More UK firms are in trouble than at any time since 2004. Will more go bust?
The insolvency firm BTG says 738,144 UK businesses were in serious money trouble from July to September, the most since 2004.
What happened
There were 738,144 businesses in significant financial distress in the third quarter of 2026, up 1.6% on a year earlier, according to BTG, the highest level since its red flag report began in 2004.
738,144 UK businesses were in serious money trouble from July to September. That is 1.6% more than a year before and the highest number since 2004, when the insolvency firm BTG, then called Begbies Traynor, began counting. Support services, building and property had the most businesses in trouble, and the number of bars and restaurants in trouble rose 5%.
Mark Fry, the head of BTG, said firms face higher costs for staff, energy and borrowing. BTG also found that businesses owed £27.3bn in unpaid tax to HMRC, the UK tax office, at the end of August. The Chancellor, John Healey, presents his first Budget on Wednesday and has promised businesses more “breathing space“.
The number of companies that actually failed has been falling. A company becomes insolvent when it cannot pay its debts and enters a formal process to close or be rescued. The Insolvency Service, the government agency that counts these, recorded 1,882 in England and Wales in September, 4% fewer than in August and 5% fewer than a year before. One kind went up: compulsory liquidations, where a creditor such as HMRC asks a court to close a company, rose to 341, 25% more than a year before.
Company insolvencies, . Release date: 9:30am (confirmed)
Insolvency Service, GOV.UK
The October figure is out on . The latest official table puts at 2,022, so would need at least 2,023, about 7.5% more than September, to come in higher. The Budget falls three days before the end of October.
Sources: theguardian.com
The Pattern
We looked for cases where the UK government presented a Budget or a similar statement that cut taxes or costs for business, and checked company insolvencies in England and Wales for that month. We found seven such months since 2022. Each time we checked how far the first official count moved from the month before.
Show the other 5 cases
The Read
A jump of more than 8% in one month came only once in those seven Budget months, in , and the February figure it was measured from had already been lowered. In 2025 and 2026 so far, two of 20 monthly changes were rises above 7.5%, in and . The Insolvency Service says the average change between months over three years was 7%, up or down.
There are reasons for doubt. BTG now counts more businesses in trouble than at any time since 2004, so more than in any of those seven months. Compulsory liquidations rose in August and September. Between March and more than 250 connected property companies went into administration, a rescue process, and one such group in October could add the 140 or so failures needed. Before 2024 the monthly figures were not adjusted for the time of year, and the figure may change again on .
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