How to search the insolvency register

To search the Individual Insolvency Register, open the official search page at insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir, select “Start now”, type a name into the box labelled “Name of individual or trading name” and select “Search”. The register is kept by the Insolvency Service and covers England and Wales. Anyone can search it, for any reason.

People use it to check their own IVA, to confirm an entry has been removed after an IVA ends, or to look up a sole trader or tenant before doing business with them. This guide covers all of those. For what an IVA is in the first place, see IVAs explained.

How do you search the Individual Insolvency Register?

1. Open the official Individual Insolvency Register search on the Insolvency Service website. You can also reach it from GOV.UK by searching for “search the bankruptcy and insolvency register”.
2. Select “Start now”.
3. In the box labelled “Name of individual or trading name”, type the name you want to check. For a sole trader, you can type their trading name instead.
4. Select “Search”.
5. Look through the matches. Several people may share a name, so compare the date of birth and address with what you know before you treat an entry as the right person.
6. Note the details you need: the type of case (IVA, bankruptcy or debt relief order), the key dates and, for an IVA, the supervisor’s name and address.

There is no fee and no sign-in, so you do not need to pay a third-party website to search for you.

Tips for getting the right result

• If nothing comes up, try other forms of the name, for example with and without a middle name, or a shortened first name.
• Entries include other names the person has used, so a previous surname may find the entry.
• For someone who trades under a business name, search both their own name and the trading name.
• No result does not prove someone has never been insolvent. Entries are removed about 3 months after a case ends, the register only covers England and Wales, and names can be misspelt.

What does an entry on the register show?

For an IVA, the entry shows:

• the person’s name, including other names they have used
• their last known address
• their date of birth
• their gender
• the date creditors approved the IVA
• the supervisor’s name and address
• once the IVA has ended, whether it completed or failed

It does not show your creditors, how much you owed, or what you pay each month.

Bankruptcy entries include dates such as when the person was discharged, and debt relief orders are listed too. Restrictions orders and undertakings (for bankruptcy and for debt relief orders) also appear, and they stay on the register for as long as the restriction lasts.

What an entry tells you if you are checking someone else

An entry tells you someone is, or very recently was, in a formal insolvency. It does not tell you why, or whether they are keeping to it. The rules they live under differ by type:

• Someone who is bankrupt cannot borrow more than £500 without telling the lender, cannot act as a company director without the court’s permission, and must tell people the name they were made bankrupt in if they trade under a different name.
• Someone with a debt relief order also cannot borrow more than £500 without telling the lender, and cannot act as a company director without the court’s permission.
• Someone in an IVA has agreed a repayment arrangement with their creditors. The law does not stop them being a company director, and the entry says nothing about their honesty or how well the IVA is going.

If you are deciding whether to lend to, employ or rent to someone, the fairest approach is to ask them about it directly.

How long do entries stay on the register?

Records are usually removed within 3 months of a case ending. The exact trigger depends on the type of case.

For an IVA, the 3 months only start once the Insolvency Service has been told the IVA has ended, and your supervisor has 28 days from the end of the IVA to tell it. So, as a rough guide, expect your entry to disappear up to about 4 months after your IVA ends. For example, if your IVA finishes in January, the entry may still be there in April and should be gone by around May. See what happens at the end of an IVA.

The register is not your credit file

This is a common mix-up. The register and your credit file are separate records with separate rules.

So it is normal for your IVA to disappear from the register but stay on your credit file for a year or more afterwards. See how long an IVA stays on your credit file.

Who can see your entry?

Anyone. The register is public, and people do not have to give a reason for searching.

In practice, the people most likely to look are those with a reason to check someone’s finances, such as some landlords and letting agents, and employers in roles where financial history matters. See renting with an IVA and whether your employer will find out about your IVA.

The IVA process itself involves your creditors and the Insolvency Service. Unless your employer, a friend or a relative is one of your creditors, they would only find out by searching the register for your name.

Can you keep your address off the register?

Only with a court order, and only where publishing your current address might reasonably be expected to lead to violence against you or someone who normally lives with you. You can apply before your IVA is approved. Once it is running, you, your supervisor, the official receiver or the Secretary of State can apply.

Older websites say you can “appeal to the Insolvency Service” to remove your address. That is not how it works. If you are at risk, tell the insolvency practitioner as early as possible so an application can be made before your details are published.

What if an entry is wrong or has not been removed?

GOV.UK says to contact the office that dealt with the insolvency to correct a mistake. For an IVA, that is your supervisor, the insolvency practitioner running it. The Secretary of State also has a general duty to correct the register on becoming aware of an inaccuracy.

If your IVA ended more than about 4 months ago and your entry is still showing, ask your supervisor in writing when they notified the Insolvency Service. They must do so within 28 days of the IVA being completed or terminated. Keep a copy of your completion certificate to hand.

If you find an entry for someone with your name, check the date of birth and address. If it is genuinely about you and you do not recognise it, contact the supervisor or office named in the entry straight away.

How do you check insolvencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

The Individual Insolvency Register only covers England and Wales.

• Northern Ireland: IVAs are listed on a separate Individual Voluntary Arrangement Register run by the Department for the Economy. It is public and is shared with credit reference agencies.
• Scotland: there are no IVAs. The Accountant in Bankruptcy keeps the Register of Insolvencies, which covers insolvent individuals and businesses in Scotland, including protected trust deeds and sequestrations (bankruptcies). A trust deed stays on it for 12 months after the trustee is discharged. For the Scottish options, see debt solutions in Scotland.

What to do next

1. Checking your own IVA: search your name, confirm the details are right, and contact your supervisor about any mistake.
2. When your IVA ends: search again about four months later to confirm the entry has gone.
3. Worried about being on a public register? Bankruptcies and debt relief orders appear on it too, but a debt management plan does not, because it is not a formal insolvency. It also gives you no legal protection from creditors, so weigh both sides.
4. If you are unsure which route to take, a free, impartial adviser at MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline can talk it through. See where to get free debt advice.