Ross Webb

Insolvencies in Scotland are running at a 10-year high, with recently released data from the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB) revealing that 1,272 businesses north of the border failed in 2025, up from 1,236 in 2024.

However, these headline statistics tell only part of the story. The real picture, what sits “under the bonnet”, is more nuanced, shaped not only by financial strain but also by the motivations of business owners, a dose of Scottish resilience, the availability of funding and competing creditor pressures.

Despite the broad economic challenges facing sectors from retail through to construction, our recent experience shows that capital is still available in the market. A range of alternative funders, specialist lenders, private debt providers, asset-based lenders and opportunistic investors, are increasingly active. While traditional bank lending remains available but selective, businesses with viable underlying operations can often still secure support. The nature of that support may look less conventional, shorter-term facilities, higher pricing, or security packages that are more creatively structured, but the options are there. For stressed businesses, this liquidity can provide vital breathing space to implement a turnaround plan or manage an orderly transition.

Financial pressures often dominate discussions around restructuring, but the human dimension remains a core driver in many of the cases we have worked on recently. Business owners frequently prioritise the future of their workforce, even in circumstances where the commercial outlook is difficult.

We continue to see directors pursuing restructuring strategies that maximise continuity of employment, whether through accelerated M&A processes, hive-downs that preserve operating businesses, or pre-packaged sales designed to secure going-concern outcomes. In some cases, decisions that are on one view not optimal for stakeholders are still taken because they safeguard the jobs, skills and community presence a business has built over many years.

One of the most challenging aspects of the current environment is the presence of multiple, often competing, creditor pressures. HMRC continues to adopt a firmer stance on enforcement, particularly where there is any history of arrears. At the same time, secured lenders are increasingly vigilant about covenant breaches, valuation movements and refinancing risks. Unsecured creditor groups, including trade suppliers, are also more inclined to seek early intervention, driven by tighter cashflow across supply chains.

This confluence of demands means that any restructuring strategy must create space, both financial and legal, to stabilise the situation. In practice, this can involve multiple and simultaneous court actions, including the defence of winding-up petitions to applications for moratoria. Crafting a coherent path through these competing dynamics is now a central part of delivering successful restructuring outcomes.

In today’s environment, no single adviser or discipline can deliver the holistic approach required. The most effective restructuring outcomes are driven by early engagement and the right combination of expertise: insolvency practitioners, surveyors, asset valuers, commercial financial brokers and legal advisers often spanning litigation, corporate restructuring, corporate M&A, commercial real estate and employment.

Bringing these specialists together early allows teams to build strategies more effectively, anticipate creditor responses, protect and even enhance value and ensure that the outcome is much more than just another statistic.

Ross Webb is partner in dispute resolution at Aberdein Considine LLP