UK Construction and Law

Construction is still the largest single source of company insolvencies, at 3,841 in the twelve months to July

By Staff Writer  |  20 August 2026

The July 2026 company insolvency figures for England and Wales put construction at the top of the industry table for another twelve month period, with 3,841 cases, 17 per cent of every insolvency where an industry was recorded. Monthly insolvencies rose 5 per cent on June to 1,931 but sit 5 per cent below July last year, and the rolling rate has fallen from 52.5 to 50.3 per 10,000 companies.

The monthly release was published on 18 August 2026. It records 1,931 registered company insolvencies in England and Wales in July, 5 per cent above the 1,847 recorded in June and 5 per cent below the 2,031 recorded in July 2025. The composition was 288 compulsory liquidations, 1,497 creditors' voluntary liquidations, 124 administrations and 22 company voluntary arrangements. There were no receivership appointments.

The industry table, and the caution attached to it

Over the twelve months to July 2026 the six industries with the highest numbers were construction on 3,841 cases, 17 per cent of those where an industry was captured; wholesale and retail trade including the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles on 3,422, 15 per cent; accommodation and food service activities on 3,221, 14 per cent; administrative and support service activities on 2,212, 10 per cent; professional, scientific and technical activities on 1,909, 8 per cent; and manufacturing on 1,858, 8 per cent.

The release attaches a caution to that table which anyone repeating the figure should carry with it. Volumes by industry are partly driven by how many companies sit on the effective register in each sector, so the table does not show the relative likelihood of a company in any given sector entering insolvency. Rates per 10,000 businesses by sector are published separately. The classification is also self-reported: the first recorded code on the Companies House register decides which industry a company is counted in, which is a blunt instrument for a group that builds, fits out and develops through separate vehicles.

The direction of travel is down, slowly

One in 199 companies, a rate of 50.3 per 10,000 on the effective register, entered insolvency between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026. That is below the 52.5 per 10,000 recorded for the twelve months to 31 July 2025. Rates are calculated on a twelve month rolling basis to strip out single month volatility. The release notes that although the rate has risen from the lows of 2020 and 2021, it remains far below the 113.1 per 10,000 seen in the 2008 to 2009 recession, because the number of companies on the register has more than doubled since then.

Administrations tell their own story. At 124 they were 33 per cent below June, when about 60 connected companies in the real estate sector entered administration together, and 19 per cent below July 2025. A single connected group can move a monthly administration figure by a third, which is worth remembering before treating any one month as a trend.

Businesses came under renewed pressure in July as corporate insolvencies increased by 5% month-on-month to 1,931. While the number of insolvencies was still below the level recorded a year earlier, the rise suggests many firms are still suffering from the impact of the uncertain economic environment.

Sonia Jordan, President of R3

Sonia Jordan, president of the insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, said that construction and manufacturing both sit among the six industries with the highest insolvencies and will be looking to the autumn Budget for further targeted support. She pointed to job vacancies at a five year low, and to firms citing labour and operating costs as reasons for scaling back hiring, against economic growth of 0.4 per cent in the three months to June.

Personal insolvencies were flat month on month, with 11,926 people entering a formal process in July against 11,934 in June, but 14 per cent above a year earlier. For a trade that carries a long tail of sole traders and small partnerships, that second figure is the one to watch.

The reading to take away is that the overall insolvency rate is easing and that construction still produces more insolvencies than any other sector by a clear margin. Both are true at once, and it is the second that shows up in a credit check on a subcontractor.