Insolvency Regulation’ consultation.

Our plans will be successfully delivered by our dedicated, professional and flexible workforce by continued investment in building capability across the Agency and delivering our successful leadership capability programme to our people. It is because of this that we are confident that we will achieve the ambitious objectives set out in this plan and deliver quality outcomes for our customers, businesses and stakeholders in the year ahead.

Mark Austen (Chair) and Alec Pybus (Interim Chief Executive)

Our plan for the final year of our current Agency strategy

The themes that underpin our five-year strategy, launched in November 2021, provide the framework in which to develop and deliver our services to support businesses and consumers. This final year of our current strategy will see plans to modernise the Agency’s infrastructure come to fruition, creating firm foundations to further develop and automate and provide the best possible service for our customers.

This plan supports the Government and our parent Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in delivering their key priorities. Our Agency supports those in financial distress, tackles financial misconduct and maximises returns to creditors. It does this directly through our excellent people located in our network of regional centres and by facilitating delivery in the wider insolvency sector by ensuring the legislative framework enables companies to be rescued and jobs to be saved. Tackling financial misconduct is an increasing focus this year. Our collaborative work with Companies House and DBT following the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act will enhance our ability to take robust enforcement action in cases of corporate wrongdoing and increase the integrity of the corporate regime to support economic growth.

Annual Plan highlights

For our customers we will:

• Enhance our response to ‘Phoenixism’, working in close partnership with HMRC and Companies House to tackle harm
• Work with stakeholders to develop reforms that will modernise the personal insolvency regime, improving access to appropriate debt relief for those who need it
• Extend our commitment to tackling money laundering working closely with partners to increase our ability to identify and disrupt illegal activity
• Commence discovery work on Debt Relief Order Application Programming Interface (API) with the money advice community
• Begin work on improvements to processes in the Redundancy Payments Service

For the insolvency profession we will:

• Take forward the implementation of two UNCITRAL model laws into UK insolvency legislation which cover corporate group insolvencies and recognition of insolvency judgements from other jurisdictions
• Work towards implementing the insolvency regulatory reforms outlined in the response to the “Future of Insolvency Regulation” consultation to support a healthy independent profession

For our people we will:

• Continue to build our Brilliant Leadership community, integrating a Brilliant Leadership approach into our senior leadership events and our Regional Centres
• Improve our employee value proposition focusing on outreach, career pathways, accessibility, and candidate experience
• Reform our pay structure to align to Civil Service grades and launch an updated pay policy

For our organisation we will:

• Launch our new case management system INSSight enabling us to deliver better services more effectively and efficiently
• Seize opportunities for automation and AI to improve collaboration and efficiency both internally and externally

1. Strengthen and improve the insolvency framework

Outcomes

Our vision is for the Insolvency Service to be at the centre of a fair, efficient, and effective insolvency system that is a global leader in insolvency solutions for citizens and for businesses, underpinned and supported by a profession that is recognised for the highest professional, technical, and ethical standards when carrying out its work.

Our insolvency framework provides the tools to support those in financial difficulty, save viable businesses and preserve jobs. Restructuring processes introduced in 2020 are being used to save some of our best-known companies from being declared insolvent and we continue to monitor how case law in this area develops.  Research shows that stakeholders are largely confident in the insolvency regime and believe it plays an effective role in promoting economic stability and growth. This year we will develop plans to enhance the regime, working with stakeholders to ensure that their views are heard and that our customers’ needs are at the forefront of our decision-making.

Outcomes

Improved customer experience

Improved stakeholder confidence

Activity

We will:

• work with stakeholders to develop reforms that will modernise the personal insolvency regime, improving access to appropriate debt relief for those who need it
• take forward the implementation of two UNCITRAL model laws into UK insolvency legislation which cover corporate group insolvencies and recognition of insolvency judgements from other jurisdictions
• work towards implementing the insolvency regulatory reforms outlined in the response to the “Future of Insolvency Regulation” consultation
• develop proposals to improve and modernise the civil enforcement regime with a view to providing the necessary tools to hold directors to account for corporate misconduct, protecting both the marketplace and the public, and to encourage better corporate behaviour

Measures

Stakeholder confidence in the insolvency and enforcement regime qualitative survey

World Bank survey “Business Enabling Environment: Business Insolvency”

Performance metrics

Measure	23/24	24/25	25/26	26/27	27/28
Stakeholder confidence in the insolvency and enforcement regime qualitative survey	Qualitative stakeholder survey		Qualitative stakeholder survey
World Bank “Business Enabling Environment: Business Insolvency” survey findings			New World Bank “Business Enabling Environment” Survey findings (will provide benchmark for future years)	New World Bank “Business Enabling Environment” Survey findings	New World Bank “Business Enabling Environment” Survey findings

Delivery Plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Further call for evidence on the impact of proposed implementation of UNCITRAL Model Law on Recognition and Enforcement of Insolvency-Related Judgments Publish update on development of reforms to the Personal Insolvency Framework Consultation on options to improve and modernise the civil enforcement regime	Ongoing stakeholder engagement and informal consultation on personal insolvency reforms	Continue to work towards implementation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Enterprise Group Insolvency	Subject to parliamentary time, legislate to implement regulatory changes following the “future of insolvency regulation” consultation	Formal consultation on personal insolvency reforms, and development of reforms for implementation Consult on options to introduce a compensation and redress scheme in relation to the work of insolvency practitioners

2. Strengthen our reputation and impact in investigation and enforcement

Outcomes

Tackling financial wrongdoing is crucial in supporting growth. Our successful investigations and enforcement actions help to maintain trust in the regime, making the UK a safe place to invest and ensuring a level playing field for business. Raising awareness of the impact of our investigation and enforcement work will help to ensure that people are aware of their legal duties and obligations and are deterred from breaking them.

Our survey on confidence in the enforcement regime showed that some stakeholders were largely unaware of the overall enforcement regime and the legislative framework that underpins it, and that more could be done to communicate successful outcomes to promote transparency about what we do. We aim to raise awareness in this area and enhance our reputation for taking effective action to address financial misconduct.

Outcomes

Improved investigative and enforcement effectiveness

Improved reputation

Activity

We will:

• finalise and publish a new Enforcement Strategy, setting out our strategic enforcement objectives for the next 5 years in the context of growing demands and opportunities in the wake of the Economic Crime Acts

• finalise and publish a more comprehensive Strategic Assessment and follow it with a robust prioritisation exercise to determine this year’s enforcement priorities, in line with the above strategy

• complete the work of the Economic Crime Reform Implementation Unit:

  • Establishment of a deeper partnership with Companies House with agreed ways of working, common objectives and success metrics
  • Integration into the economic crime enforcement landscape at both strategic and tactical levels, and into HMG Economic Crime Plan performance monitoring
  • Agree and implement Companies Act investigation responsibilities in Northern Ireland

• extend our commitment to tackling money laundering working closely with partners to increase our ability to identify and disrupt illegal activity. We will further invest in dedicated resource to seize and forfeit illicit funds and enhance our ability to respond to rogue use of crypto assets

• maintain our focus on COVID loan abuse working closely with the newly appointed Commissioner and partners across law enforcement

• continue to manage the licencing regime and investigate potential breaches following the implementation of director disqualification sanctions

• strengthen the enforcement response to employer related misconduct

• enhance our response to ‘Phoenixism’, working in close partnership with HMRC and Companies House to tackle the harm caused by those repeatedly dumping debts and/or involved in fraudulent conduct

Measures

Stakeholder confidence in the insolvency and enforcement regime qualitative survey

COVID-19 Support Scheme misconduct and fraud related outcomes as a percentage of all disqualification and criminal outcomes

Number of COVID-19 Support Scheme misconduct related compensation orders

Number of investigations and enforcement outcomes relating to the new offences arising out of Companies House reform and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act

Number of investigation and enforcement outcomes involving money laundering

Number of investigation and enforcement outcomes where Phoenix attributes are present

Performance metrics

Measure		23/24	24/25	25/26	26/27	27/28
Stakeholder confidence in the insolvency and enforcement regime qualitative survey		Qualitative stakeholder survey		Qualitative stakeholder survey
COVID-19 Support Scheme misconduct and fraud related outcomes as a percentage of all disqualification and criminal outcomes1	Target	Increase	Increase	Decrease	*	*
	Actual	62%	63%

_{* We expect to see a reduction in COVID Scheme related outcomes during 25/26 and onwards as we work through the pool of Bounce Back loan cases. Resources will be directed towards priorities identified in the revised Strategic Assessments in 25/26 ,26/27 and 27/28.}

Delivery plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Publish Strategic Assessment Roll out new Proceeds of Crime Civil Forfeiture process Develop role of crypto intelligence officer New intel resource to strengthen our compliance with Money Laundering Regulations Embed intel resource in Companies House to strengthen relationship	Publish Enforcement Strategy Deliver new learning management capability Onboard new forensic accountancy services Implement crypto asset technology as part of our ongoing commitment to AML		Conclude and review a 12-month pilot testing new data analytics technology Implement more comprehensive crypto technology and wallet services as part of Government-wide framework	Publish annual Strategic Assessment	Publish annual Strategic Assessment

3. Sharpen our operating focus

Outcomes

Supporting those in financial difficulty ensures that they are able to return to productive economic activity and contribute to society as fully as possible. The essential public services provided by our operational teams help those in financial distress and facilitate the best possible outcomes for those impacted by insolvency, underpinned by a culture of continuous improvement. This year we will continue to work on our commitments to make it easier for our customers to interact with us, laying foundations for new digital services using customer insight.

Outcomes

Improved customer experience

Improved efficiency

Improved stakeholder confidence

Activity

We will:

• finalise the implementation plan arising out of the recommendations following a bankruptcy customer journey exercise
• undertake discovery work, and move into initial build phase, for improvements to processes in the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS)
• launch our new case management system “INSSight”
• improve stakeholder confidence with the insolvency profession by engagement at a local level through the Official Receiver network
• commence discovery work on Debt Relief Order API with the money advice community

Measures

Customer satisfaction score

Percentage of reports to creditors issued within 15 days of interviewing (or a decision that no interview is required) in bankruptcy and liquidation cases

Percentage of Breathing Space statutory notices issued electronically

Average number of days to process redundancy payment claims

Value of distributions to creditors and debtors

Performance metrics

Measure		23/24	24/25	25/26	26/27	27/28
Customer satisfaction overall score	Target	84% or better	84% or better	85% or better	85% or better	86% or better
	Actual	84%	83%
Percentage of Breathing Space statutory notices issued electronically	Target	85% or better	86% or better	85% or better	85% or better	85% or better
	Actual	87%	84%
Percentage of reports to creditors issued within 15 days of interviewing (or a decision that no interview is required) in bankruptcy and liquidation cases	Target	94% or better	95% or better	95% or better	95% or better	95% or better
	Actual	94.3%	93%
Average number of days to process redundancy payment claims	Target	14 days or less	12 days or less	12 days or less	12 days or less	12 days or less
	Actual	9.91days	11.2 days
Value of distributions to creditors and debtors (excluding National Interest Cases)	Target	£41m	£54m	£43m*	£27m*	£28m*
	Actual	£59m	£57m
Number of delegates who have attended Continuous Improvement Training (Cumulative total)	Target	70	170	240	310	380
	Actual	103	196

_{*We expect to see a reduction in value of distributions to creditors from 25/26 and onwards as we work through the impacts of the delivery of INSSight and the associated impacts on recruitment.}

Delivery plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Review the findings of the customer journey review Discovery work on Debt Relief Order API with the money advice community Introduction of Digital Interviewing System	Launch our case management system INSSight RPS Improvements discovery work to commence	RPS Improvements Build commence Discovery for digitising Proof of Debts Journey	Begin Implementation and testing of the new DRO API with the money advice hubs	New Proof of Debt Service live Full implementation and support of new API for the money advice hubs	Implementation of updated RPS calculations process

4. Shape a new approach to prevent insolvency and rehabilitate through education and guidance

Outcomes

Ensuring that those who carry on a business are aware of their duties helps to minimise financial wrongdoing and create a level playing field in the corporate environment. We will increase the capability and knowledge of company directors and improve their awareness of their legal duties and obligations and how to avoid insolvency where possible or manage it properly if it is unavoidable.

A lack of education and guidance for directors whose companies were in financial difficulty was identified in our confidence survey, where it was apparent that directors’ awareness of their obligations and liabilities about corporate insolvency varied considerably. We want to continue to do more to make directors of companies more aware of their options and responsibilities and improve both the content and accessibility of our Director Information Hub.

Outcomes

Company Directors’ improved awareness of the rules

Activity

We will:

• implement further developmental improvements to the Director Information Hub including improved access and HMRC and Companies House enhancing their signposting to the hub
• revise the Director Information Hub to include more information on director duties and the enforcement framework

Measures

Delivery Plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Content planned: Phoenixing and refresh of existing page	Content planned: Phoenixing, Personal Guarantees and refresh of existing page	Content planned: Enforcement and refresh of two existing pages	New content launched	New content launched	New content launched

5. Shape and modernise our technology and infrastructure

Outcomes

Excellent delivery for UK citizens requires a fit for purpose infrastructure. Modernising our technology and infrastructure continue to be a priority as we source and implement a range of opportunities for increased digitisation for the benefit of our customers, our people and our Agency. We have embarked upon a programme of work to ensure our customers are able to access services through channels that better meet their needs for providing and accessing information. This work will continue this year and will include implementing artificial intelligence and automation aimed at improving our overall efficiency while significantly enhancing the customer experience. Our people are now using modern, more reliable systems and tooling and we will continue to enhance this offering in the coming year so that they can undertake their roles effectively. It is essential that we can meet operational and customer needs, increasing flexibility to enable peaks and troughs in workload to be managed in a more responsive way. Targeted investments will strengthen security and controls around our physical and digital assets and enable us to demonstrate the value of technology to wider business and society. Ultimately this investment will have a positive impact on how and where our people work, the experience of our customers and the overall efficiency of our Agency.

Outcomes

Improved technical resources including where relevant use of AI and automation

Staff have the right tools to do the job

Improved customer experience

Improved value for money

Improved security of our systems

Activity

We will:

• launch our new case management system INSSight and embed across the business to improve our service for our people and our customers
• seize opportunities for automation and AI to improve collaboration and efficiency both internally and externall

• finalise our office operating model

• implement a Combined Management System in line with International Standards ISO14001 (Environment) and ISO45001 (Occupational Health and Safety)
• continue to strengthen our overall security posture, working with a range of partners and by adopting relevant tooling to secure our data and systems

Measures

User experience – people survey response to how our user community feels about the tools to do the job

Net effort score – customer feedback on how easy it is to use our services

Number of offices in our estate

Percentage of non-conformances closed out within agreed timescales; number of Opportunities for Improvement identified

All in-scope procurements to include 10% Evaluation for Social Value and Environmental Sustainability

Performance metrics

Measure		23/24	24/25	25/26	26/27	27/28
User experience - people survey response to how our user community feels about the tools to do the job	Target	60%	60%	65%	70%	70%
	Actual	58%	61%
Net effort score – customer feedback on how easy it is to use our services	Target	83%	83%	83%	83%	85%
	Actual	83%	83%
Number of offices in our estate	Target	16	14	11	11	11
	Actual	16	14
All in-scope procurements to include 10% Evaluation for Social Value and Environmental Sustainability	Target	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
	Actual	100%	100%
Percentage of non-conformances closed out within agreed timescales; number of Opportunities for Improvement identified	Target	-	-	90%	90%	90%
	Actual	-	-
Carbon emissions from agency activities	Target	-	-	Establish baseline	Decrease	Decrease
	Actual	-	-

Delivery plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Brighton colleagues relocated to regional centres Progress AI Roadmap initiatives	Launch our new case management system INSSight Chatham colleagues relocated to regional centres Finalise our office operating model Progress AI Roadmap initiatives	New document production service live Implement Information and Collaboration enhancements Progress AI Roadmap initiatives Start discovery on INSSight plus and Litigation Case Management Microsoft Co-Pilot scaled roll out	New Service Integrator in place for technology services Progress AI Roadmap initiatives	Progress AI Roadmap initiatives	Progress AI Roadmap initiatives

6. Shape the Agency as a great place to work

Outcomes

Excellent delivery is enabled by the having the right people, with the right skills in the right places. Our ambition is to have a flexible workforce empowered and rewarded to develop their capability and professional skills, moving skilled colleagues onto priority work, resulting in an improvement in the customer experience. We want to be an employer of choice where people are engaged and leadership, particularly through change, is recognised as a strength in all our leaders. This will help enable us to meet fluctuations in demand quickly and easily and be agile enough to adopt new ways of working effectively and efficiently.

Our plan is to provide all employees with office accommodation which enables them to work productively and collaboratively. We will ensure that our estate is high quality, fit for purpose, provides value for money, and is sustainable. This will underpin the delivery of our operational plans, as well as align with and contribute to government strategies.

Outcomes

Improved change leadership

Improved demonstration of values

Create an Agency that fulfils career aspiration and where our people want to stay

Activity

We will:

• improve our employee value proposition focusing on outreach, career pathways, pay and benefits, accessibility, and candidate experience
• promote a flexibility culture to support better career pathways and workload management
• continue to build our Brilliant Leadership community, through delivery of our Brilliant Leadership programme for all new leaders and continuing to integrate a Brilliant Leadership approach into our senior leadership events and our Regional Centres

Measures

Leadership and Managing Change score in the people survey

My manager score in the people survey

Employee engagement index

Attrition rate

Percentage of internal promotions

Number of internal moves to support the business need

Percentage of our people assigned to Regional Centres

Building User Satisfaction Score

Performance metrics

Measure		23/24	24/25	25/26	26/27	27/28
Leadership and Managing Change score in the people survey	Target	54-57%	57-60%	Equal or better CS benchmark	Equal or better CS benchmark	Equal or better CS benchmark
	Actual	52%	53%
My manager people score in the people survey	Target	Increase	Increase	Increase	Increase	Increase
	Actual	83%	80%
Employee engagement index	Target	62%	64%	Equal or better CS benchmark	Equal or better CS benchmark	Equal or better CS benchmark
	Actual	60%	59%
Staff attrition rate	Target	<10.5%	<10.5%	<10.3%	<10.0%	<10.0%
	Actual	10.4%	9.9%
Percentage of internal promotions	Target	5-11%	5-11%	5-11%	5-11%	5-11%
	Actual	7.4%	11.5%
Number of internal moves to support the business need	Target	5% (82)	>20	>20	>20	>20
	Actual	49	14
Percentage of our people assigned to Regional Centres	Target	-	90%	96%	100%	100%
	Actual	85.4%	97%
Building User Satisfaction Score	Target	-	Establish baseline	Increase	Increase	Increase
	Actual		65%

Delivery plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Launch of Railcard scheme for employees	Launch of new Employee Assistance Provider offering	Alignment to Civil Service grades and launch of updated pay policy	Launch of an Organisational Secondment programme	Launch of our new Wellbeing Vision Launch of a Bursaries programme to improve our L&D offering	New HR Shared Services model implementation

7. Sharpen our financial model to ensure sustainability

Outcomes

Our Official Receivers perform an essential public service, often dealing with cases where there is no viable alternative. Official Receiver operations are funded out of fees charged on cases, and income is dependent on a range of factors including the volume and type of cases we receive as well as the recoverability of fees charged. Asset values and bankruptcy volumes continue to be suppressed compared to pre-pandemic levels, which has created a significant funding challenge. In response, inflationary increases have been applied to our fees, further process efficiencies, including from our new case management system, will reduce our cost base and we are working with DBT and HMT to secure funding for the residual shortfall as part of the Spending Review.

Our new case management system will lead to further efficiencies when implemented. We have also made substantial progress with our Transforming Workplaces project which will reduce our estates footprint by about half, driving down annual property costs.

Changes to the way our investigation and enforcement functions are to be funded were implemented in 2024 following the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act being passed into law. The change to a fee funding model provides the means to meet the expected increased demand for our services from the Companies House Reforms.

Outcomes

Improved financial sustainability

Improved efficiency

Activity

We will:

• continue implementation and monitoring of new and existing financial sustainability activity in relation to fees, process improvements and commercial approach

• increase our in-house benefit management capacity and expertise and develop our benefit evaluation and benchmarking tools

• establish a structure for annual review of all fees

• undertake a feasibility assessment into joining the government Matrix programme to support broader government shared services strategy efficiencies.

• explore opportunities for managing payments to customers, enabling faster payments and reducing operational costs

• establish a Working Capital Policy to support efficient use of cash surpluses

Measures

• Funding from fees increasing, savings from process improvements
• Commercial savings and spending with SME

Performance metrics

Measure		23/24	24/25	25/26	26/27	27/28
Financial Sustainability – Fees review	Target	£2.6m	£4.5m	£8.2m	£8.3m	Nil*
	Actual	£2.6m	£4.1m
Financial Sustainability – Process improvement savings	Target		£0.9m	£0.9m	£0.9m	Nil*
	Actual	£0.3m	£0.8m
Minimum Commercial Savings	Target	£2.2m	£2.4m	£2.4m	£2.4m	£2.4m
	Actual	£3.4m	£4.9m
Spend with SMEs	Target	30%	30%	33%	33%	33%
	Actual	33.4%	38.2%

_{[*Note: Financial Sustainability project targets are directly linked to case volumes. As such, fluctuations in volumes will directly impact future cash-releasing benefits. Benefits will have matured by 27/28 and will cease to be measured due to inclusion in baseline numbers.]} 

Delivery plan

Q1 25/26	Q2 25/26	Q3 25/26	Q4 25/26	26/27	27/28
Finance Shared Service System feasibility assessment completed	Recruitment of Benefit Realisation and Fee Team Working Capital policy created	Customer payment assessment and feasibility and implementation plan complete	Implement tools, policies and annual timelines for benefits and fee reviews created Working Capital Policy implemented and cash transfers to HMT complete	Implement annual cycles for benefits and fee review Implement customer payment solution efficiencies	All fee reviews complete and implementation plan complete Finance Shared Service System or alternative go live

Our Strategic Assessment for 2025/26

The Strategic Assessment aims to provide a detailed assessment of the current and future threat picture facing the UK economy, corporate businesses, consumers and the Insolvency Service. It sets out key judgements made on the key threat areas which are impacting on the Agency as well as the main areas where we continue to need to deepen our understanding of the threats (strategic intelligence requirement). The main threat areas seen align with the three strategic objectives set out in our strategy and is deliberately a more expansive exposition of the increasingly complex landscape of threats relevant to the Agency’s work.

Part I of the Strategic Assessment describes the key threats we see to the integrity of the UK’s insolvency framework. Key concerns relate to:

•           poor practice in the Individual Voluntary Arrangement sector

•           the use of insolvency proceedings to asset strip

•           impersonation of and direct threats to the Insolvency Service itself

Part II focuses on threats to the integrity of the UK’s company law frameworks, describing the misconduct of directors and misuse of corporate structures in general terms. It sets out some of the general typologies of activity seen, such as:

•           phoenixism

•           the creation of deliberately opaque and complex corporate structures

•           mass company incorporations

•           the employment of ‘front’ people and nominees

•           the evasion of director disqualification orders

Part III goes into more detail on the typologies of economic crime threats facilitated through companies that are now driving much of the misconduct by directors and misuse of corporate structures. This includes current assessments of threats across:

•           fraud

•           money laundering and asset concealment

•           complicit professional enablers

Through the Agency’s work enforcing the UK’s insolvency and company frameworks, we are increasingly helping tackling forms of fraud, money laundering and tackling economic crime.

The Insolvency Service continues to play a central role holding to account those who fraudulently benefited from government COVID Loan Schemes. Our responsibilities upholding the insolvency and company legal frameworks lead us to taking on cases involving a range of fraudulent activities targeting the public.

Meanwhile, our intelligence capabilities are playing an increasingly important role in identifying money laundering where it features in corporate and/or insolvency activity. Similarly, we are working with key partners to help build our intelligence picture on the professional enablers of economic crime. 

Functional Standards in the Agency

Functions enable excellence and consistency in the delivery of policy and services across government. They form a framework for collaboration across organisational boundaries and support efficient and effective delivery of public services. The Insolvency Service is committed to ensuring our activities, processes and systems are aligned to those of our functions and their standards, in a way that is proportionate and meets the Agency’s business needs and priorities. This will ensure a consistent and coherent way of working across the Agency. Every function Head continues to ensure that identified improvements are embedded in their function through the delivery of their business plan.

Activity

Functional Standard	Activity	Timing
GovS 001 Government Functions	Undertake a review of the overall Agency position against all functional standards as part of our internal audit programme. This will be undertaken by the Government Internal Audit Agency.	March 2026
GovS 002 Project Delivery	The next self-assessment is scheduled to take place April 2025 which will determine areas of focus to further increase compliance during FY 2025/2026	March 2026
GovS 003 Human Resources	Continue to build on our strategic workforce planning capability as well as improving the quality of performance conversations and resultant actions by line managers and individuals	December 2025
GovS 004 Property	Establish a framework and process for continuous improvement including periodic reviews and metrics associated with strategic alignment, operational performance, and user satisfaction	December 2025
GovS 005 Digital, Data and Technology	This year we plan to further embed our organisational design, project delivery and changes in governance to ensure full compliance across the standard is met and maintained (arrange peer review 25/26)	September 2025
GovS 006 Finance	During Q3 and Q4 25/26 the Agency will revisit all sections of this standard to ensure all policies, processes and procedures that support the assessments are still in place. We will consider the outcomes from the Peer Review assessment and ensure that both confirmed compliance with the standard and changes needed to address any gaps are captured in the future requirements for our new Finance System	October 2025
GovS 007 Security	Maintain current high standards of Protective Security, by conducting the annual Departmental Security Health Check	December 2025
	Continue to perform a full range of inspection and assurance activities, publish Personal Security Guidance for all staff, and develop a 5-year Physical Security and Resilience Strategy	September 2025
GovS 008 Commercial	INSS Commercial shall produce and publish a Development Plan by early May based on the areas identified within the CCIAF	May 2025
	This Development Plan shall be reviewed regularly with updates to Cabinet Office on progress against delivery	Ongoing
GovS 009 Internal Audit	Following self- assessment in the second quarter of 2024/25 where all areas were considered met, further self-assessment will be undertaken in line with the Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework to ensure we remain compliant	September 2025
GovS 010 Analysis	Complete second assessment against functional standard to measure impact of previous improvements and to identify any further areas for change	September 2025
GovS 011 Communication	Our 2025-26 communications plan supports Government Communication Services ‘Performance with Purpose’ strategy by enhancing stakeholder engagement and visibility of enforcement outcomes. These initiatives, approved by the Insolvency Service Board, will be evaluated through the GCS Evaluation Cycle to deliver measurable value for stakeholders and the public, while supporting broader government priorities	October 2025
GovS 013 Counter Fraud	The Agency is in the process of strengthening the detection, prevention, and reporting of fraud to ensure continued and improved compliance with the Functional Standard and the Public Sector Fraud Authority expectations. The outcomes will inform a refreshed Counter Fraud Strategy	September 2025
GovS 014 Debt	During 25/26 the Agency shall aim to move all offline debt onto a single software platform which is already in place and used for Finance related activities	March 2026
	During Q4 25/26 the Agency will revisit all sections of this standard to ensure all policies, processes and procedures that support the assessments are still in place	October 2025

Our Finances (2023/24 to 2027/28)

The Insolvency Service is funded through fees charged, funding from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and other income from Companies House and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). 

Income & Funding 

Funding
(Consumed / Required)	Actual	Actual	Forecast	Forecast	Forecast
	2023/24	2024/25	2025/26	2026/27	2027/28
Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL)	£84.3m	£49.7m	£53.2m	£61.2m	£61.2m
Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL)	£7.7m	£4.6m	£0.8m	£1.7m	£1.4m
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME)	£470.5m	£449.4m	£480.3m	£480.3m	£480.3m
Total Funding	£562.4m	£503.8m	£534.3m	£543.2m	£542.9m
Total Income	£67.7m	£109.3m	£141.1m	£145.7m	£147.0m
Total Income & Funding	£630.1m	£613.0m	£675.4m	£688.9m	£689.9m

Funding is from the Department for Business and Trade and the amounts in 2026/27, and future years are dependent on the outcome of the Spending Review, which is due to be concluded in the Spring. It covers:

• Funding for our investigation and enforcement activity related to major casework and the investigation and prosecution of various non-company related criminal offences.
• Funding to manage and administer debt relief order applications, following the previous government’s decision to abolish the debt relief order fee in April 2024.
• Funding to manage and administer breathing space applications.
• Funding for our Policy team to progress strategic insolvency policy aims.
• Funding to cover a shortfall in Official Receiver Services fees due to an increasing proportion of cases having nil or low value assets and case volumes running materially below previous levels.
• Funding to support our activities to help identify and tackle money laundering.
• Funding to modernise and further improve our technology, secure improvements to the customer experience and ensure the insolvency framework delivers for stakeholders and the economy.
• Funding from the National Insurance Fund (NIF) for the expected value of redundancy pay and other statutory entitlements we will make to people who lose their jobs because their employer has become insolvent.

Total income includes:

• Insolvency Service Fee Income: Fees are charged for services, as set out in legislation, and they are set on a cost recovery basis in line with Managing Public Money (HM Treasury guidance).
• Income from HMRC: to fund the administration of the Redundancy Payments Service, a function we deliver on behalf of DBT but for which funding is provided by HMRC from the National Insurance Fund.
• Income from Companies House: the implementation of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 allowed for the cost of our company investigation and enforcement functions to be recovered from the fees charged by Companies House for company incorporations and annual confirmation statements.

2025/26 Budget (excluding AME)

The following two charts provide a visual breakdown of our planned RDEL and CDEL spending in 2025/26, offering insights into how we intend to allocate our income and funding: