Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
New official figures published by Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) show a marked deterioration in both personal and corporate financial distress across Scotland in the first quarter of 2026, with insolvencies rising significantly compared with the same period a year ago. There were 2,003 personal insolvencies, encompassing bankruptcies and protected trust deeds, in the January to…
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Billpayers are set to benefit from a stronger energy regulator, under reforms of its remit set out by the Government. The transformation will empower the energy regulator, Ofgem, to ensure energy consumers are treated fairly, including measures to guarantee good market practice. This is the first major update to Ofgem’s scope since the regulator was…
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While the use of AI in payments management continues to grow, the UK is proving slower to adopt AI solutions than its European peers, with skills gaps and regulatory uncertainty slowing progress according to new research by Intrum. Intrum’s European Payment Report, based on a survey of over 8,000 businesses in 20 markets, is produced…
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Consumer confidence declined by three percentage points during the first quarter of 2026 to reach its lowest level since Q3 2023, according to the latest Deloitte Consumer Tracker. The fall in confidence, based on responses from 3,200 UK consumers aged 18+, was also the biggest quarterly drop since Q1 2022. Overall confidence was also down…
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Latest monthly statistics from the Insolvency Service have shown that business insolvencies and personal insolvencies rose in Northern Ireland in March 2026. The data showed that there were 35 company insolvencies registered in Northern Ireland, 21% higher than in March 2025. The insolvencies comprised of 25 compulsory liquidations, nine CVLs and one CVA. There were…
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Latest monthly figures from the Insolvency Service for England & Wales have indicated that personal insolvencies increased by 3% when compared to February 2026 and 30% higher than in March 2025, totalling 12,252 personal insolvencies The insolvencies consisted of 654 bankruptcies, 4,523 debt relief orders (DROs) and 7,075 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). T The 7,075 IVAs registered…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA) has set out ten challenges for how public sector recoveries and collections could evolve, to better support people in financial difficulty and improve outcomes for taxpayers. The new paper, published by the CSA, is titled ‘Ten key discussions in the debate around modernising public sector collections.’ The trade body for…
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The Government has announced that is it modernising rules around council tax debt collection, as the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government responded to their modernisation consultation. The Government announced that the timeframe before a person loses the right to pay in instalments will be extended from one missed payment to three, and at…
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AI-enabled automation software specialist, Aryza has announced the acquisition of Umbrella Tech, a voice-based agentic AI for the financial services industry. Featuring hyper-realistic voices and advanced speech analytics, Umbrella Tech enables organisations to automate collections, customer service, and compliance journeys with accuracy, speed, and multilingual support in over 100 languages worldwide. Colin Brown, CEO of…
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British households reduced non-essential spending last month due to rising fuel prices and uncertainty from the Iran war. According to Barclays’ consumer spending report, fuel spending rose 1.6% year-on-year, pushing essential spending up by 0.5%. However, non-essential spending growth slowed to 1.1%, with travel spending down 3.3% due to flight disruptions. Consumer card spending increased…
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Rising energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East will cause a drop in living standards for households, according to new analysis by the Resolution Foundation Despite some lower-income households receiving a long-overdue real-terms increase in their benefits, we now estimate – based on market-forecasts for the rise in energy prices consistent with…
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Neither the Covid-19 pandemic nor the cost-of-living crisis produced significant deterioration in average collections on established paying portfolios, according to analysis by credit management firm Intrum. Using advanced econometric techniques, Intrum examined the performance of proprietary portfolios of defaulted debt between 2016 and 2025. The analysis examined the influence of macroeconomic variables (such as real…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that second charge mortgage new business volumes grew by 27% in February 2026. Commenting on the latest new business figures for the second charge mortgage market, Geraldine Kilkelly, Director of Research and Chief Economist at the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA), said “The second…
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