Four in five English local authorities will be in effect bankrupted by rising special educational needs spending unless the government introduces significant reforms to the system, council leaders have said, The Guardian reported. Councils have called on ministers to write off special educational needs and disability (Send) deficits accumulated by local authorities over the past few years. These are projected to reach £14bn in two years’ time.

Business activity in Wales has shown mixed trends, with both rising insolvency-related activity and a growing number of start-ups, the South Wales Argus reported. According to R3, the trade body for restructuring and insolvency professionals, the region saw a 2.3 per cent increase in insolvency-related activity in 2025, rising from 844 cases in 2024 to 863 last year. At the same time, the number of new businesses grew by 8.7 per cent, from 21,036 to 22,863.

The UK’s tax office is seeking to block Waldorf Production from restructuring its liabilities in a London court, as the nation’s fiscal body takes an increasingly aggressive stance when it comes to debt collecting, Bloomberg News reported. The struggling oil and gas company owes His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs an estimated $72.4 million, court documents seen by Bloomberg show.

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 3.75% after a knife-edge vote but has opened the door to cuts later this year, BBC.com reported. Borrowing costs were widely expected to be unchanged after the Bank reduced them from 4% in December. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey reiterated his forecast that inflation – which measures the pace of price growth - would fall close to the Bank's 2% target from April onwards, against a previous expectation it would hit that level in 2027. "That's good news," said Bailey. "We need to make sure that inflation stays there.

The Barclay family’s sale of a house in Switzerland has triggered fears that they could put money beyond the reach of bankers chasing debts of £140m, The Telegraph reported. On Tuesday, HSBC told the High Court it was concerned that brothers Aidan and Howard Barclay were “playing for time” in bankruptcy proceedings and could use a delay to “dissipate” their assets. The bank pointed to the sale of a Swiss property in April last year and said lawyers acting for the siblings, former owners of The Telegraph, had refused to give assurances they would not carry out such asset sales.

UK high street retailer GAME is closing its three remaining standalone stores as managing director, Nick Arran, exits the company after nine years, GameIndustry.biz reported. As reported by The Game Business, via VGC, the Frasers Group-owned business will continue to operate its 200+ concession sites across Sports Direct and House of Fraser stores, as well as its retail website. GAME filed a notice of its intention to bring in insolvency administrators last week, following weak sales over the Christmas period last year.

Birmingham City Council has declared itself no longer effectively bankrupt after steadying its finances two-and-a-half years after hitting a budget crisis that the government stepped in to solve, BBC.com reported. In budget documents made public ahead of a council cabinet meeting next week, the authority states its financial situation for 2026-27 will be "balanced", with services set for £130m investment.

An Indian-origin boss of a London printing firm has been convicted of illegally obtaining a second loan for his company, when businesses were only entitled to one under the U.K. government’s COVID-19 Bounce Back Loan scheme, TheHindu.com reported. Prashant Jobanputra, 41, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, at the Old Bailey court in London on Tuesday (January 27, 2026), the U.K.’s Insolvency Service said in a statement.