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Bankruptcy

Asked by Jonathan HinderLabourDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 21 May 2026UIN 1374

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans his Department has to modernise and streamline the process of delivering bankruptcy petitions.

Answered by Blair McDougall

Bankruptcy provides debt relief for many people seeking to deal with financial difficulty, who may petition for their own bankruptcy online in a straightforward manner. It should not be used as a debt collection mechanism except as a final resort. For that reason, creditors presenting a bankruptcy petition to the courts must meet strict requirements, so as to reduce the risk of strategic or coercive filings.

There are no current plans to alter the bankruptcy petition process, which reflects the serious consequences of bankruptcy and its intended use as a last resort.

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