Construction administrations rose by a third in October, NFB says

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) said 24 construction firms entered administration in October 2026, up from 18 in September, citing figures it attributed to Creditsafe.

The federation described the month-on-month change as a rise of a third. It linked the increase to narrowing profit margins, rising labour and material costs and the difficulties of working under fixed-price contracts.

Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB, said delays to planning, to permission to start on site and to signing off progress could each take years, and that clients became nervous as a result.

"Consequently, too many projects are scaled back or abandoned, and this leaves the construction industry greatly exposed to an impossible business environment," he said.

Month (2026)	Construction administrations
September	18
October	24

The NFB's demands

Beresford called on the government to unlock what he described as hundreds of projects delayed by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), to deliver its promise of a rules-based planning system, to use spatial planning as the driver for the industrial strategy and to remove what he called stealth taxation on projects.

"Business as usual is killing business," he said.

The NFB said delays linked to the BSR's gateway approval processes had been identified as a factor affecting the viability of businesses, contributing to delays in project decisions and starts.

It added that contractor failures create risks for the wider supply chain, with subcontractors, suppliers and other creditors potentially affected when a business collapses. The federation said unnamed industry commentators had warned that construction business failures could remain high into 2027.

The wider picture

Creditsafe's own statistics page reports that 2,520 businesses across the UK and Northern Ireland entered insolvency in October 2026, which it said was a 14.29% increase on September. It said 23,465 businesses had entered insolvency between January and October 2026.

Creditsafe counts a company as insolvent on its first insolvency trigger from a list of statuses, so its figures cover all forms of insolvency rather than administrations alone. The NFB's figure of 24 relates only to construction firms entering administration.

Official statistics from the Insolvency Service, which presents its figures separately for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, recorded 1,882 company insolvencies in England and Wales in September 2026. That was 4% lower than in August and 5% lower than in September 2025.

The Insolvency Service said the number of administrations in September 2026 was 44% lower than in August 2026 and 20% lower than in September 2025.

Construction remained the sector with the most insolvencies in the official record. The Insolvency Service counted 3,873 construction insolvencies in the 12 months to September 2026, 17% of cases where the industry was captured, the largest share of any sector.

Building Safety Regulator reforms

The NFB's call to unlock projects at the BSR follows reforms announced by the government on 30 June 2025. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the package included a new Fast Track Process bringing building inspector and engineer capacity directly into the regulator.

The government said the measures would help delivery of 1.5 million homes and speed up remediation. Andy Roe KFSM was appointed non-executive chair of a new board as part of the changes.

Alex Norris, minister for building safety, said at the time that the package was intended to enhance the regulator's operations and reduce delays.

The Insolvency Service's next monthly release will give the official count of company insolvencies for October 2026.