Top 10 industries with the biggest decrease in insolvencies
| Rank | Industry | 2016 Insolvencies | 2020 Insolvencies | Five Year Change |
| 1 | Mining and Quarrying | 52 | 18 | -66.8% |
| 2 | Administrative and Support Service Activities | 3219 | 1441 | -60.4% |
| 3 | Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities | 131 | 78 | -45.4% |
| 4 | Construction | 2546 | 2051 | -30.8% |
| 5 | Information and Communication | 879 | 688 | -28.2% |
| 6 | Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair Of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles | 2046 | 1673 | -21.9% |
| 7 | Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities | 1200 | 999 | -18.4% |
| 8 | Education | 170 | 151 | -17.4% |
| 9 | Manufacturing | 1346 | 1162 | -16.5% |
| 10 | Real Estate Activities | 372 | 351 | -16.1% |
In the majority of cases, insolvencies in the UK have actually declined since 2016. Perhaps most notably, the industry which saw its insolvency rate fall the most was mining and quarrying, where the rate has dropped by two-thirds, from 43.2 per 1,000 businesses in 2016 to 14.3 in 2020. However, this was also the industry that actually had the highest insolvency rate in 2020.
Administrative and support service activities (which includes things like rental and leasing activities, travel agencies and security services) also saw a significant drop (-60.4%) as did water supply (-45.4%). However, such high decreases are likely to be due to the extensive rollout of government business support over the last year.
The 5 industries with an increase in insolvencies
| Rank | Industry | 2016 Insolvencies | 2020 Insolvencies | Five Year Change |
| 1 | Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 219 | 285 | 18.1% |
| 2 | Other Service Activities | 556 | 596 | 6.1% |
| 3 | Accommodation and Food Service Activities | 1529 | 1705 | 2.1% |
| 4 | Financial and Insurance Activities | 272 | 323 | 0.4% |
| 5 | Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security | 10 | 11 | 0.2% |
There were five sectors that saw an increase in insolvencies, the most notable of which was arts, entertainment and recreation, which saw the rate of insolvencies jump from 3.5 per 1,000 businesses in 2016 to 4.2 in 2020, an increase of 18%.
Other service activities saw an increase of 6.1%, with the insolvency rate for accommodation and food service activities increasing by 2.1%.