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Company insolvencies decrease

Published on 5 Feb 2010 under category: legal

New figures show the number of company insolvencies decreased last year.

The Insolvency Service's February report reveals that there were 4,566 compulsory liquidations and creditors' voluntary liquidations in total in England and Wales in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Compulsory closures were 14.2 per cent down on the last quarter of 2008, though voluntary creditors' liquidations showed a 5.7 per cent increase on that year's corresponding period.

The decrease may be down to government measures such as the HMRC 'Time to Pay Scheme', the closure of which later this year is expected to cause a spike in insolvencies.

However, the numbers were less positive for individual insolvencies which at the end of 2009 increased by 24.9 per cent on the last quarter of 2008, with 35,574 individual insolvencies being recorded in England and Wales.

Peter Sargent, the president of the insolvency trade body R3, said today: "Our members have identified an 'insolvency lag' which shows it can be years after recovery starts that insolvency figures level off.
"We are predicting 154,000 personal insolvencies for 2010, a 22.2 per cent increase on 2008 (128,046)."

If you require advice on Insolvency and Bankruptcy please call us on +44 (0) 20 7831 0101 and ask for Katherine Sillett.