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Levels of statutory fee recovery on Bankruptcies and Compulsory Liquidations, 2017/18 to 2021/22

Published 27 October 2023

Applies to England and Wales

These tables show the proportion of bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations which paid different levels of statutory fees. They include all bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation cases between 2017/18 and 2021/22. They are sourced from live Insolvency Service administrative systems and therefore figures would be revised in any future update.

Insolvency cases are funded through fees collected from asset realisation on insolvent estates. The main fee in an insolvency case is the administration fee which covers the basic cost of completing the case and is charged in every case. However, asset recoveries are uncertain and, in many cases, insufficient to cover the administration fee. Therefore, to cover this shortfall, an additional fee called the Official Receiver’s General Fee is charged in all cases.

Fee levels are set in legislation and for the period of this analysis were:

Fee type	Amount
Official receiver’s administration fee following debtor’s application	£1,990
Official receiver’s administration fee following creditor’s petition	£2,775
Winding up by the court other than a winding up on a petition presented under section 124A – official receiver’s administration fee	£5,000
Winding up by the court on a petition presented under section 124A – official receiver’s administration fee	£7,500
Official receiver’s general fee	£6,000

Source: The Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) Order 2016

When the Official Receiver realises assets on an insolvent’s estate a fee equal to 15% of the chargeable receipts is paid to cover the cost of them acting as trustee. This fee is not charged when an Insolvency Practitioner (IP) acts as trustee, the IP’s costs are recoverable after the administration and general fee are recovered. The analysis in the tables includes all cases regardless of whether the assets were realised by the Official Receiver, or an Insolvency Practitioner, so the analysis has taken account of the 15% fee when the Official Receiver was the office holder, when calculating the proportion of cases that pay statutory fees.

Asset realisation on a case can often take several years, so the data from more recent financial years is more likely to show lower levels of fee recovery. For example, an Income Payment Agreement can run for up to three years from the date the order was granted, other assets can take even longer. Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) refunds have been a significant and common asset on bankrupts’ estates. The deadline for submitting complaints for PPI mis selling was 29 August 2019, so asset levels for earlier years in this time series are likely to be higher than we would normally expect due to these realisations.

Data was taken from our administrative system in February 2023, asset realisations completed after this date will not appear in the tables. If a bankrupt is able to pay off all their debts and statutory fees their bankruptcy can be annulled. We’ve included this small number of cases in the data set as it reflects cases paying fees.

The following tables break down the level of statutory fees recovered by case type.

Debtor Applications

Table 1 shows all debtor application bankruptcy cases received in 2017/18 to 2021/22 financial years, by the level of statutory of fees that were received.

Table 1: The percentage of debtor application bankruptcy cases that recovered statutory fees

England and Wales, financial years 2017/18 to 2021/22, as at February 2023

	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
No Assets	38%	41%	50%	55%	57%
Cases where assets were less than or just enough to pay off Administration Fee	41%	38%	34%	33%	33%
Cases where additional assets were less than or just enough to pay off General Fee	16%	14%	11%	8%	7%
Asset realisation was greater than Administration and General Fees	6%	6%	5%	4%	3%
Number of Cases	11,984	13,245	13,951	9,846	6,669

Source: Insolvency Service Administrative Systems

Creditor Initiated Bankruptcy

Table 2 shows all creditor initiated bankruptcy cases received in 2017/18 to 2021/22 financial years, by the level of statutory of fees that were received.

Table 2: The percentage of creditor initiated bankruptcy cases that recovered statutory fees

England and Wales, financial years 2017/18 to 2021/22, as at February 2023

	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
No Assets	36%	39%	47%	55%	61%
Cases where assets were less than or just enough to pay off Administration Fee	22%	21%	19%	15%	20%
Cases where additional assets were less than or just enough to pay off General Fee	14%	15%	11%	10%	8%
Asset realisation was greater than Administration and General Fees	27%	25%	23%	20%	11%
Number of cases	3,425	3,483	2,907	1,029	1,094

Source: Insolvency Service Administrative Systems

Compulsory Liquidations

Table 3 shows all compulsory liquidation cases received in 2017/18 to 2021/22 financial years, by the level of statutory of fees that were received.

Table 3: The percentage of compulsory liquidation cases that recovered statutory fees

England and Wales, financial years 2017/18 to 2021/22, as at February 2023

	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
No Assets	67%	69%	68%	68%	77%
Cases where assets were less than or just enough to pay off Administration Fee	18%	16%	18%	15%	13%
Cases where additional assets were less than or just enough to pay off General Fee	5%	5%	5%	4%	3%
Asset realisation was greater than Administration and General Fees	9%	10%	10%	12%	7%
Number of Cases	2,702	3,124	2,831	769	714

Source: Insolvency Service Administrative Systems