Statistics release: Insolvencies in the fourth quarter 2013

fermi

Source: http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/otherinformation/statistics/201402/index.htm

KEY points regards personal insolvencies.

For full stats, explanation and guidance notes, please see the above link.

INDIVIDUAL INSOLVENCIES (not seasonally adjusted - see ‘Notes to Editors’ paragraph 11)

There were 24,282 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in the fourth quarter of 2013. This was a decrease of 4.6% on the same period in 2012.

This was made up of 5,386 bankruptcies (which were down 22.2% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year), 6,563 Debt Relief Orders (DROs) (down 13.1% over the same period) and 12,333 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) (up 12.3% over the same period). Bankruptcy numbers have been impacted by the introduction of DROs from April 2009, amongst other factors. The number of DROs has been higher than total bankruptcies for six consecutive quarters, while Bankruptcy Orders have been lower than IVAs for the last 11 quarters. IVAs now make up more than half (51%) of all individual insolvencies.

The accompanying detailed tables include seasonally adjusted series for bankruptcy orders and IVAs. The series for DROs is not currently long enough to formally seasonally adjust.








There were 101,049 individual insolvencies in the calendar year 2013 in England and Wales, a decrease of 7.9% from 2012. This included 24,536 bankruptcies (down 22.8% on 2012), 27,546 Debt Relief Orders (DROs) (down 11.7% on 2012) and 48,967 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) (up 4.9% on 2012). This is the first year in which the number of DROs has been higher than total bankruptcies and the third year where the number of bankruptcies has been lower than IVAs.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, 4,179 bankruptcies were made on the petition of the debtor (representing 77.6% of total cases); the level of debtor petition bankruptcies has been following a generally decreasing trend since the beginning of 2009 when there were 17,606 (86% of the total). Creditor petition bankruptcy numbers have also been falling over a similar period, though less rapidly and less consistently.

The percentage of bankruptcy orders where the individuals were self-employed was 24.4% in the third quarter of 2013 (fourth quarter 2013 figures for self-employed bankrupts are not yet available); higher than in earlier years. This is due to the decline in numbers of cases amongst non-traders as may be seen in Figure 3 below.







INSOLVENCIES IN SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

The following tables present recent trends in insolvencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, complementing those for England and Wales above (longer series back to 2004 are presented in the accompanying detailed tables). These statistics are shown separately to those for England and Wales as they are covered by separate legislation, there are some differences in definition, and policy responsibility for them lies within the devolved administrations.

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

IF

There were 24,282 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in the fourth quarter of 2013. This was a decrease of 4.6% on the same period in 2012.

That's probably because of folks being advised (often wrongly) to do an IVA or DRO, I've been aware last year how many posters on here had to eventually go BR

longtermplanner

The decrease in the failure rate of IVAs (they are on trend to be falling to about 20-25% from 33%+ a few years ago) will be slowly working it's way through into lower bankruptcy statistics.

National_Debtline

ifwisheswerehorses... wrote: »

That's probably because of folks being advised (often wrongly) to do an IVA or DRO, I've been aware last year how many posters on here had to eventually go BR

That's interesting. Have you come across many examples where a DRO has failed? I do agree with the IVA point for sure, we speak to countless callers who have been misadvised. I think an IVA is a very useful option for many people but the key issue is that *some* commercial companies do not advise the public of better alternatives as they do not generate income for the company. Also, now that house prices seem to be increasing, homeowners need to think very carefully about an IVA due to the potential equity clause.

- David.

IF

National_Debtline wrote: »

That's interesting. Have you come across many examples where a DRO has failed?

I have David and DMP's too