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Registered company insolvencies across England and Wales spiked 71% year-on-year to 1,348 in August 2021.
The figure, which was slightly below August 2019’s 1,366 insolvencies, consisted of 1,256 CVLs, 35 compulsory liquidations, two CVAs, and 55 administrations.
This represented a year-on-year climb of over 50% for both CVLs and compulsory liquidations, while administrations and CVAs fell by 50% and 87% respectively when compared to August 2020.
As for Scotland and Ireland, which operate under partly devolved legislation, registered company insolvencies roughly doubled to 89 and nine respectively.
While Northern Ireland followed a similar pattern of remaining below August 2019’s insolvency levels, company insolvencies across Scotland sat 13% higher than the pre-pandemic figure.
Chris Tate, Restructuring and Insolvency Director at Azets, commented: “Whilst the overall number of company insolvencies has slowly returned to pre-pandemic levels – 1,348 in August 2021 versus 1,366 in August 2019 – unsurprisingly compulsory liquidation (CWU) numbers remain low.
“With some courts currently experiencing significant backlogs, the number of CWUs may continue to be impacted immediately following the removal of the temporary moratorium on winding-up petitions introduced last year to provide much-needed protection to businesses in financial distress as a result of the pandemic.”
