What is the IVA register?

The Individual Insolvency Register is sometimes informally referred to as the IVA register. As well as including details of IVAs, it also contains information about bankruptcies and debt relief orders.

If you’re granted an IVA, these details will usually be published on the IVA register:

• your name
• your last known address
• your date of birth
• your gender
• the date the IVA was approved

Your occupation and title might also be included.

Details about your insolvency practitioner are also recorded.

The register is public, meaning anyone can access it. Searching the register can be done online for free using your name or in person at a local branch of the official receiver’s office.

It’s usually searched by lenders, landlords and employers to see if you’ve had trouble repaying loans. 

It can also be searched by credit reference agencies to check your borrowing history and update your credit report.

It’s a legal requirement to maintain a transparent record of people who are insolvent.

These details are made public to avoid cases of mistaken identity, such as having the same name as someone else or the same date of birth.

However, the details held on the register aren’t indexed by internet search engines – you need to search the register directly for someone’s file. This means if you have an IVA, people won’t stumble on this information accidentally during a Google search.

For domestic abuse survivors and others at risk of violence, it’s possible to ask for your address to be withheld from the register by applying to the court for a person at risk of violence (PARV) order at a cost of £308. In some cases, the fee may be waived if applicants meet certain income-related criteria. Speak to your insolvency practitioner if you believe publishing your address could put you in danger.

Details of IVAs stay on the register for the length of your agreement, and three months after it finishes.