12 June 2026
Winding Up Applications
An interesting month for winding up notices. Historically May is a slower months one where the status quo is maintained and notice levels tend to flatten out until July where they start to grow again toward the end of the year.
In May 2026 we did see 110 notices in the month, higher than any previous May’s since 2016 where we saw 116 in the month.
The key difference here on past years has been the early drop off in IRD advertised notices. This could be for a number of reasons:
- Public holidays (Kings birthday) being observed on 1 June would drop notices around this time as people take long weekends,
- The growing tax obligation are now under control – unlikely
- Higher appointments in the shoulder months so a slower May – doesn’t appear to be the case
- Getting the hard word from the government of the day to lay off in the lead up to the election – time will tell on this one
- Very active non-IRD creditors for the month advertising 2x the normal level of appointments for May.
In this instance we see a combination of reduced IRD notices added to non IRD creditors advertising double their usual appointment to give a reasonable high for this time of year, and representing work for insolvency practitioners in the months to come from court appointments.
Year on year 2026 remains the highest number of notices advertised to date indicating we are still on track to exceed 2025.
Company Insolvencies – Liquidations, Receiverships, and Voluntary Administrations
May 2026 wasn’t the largest month but continued to post decent figures in line with earlier months.
Solvent Liquidations 13
Shareholder Insolvent Liquidations 173
Court Insolvent Liquidations 60
Voluntary Administrations 4
Other 3
Receiverships 9
The above figures were skewed slightly to Shareholder Insolvent Liquidations with the growth in that appointment type coming straight out of Solvent Liquidations. The other appointment types are in line with their long-term averages.
While the month didn’t reach new highs it did keep 2026 above the past few years back to be in line with 2011/2012.
Personal Insolvencies – Bankruptcy, No Asset Procedure and Debt Repayment Orders.
The small gains over the past few months have started to accumulate with a rise now visible for personal insolvency in 2026, it’s by no mean massive compared to pre covid years but if it continues it may eventuate into the long-delayed rise in personal insolvency.
Where to from here?
We continue to track towards a big year as we head into the midpoint for the year. As confirmed in the most recent budget the stresses on the economy are not going away this year at least without dramatic change.
If you want to have a chat about any points raised or an issue you may have you can call on 0800 30 30 34 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..