The latest figures from the Insolvency Service show that the number of Creditor Voluntary Liquidations have more than doubled for the first month of 2022 when compared with January 2021.
In January 2022 there were 1,358 Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations (CVLs), more than double the number in January 2021, and 34% higher than in January 2020.
Numbers for other types of company insolvencies, such as compulsory liquidations, remained lower than before the pandemic, although there were more than twice as many compulsory liquidations as in January 2021.
The number of registered company insolvencies in January 2022 was 1,560:
- More than double the number registered in the same month in the previous year (758 in January 2021), and
- Similar to the number registered two years previously (pre-pandemic; 1,508 in January 2020).
For individuals and personal insolvency, 575 bankruptcies were registered, which was 32% lower than in January 2021 and 63% lower than January 2020.
There were 1,873 Debt Relief Orders (DROs) in January 2022. Following changes to the eligibility criteria on 29 June 2021 including an increase in the level of debt at which people can apply for a DRO from £20,000 to £30,000, DRO numbers were higher between July 2021 and January 2022 than in previous months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of DROs registered in January 2022 was 59% higher than in January 2021 but remained lower than pre-pandemic levels (15% lower than in January 2020).
There were, on average, 6,281 IVAs registered per month in the three-month period ending January 2022, which is 10% lower than the three-month period ending January 2021, but 5% higher than the three-month period ending January 2020. IVA numbers have remained fairly stable at around 6,000 to 7,000 per month over the past year.
Between the launch of the Breathing Space scheme on 4 May 2021, and 31 January 2022, there were 46,406 registrations, comprised of 45,710 Standard breathing space registrations and 696 Mental Health breathing space registrations. These schemes were designed to help people with a collection of debt problems.