Individual insolvencies, December 2025
Monthly tables and commentary on the numbers and rates of individual insolvencies, including bankruptcies, debt relief orders and individual voluntary arrangements in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and quarterly information for Scotland. For England and Wales, Breathing Space scheme statistics are also included.
Documents
Details
Annual summary for 2025
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The number of individual insolvencies registered in 2025 was 126,240, 7% higher than the 117,958 in 2024 and the highest since 2010. Debt relief orders (DROs) were at the highest annual level since their introduction in 2009.
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The number of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) in 2025 was higher than 2024, but remained lower than the record-high annual numbers seen between 2019 and 2022. Bankruptcy numbers were slightly lower than in 2024 and remained less than half of pre-2020 levels.
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In 2025, one in 395 adults in England and Wales entered insolvency (at a rate of 25.3 per 10,000 adults). This is higher than the rate of one in 415 adults (24.1 per 10,000 adults) in 2024.
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In 2025, there were 89,130 breathing spaces registered, a similar level to 2024 and the highest annual total since the start of the scheme in 2021.
Monthly summary
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In December 2025, 13,453 individual insolvencies were registered in England and Wales, however this number includes many IVAs that were agreed in November but not registered until December. This is because there was a temporary backlog of IVAs that was processed in December following the Insolvency Service moving to a new case management system. The total number of individual insolvencies for November and December 2025 was 15% higher than the equivalent two months of 2024.
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The individual insolvencies consisted of 601 bankruptcies, 4,150 debt relief orders (DROs) and 8,702 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). DRO numbers in December 2025 were slightly lower than the record high seen in August 2025. Numbers of IVAs in November and December were affected by a temporary backlog, meaning that IVAs that would otherwise have been registered in November were instead registered in December. The total number of registered IVAs for November 2025 and December 2025 was 18% higher than the equivalent two months of 2024. Bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels but were 4% higher than in December 2024.
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There were 3,884 Breathing Space registrations in December 2025. This is 31% lower than in December 2024.