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New figures show insolvencies still on the increase

Article by Paymex 7th May 2010 00:00

Figures released by the Insolvency Service today show that in the first quarter of 2010 there were 35,682 individual insolvencies in England. This was an increase of 17.9% on the same period a year ago.
This was made up of 18,256 bankruptcies (which were down 10.7% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year), 11,782 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), (which were up 20.1% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year) and 5,644 Debt Relief Orders (DROs).
In the first quarter of 2010, 86.5% of bankruptcies were made on the petition of the debtor, slightly up on recent quarters. The percentage of bankruptcy orders involving trading debts (self-employed bankruptcies) was 13.0% in the fourth quarter of 2009 taking the figure for 2009 as a whole to 13.1%, up from 12.1% in 2008.

There were a total of 554 personal bankruptcies and IVA’s in Northern Ireland as well as 2033 Protected Trust Deeds in Scotland.

Commenting on behalf of debt solutions experts, Baines and Ernst, Nick Pearson said “These figures show that personal debt is still a huge problem for people right across the UK. It is estimated that some 900,000 people with debt problems are struggling to deal with their problems without taking any professional advice. The message behind these figures is clear; seek advice about your debts so that you make an informed choice about the best debt solution for your circumstances.”