European e-Justice Portal

What does The Insolvency Service (The Service) of England and Wales offer?

The Insolvency Service is required by statute to maintain the individual insolvency and bankruptcy and debt relief restrictions registers. The ‘Individual Insolvency Register’ is an amalgamation of these two registers and it contains details of:

bankruptcies that are current or have ended in the last 3 months
debt relief orders that are current or have ended in the last 3 months
current individual voluntary arrangements, including those that have ended in the last 3 months
current bankruptcy restrictions orders or undertakings and interim bankruptcy restrictions orders
current debt relief restrictions orders or undertakings and interim debt relief restrictions orders.

Is access to the Individual Insolvency register for England and Wales free of charge?

Yes, access to the register is free of charge.

How to search the Individual Insolvency Register for England and Wales

The register is located on the Insolvency Service's website, and can be accessed under 'Search the Individual Insolvency Register'. By clicking on the "search the register" link,it may be searched using an individual's name or trading name. There are also links to search the quivalent registers in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

History of The Insolvency Service of England and Wales

The Insolvency Service is an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and through the official receiver it:

administers and investigates the affairs of bankrupts, individuals subject to debt relief orders, and companies and partnerships wound up by the court, and establishes why they became insolvent
acts as trustee/ liquidator where no private-sector insolvency practitioner is appointed

The Insolvency Service also:

prepares and takes forward reports about misconduct by bankrupt people,individuals subject to debt relief orders, and company directors
deals with the disqualification of unfit directors in all corporate failures
deals with bankruptcy restriction orders and undertakings, and debt relief restrictions orders and undertakings
acts as oversight regulator to the insolvency profession
assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer is legally insolvent
provides estate accounting and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds
conducts confidential fact finding investigations into companies where these are in the public interest
advises Ministers and government departments and agencies on insolvency, redundancy and other related issues
provides information to the public on insolvency, redundancy and investigation matters via its website, publications and Insolvency Enquiry Line.

Disclaimer of English and Welsh Individual insolvency register

The text disclaimer on the website states:

“While every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, occasionally errors may occur. If you identify information which appears to be incorrect or omitted, please inform us using the feedback links contained within this site, so that we can investigate the matter and correct the database as required.

The Insolvency Service cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions as a result of negligence or otherwise. Please note that The Insolvency Service and official receivers cannot provide legal or financial advice. You should seek this from a Citizen's Advice Bureau, a solicitor, a qualified accountant, an authorised insolvency practitioner, reputable financial advisor or advice centre.

The Individual Insolvency Register is a publicly available register and The Insolvency Service does not endorse, nor make any representations regarding, any use made of the data on the register by third parties”.

Related Links

The Insolvency Service

Individual Insolvency Register

Last update: 05/09/2018

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