What the evidence means
The Insolvency Service figure is provisional and covers registered company insolvencies in England and Wales across all procedures.
Provisional monthly figure for England and Wales.
G&G verified business evidence
Company insolvencies in England and Wales in August 2026
There were 1,946 registered company insolvencies in England and Wales in August 2026.
1,946
company insolvencies
Original source
The Insolvency Service
Company Insolvency Statistics, August 2026
The monthly commentary records 1,946 registered company insolvencies in August 2026.
View original evidence
The Insolvency Service. Company Insolvency Statistics, August 2026. 18th of September, 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/company-insolvencies-august-2026/commentary-company-insolvency-statistics-august-2026
Why this matters to UK SMEs
The monthly total provides a current indicator of corporate financial distress in England and Wales. SMEs can use it as economic context for credit control and contingency planning, but it does not predict whether an individual customer, supplier or business will fail.
Key breakdowns
August 2026 contained 314 compulsory liquidations, 1,431 creditors’ voluntary liquidations, 182 administrations and 19 company voluntary arrangements. The total of 1,946 was 1% higher than July 2026 and 3% lower than August 2025. Monthly totals in the first eight months of 2026 were slightly below the average of the preceding three years.
How to interpret this evidence
The total combines several insolvency procedures with different circumstances. Month-to-month movements can be volatile, so the procedure mix and longer trend are more informative than one headline count. A registered insolvency is a legal event and is not equivalent to every business closure or cash-flow difficulty.
Limitations
The figure is provisional and covers registered company insolvencies in England and Wales. It excludes sole traders and partnerships dealt with through personal insolvency procedures and does not cover Scotland or Northern Ireland. Counts are not adjusted for changes in the company population, making the rolling rate more suitable for longer comparisons.
Practical considerations
G&G perspective: use insolvency trends as a prompt to strengthen routine protections—current credit limits, prompt invoicing, aged-debt review, supplier concentration checks and realistic cash-flow scenarios. Decisions about a particular counterparty should rely on current, specific evidence rather than the national monthly total.