Insolvency data - 2020 to 2025
FOI reference - FOI-449
Date - 12 January 2026
Request
I am seeking anonymised data on the following from April 6 2020 to April 5 2025:
- The number of employers that entered insolvency (including liquidation, administration, or equivalent insolvency proceedings) while having outstanding workplace pension contribution arrears, broken down by financial year.
- The total monetary value (£) of unpaid pension contributions owed by employers at the point they entered insolvency, broken down by financial year for the same period.
- Only if held, please also provide partial data for both questions for the financial year 2025 to 2026 to date (April 6 2025 to 12 January 2026)
On 16 January 2026, you kindly provided the following clarification:
“To confirm:
Type of pension scheme
- Please provide the data solely in relation to Defined Contribution (DC) workplace pension schemes, based on the late payment reports held by The Pensions Regulator. I understand that centrally held data on Defined Benefit schemes may not be available.
Definition of arrears
- For the purposes of this request, please define “arrears” as unpaid employer pension contributions that had been reported as late or unpaid to The Pensions Regulator and remained outstanding at the point the employer entered insolvency (including liquidation, administration, or equivalent proceedings), based on the information available to you at that time.
Where exact confirmation of final recovery is not held, please provide the best available recorded value of unpaid contributions at or immediately prior to insolvency, as captured through late payment reporting or related compliance activity.
If partial or indicative data is held rather than a complete dataset, I would still be grateful for this, with any relevant caveats noted.”
Response
- The number of employers that entered insolvency (including liquidation, administration, or equivalent insolvency proceedings) while having unpaid employer pension contributions [owing to (a) DC pension scheme (s)] that had been reported as late or unpaid to The Pensions Regulator and remained outstanding at the point the employer entered insolvency (including liquidation, administration, or equivalent proceedings) broken down by financial year.
|
Year |
Number of Employers |
|---|---|
|
2020/21 |
1842 |
|
2021/22 |
3255 |
|
2022/23 |
3980 |
|
2023/24 |
4246 |
|
2024/25 |
5121 |
|
2025/26 |
4486 |
- The total monetary value (£) of unpaid pension contributions owed by employers [to DC workplace pension schemes] that had been reported as late or unpaid to The Pensions Regulator and remained outstanding at the point the employer entered insolvency(including liquidation, administration, or equivalent proceedings), broken down by financial year for the same period.
|
Year |
Total monetary value (£) |
|---|---|
|
2020/21 |
£ 7,096,494.19 |
|
2021/22 |
£ 15,353,117.46 |
|
2022/23 |
£ 28,427,888.40 |
|
2023/24 |
£ 26,400,214.80 |
|
2024/25 |
£ 32,600,839.85 |
|
2025/26 (April 6 2025 to 12 January 2026) |
£ 30,629,440.78 |
Please note, these figures include both employer and employee contributions, and only relate to defined contribution schemes.
Background Information
When a registered UK limited company enters insolvency, the insolvency practitioner works with the pension scheme on securing any outstanding pension contributions through the insolvency process to try and ensure savers lose as little as possible. These contributions would be payable to the pension scheme.