Huge rise in companies going bust

Friday 24 Jul, 2009

The recession is putting more and more companies out of business

The Insolvency Service said that in the last three months of 2008 there were 2,428 corporate insolvencies such as administrations and receiverships.

That was a 220% rise on the same period the year before.

In the same period, 29,444 people were made bankrupt or entered an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), 19% more than a year ago.

Of those, 19,100 were bankruptcies while 10,344 were IVAs. 

Corporate liquidations, the end stage of the insolvency process, also rose strongly, with 4,607 firms being wound up in England & Wales in the last three months of 2008, 52% more than a year before. 

The figures from the Insolvency Service highlight the toll that has been taken on companies by the rapid lurch into recession.