The Individual Insolvency Register: what it shows and how long entries stay

The Individual Insolvency Register is a public database of formal personal insolvencies in England and Wales. It lists current bankruptcies, debt relief orders (DROs) and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), together with anyone who currently has bankruptcy or debt relief restrictions, and it combines what were previously separate registers for individual insolvency, bankruptcy restrictions and debt relief restrictions¹. It is maintained and kept up to date by the Insolvency Service³.

The register is free for anyone to search online, and entries normally stay on it until three months after the insolvency ends². In practice, debt charities note that it is rare for anyone other than creditors to search it⁵. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own separate registers, so an insolvency recorded in Edinburgh or Belfast does not appear on the England and Wales register⁶.

What the Individual Insolvency Register is

The Individual Insolvency Register is a public record. Details of every bankruptcy in England and Wales are recorded on it, and it is a database that can be viewed by anyone². Details of IVAs are listed on the same public register⁸, as are DROs, including any that were discharged in the last three months⁵.

The register is actually a combination of registers. It brings together the individual insolvency register, the bankruptcy restrictions register and the debt relief restrictions register into one searchable service, and these are maintained and kept up to date by the Insolvency Service³. So a single search can show not only whether someone is currently bankrupt, in an IVA or in a DRO, but also whether they are subject to restrictions order or undertaking following an investigation into their conduct before or during the insolvency.

The register exists mainly for creditors. When someone enters a formal insolvency procedure, the people and companies they owe money to need to be able to find out about it, both to stop them chasing debts that are now covered by the procedure and to register their claims. Credit reference agencies also use the register: nidirect notes that the Individual Insolvency Register is an online database used by credit reference agencies to update a person's credit rating when they have an IVA⁹. That is how an insolvency ends up reflected in your credit file even though the register and the credit file are two different things, a distinction covered later on this page.

The register can be searched using an individual's name, or a trading name in the case of sole traders³. It records bankruptcy orders, debt relief orders (DROs) and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), and it combines the individual insolvency, bankruptcy restrictions and debt relief restrictions registers, maintained and kept up to date by the Insolvency Service³.

Who is listed: bankruptcy, IVAs and debt relief orders

Three groups of people appear on the Individual Insolvency Register: those made bankrupt, those with a debt relief order, and those in an individual voluntary arrangement¹. StepChange describes the same three, noting that your details appear on the public Insolvency Register if you are on any of these insolvency solutions, and that the register also covers trust deeds in Scotland through that country's own register¹⁰.

The scale of these procedures gives a sense of how many people are on the register at any time. In July 2026 in England and Wales alone there were thousands of individual insolvencies, and in Northern Ireland in the same month there were 169 individual insolvencies, made up of 137 IVAs, 15 bankruptcies and 17 DROs¹³. In August 2026, Northern Ireland recorded 140 individual insolvencies, comprising 117 IVAs, 16 DROs and seven bankruptcies, which was 4% higher than in August 2025¹⁴.

Not every debt solution puts you on the register. Informal arrangements with creditors, debt management plans and administration orders are not formal insolvencies and are not recorded. The register is also not a list of everyone in financial difficulty: it records only the three formal procedures above, plus the restrictions orders and undertakings described in the next section.

What details the register shows about you

The information listed varies slightly according to the type of insolvency, but it generally includes your name, address, date of birth, occupation and details of the arrangement¹⁵. For bankruptcy, the register lists the personal details of the person declared bankrupt, including their name, address, occupation, the date of the bankruptcy order, and the details of the official receiver handling the case². For an IVA, the recorded details are your name, last known address, date of birth, gender, and the date the IVA was approved⁵.

Your name, including previous names, and your address will usually be made available publicly on the register¹⁶. That is the part most people find uncomfortable: the register does not just confirm that an insolvency exists, it identifies you at your home address. There is one specific exception. If you are at risk of violence, you can apply for a Persons at Risk of Violence (PARV) order to stop your name and address from being listed on the Individual Insolvency Register¹⁶. This protection exists for people, including survivors of economic abuse, whose safety would be compromised by a public listing.

What the register does not show is the detail of your finances. It does not list your debts one by one, your income, or how much you are repaying. A creditor who wants that level of detail must go through the insolvency practitioner or official receiver, not the register.

Bankruptcy and debt relief restrictions on the register

As well as the three main insolvency procedures, the Individual Insolvency Register gives details of anyone who currently has bankruptcy or debt relief restrictions¹. These come in four forms: a bankruptcy restrictions order (BRO), a bankruptcy restrictions undertaking (BRU), a debt relief restrictions order (DRRO) and a debt relief restrictions undertaking (DRRU)¹.

Restrictions are imposed where there has been dishonesty or culpable behaviour connected with the insolvency, and they extend the restrictions that apply automatically during bankruptcy, in some cases for much longer than the bankruptcy itself. They take the form of a bankruptcy restrictions order (BRO), a bankruptcy restrictions undertaking (BRU), a debt relief restrictions order (DRRO) or a debt relief restrictions undertaking (DRRU). Anyone with a bankruptcy order, a debt relief order, bankruptcy restrictions or debt relief restrictions is banned from being a company director without the court's permission¹.

The restrictions matter for eligibility too. You cannot take out a DRO if you are an undischarged bankrupt, subject to an IVA, or subject to a bankruptcy restrictions order or a debt relief restrictions order¹⁷, and you must not be involved in another formal insolvency procedure at the time you apply¹⁷. The same logic runs the other way: the rules are designed so that only one formal insolvency procedure can apply to a person at a time.

How long entries stay: usually three months after the insolvency ends

The general rule is simple: records are usually removed within three months of an insolvency case ending¹. The Insolvency Service's own register page states that information may remain active on the register for a period of up to three months following the discharge, or following notification of completion to the Insolvency Service, depending on the type of insolvency³.

Applied to each procedure:

• Bankruptcy: details normally stay on the register until three months after you are discharged from bankruptcy². The Debt Advice Foundation puts it the same way: details stay on the bankruptcy register for three months after the date of discharge¹⁵.
• IVA: your IVA is added to the online public register for its duration and removed three months after it has ended¹¹.
• DRO: your DRO details are listed on the register and removed three months after the DRO has ended¹². The Insolvency Service's guidance for creditors states the same: details remain on the register for three months after the DRO has ended¹⁸.

There are two ways an entry can last longer. First, if a bankruptcy is not discharged on schedule, the entry stays until it is. Second, in Scotland, the Accountant in Bankruptcy states that your details will normally be removed from the Register of Insolvencies 12 months after your trustee is discharged, and if you do not comply with your trustee, your details may remain on the register for longer²⁰. So the three month rule is the norm, not a guarantee, and the Scottish rule works from the trustee's discharge rather than your own.

Who can search the register, and who actually does

Anyone can access the register⁸. It is a public database, and there is no requirement to have a particular reason for searching, no fee, and no record shown to the person searched. In theory, then, an employer, a landlord, a neighbour or a potential business partner could all look you up.

In practice, the picture is calmer. StepChange notes that anyone can access the register, but it is unlikely that anyone except the people you owe will search it⁸, and separately that it is rare for anyone but creditors to search it⁵. The main users are creditors checking whether a debtor is in a formal procedure, credit reference agencies updating credit files⁹, and people with a practical need, such as finding the relevant official receiver by searching the register and contacting the Insolvency Service office dealing with the case²¹.

That said, the register is public information, and there is nothing to stop anyone searching it. If you are worried about a specific person finding your entry, the PARV order described earlier is the protection that exists for exactly that situation¹⁶.

How to search the register for free

The Individual Insolvency Register is available to search online for free⁸. Details of bankruptcy can be found on the online register at no cost², and the IVA register, which covers England and Wales, can be searched online at the Insolvency Service website or viewed at your local official receiver's office¹⁵.

To search:

1. Go to the Insolvency Service's online register search.
2. Enter the individual's name, or a trading name if you are searching for a sole trader³.
3. Review the results for current bankruptcies, DROs, IVAs and restrictions.

If the person or company you are looking for is not on the register, they are not currently in formal insolvency proceedings¹. That is a narrower statement than it sounds: the register shows current insolvencies, insolvencies that ended within roughly the last three months, and current restrictions such as bankruptcy restrictions orders⁶. Someone whose bankruptcy ended five years ago will not appear, and neither will someone whose insolvency was in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

For contrast, other public registers work differently. The public register of county court judgments can be searched by contacting Registry Trust online and paying a fee of £6 per search¹⁰, and a single inspection of the Debt Arrangement Scheme Register in Scotland costs £5²². The insolvency registers are the more generous ones: free to search in all three nations.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate registers

Scotland and Northern Ireland each keep their own insolvency registers, and neither appears on the England and Wales register.

Scotland. Personal insolvencies in Scotland go on the Register of Insolvencies, a formal record of all bankruptcies awarded in Scotland, maintained by the Accountant in Bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016²³. The register also covers company insolvencies, liquidations and receiverships²⁵, and you can search it to find out whether a person is bankrupt, in a protected trust deed, wants to enter a protected trust deed, or has a debt arrangement scheme or debt payment plan²⁶. The Register of Insolvencies has a free search facility which can be accessed by anyone who has an interest²³. Scotland also keeps a separate Debt Arrangement Scheme register, and you can search either the DAS register or the Register of Insolvencies free of charge to find out whether a moratorium on diligence has been registered²⁷.

Northern Ireland. The Insolvency Register in Northern Ireland is maintained by the Bankruptcy and Chancery Office at the High Court and contains records of all insolvencies in Northern Ireland for the last ten years²⁹. To search it, you must contact the High Court in Belfast, and it is free to view². The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland also maintains a register of debt relief orders, debt relief restrictions orders and debt relief restrictions undertakings³¹.

The volume of insolvencies differs sharply between the nations. In Scotland there were 2,181 individual insolvencies in Q2 2026, up 13% on the year, comprising 1,332 protected trust deeds and 849 bankruptcies, also known as sequestrations¹³. In Northern Ireland there were 169 individual insolvencies in Q2 2026, up 10% on the year³². If you are searching for someone who may have gone insolvent in another nation, you need the right register: an England and Wales search will not find a Scottish sequestration.

The register and your credit file are not the same thing

The Individual Insolvency Register and your credit file are two separate records with different keepers, different rules and different timescales. Insolvency is recorded on your credit file as well as on the register⁶, but the credit file is held by the credit reference agencies, and the Insolvency Service is not able to correct any information on your credit file: if something is wrong there, you must contact the credit reference agency to resolve it¹².

The two records also behave differently after the insolvency ends. Your entry on the insolvency register is normally removed three months after the insolvency ends¹, but the record of the insolvency on your credit file stays for much longer, typically six years from the start of the procedure. So someone can be entirely off the public insolvency register while still carrying the insolvency on their credit file, which is what most lenders actually look at. The dedicated pages on how long information stays on your credit file and debt solutions and your credit file cover those timescales in detail.

There is a third record that can be affected. HM Land Registry sends a bankruptcy enquiry letter (form B10A) when it appears a property may be affected by bankruptcy proceedings. If you are the person named and you confirm this, HM Land Registry makes an entry about the bankruptcy proceedings in your title register; if you do not reply, the law requires it to make an entry to protect the interests of people who are owed money. HM Land Registry notes that a bankruptcy entry in your title register could affect your credit rating³³.

Disqualified directors are on a different register

Disqualified company directors are not on the Individual Insolvency Register. They are listed on a separate register of disqualified directors, which includes details of directors disqualified by the courts and the Insolvency Service¹. Disqualification can result in a director being banned from managing a limited company for up to 15 years³⁴.

The two registers do connect in one direction: anyone who has a bankruptcy order, a debt relief order, bankruptcy restrictions or debt relief restrictions is banned from being a company director¹. In Northern Ireland, the rules were extended so that the ban on undischarged bankrupts also covers debt relief restrictions orders³⁵. But the disqualified directors register is a record of company director conduct, while the Individual Insolvency Register is a record of personal insolvency, and a search of one will not show entries on the other.

Mistakes on the register and getting your entry updated

The Insolvency Service states that while every effort has been made to ensure the information in the register is accurate, occasionally errors may occur, and it cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions³. If your entry is wrong, for example an incorrect address or date, the route to fixing it depends on what is wrong.

For the register itself, the Insolvency Service is the body to contact: it maintains the register and can update entries³. The Insolvency Service also provides general help through its support channels³⁶. If the mistake is on your credit file rather than the register, the Insolvency Service cannot help: you must contact the credit reference agency directly¹², and the page on correcting wrong information on your credit report explains that process.

A few related points from official guidance are worth knowing:

• Where a debt advice provider becomes aware that information it has supplied to a statutory register contains a mistake or inaccuracy, it must provide updated information to the Secretary of State³⁷. That duty sits with the provider, not with you, but it shows the system expects corrections to be fed through.
• If you are dealing with HM Land Registry after a bankruptcy enquiry letter, you can correct information during the process of responding, and the title register entry follows from the replies³³.
• Official statistics publications themselves are sometimes corrected: the Insolvency Service has noted data corrections in its own releases and commits to updating users on progress, in one case no later than December 2026¹⁴. Registers and statistics alike are maintained bodies of data, and errors are acknowledged and fixed rather than ignored.

If your entry has stayed on the register well beyond three months after your insolvency ended, treat that as an entry needing an update rather than assuming the timeline has silently changed. The normal rule is removal within three months of the case ending¹, and the bodies that maintain the registers can tell you why an entry is still there.

Where to get free help

Free, impartial help with insolvency and the registers is available:

• The Insolvency Service publishes the register, the guidance on what happens after a DRO is made, and the guidance for creditors listed in a DRO, and provides help through its support channels¹².
• StepChange Debt Charity and the Debt Advice Foundation publish free guidance on the bankruptcy register, the IVA register and how insolvency affects your credit rating².
• The Accountant in Bankruptcy is the official body for insolvency in Scotland, with guidance on the Register of Insolvencies and the Debt Arrangement Scheme²³.
• The Department for the Economy publishes Northern Ireland's guidance on bankruptcy, debt relief orders and discharge¹⁷.
• MoneyHelper and the debt section of this site explain the full range of debt solutions and your rights alongside them.

If you are at risk of violence and worried about your details being listed, organisations supporting survivors of economic abuse set out the PARV order route, and a debt adviser can help you apply¹⁶.