Personal insolvencies and other debt issues
Key findings for 2022 and recent changes
Definitions: Total insolvencies are the sum of the three insolvency types: bankruptcy orders, individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and debt relief orders (DROs). The figures shown here are for new cases of insolvencies.
Insolvency rates (the term used throughout the article) are rates of new cases of total insolvencies per 10,000 adult population.
For England and Wales the total individual insolvency rate rose from 23.3 per 10,000 residents in 2021 to 25.1 in 2022. The latest number was 118,860 insolvencies for England and Wales.
In 2022, the Lancashire-12 area had 2,773 individual insolvencies that equated to a rate of 28.1. The two unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool recorded an additional 795 insolvencies. Of note was the very high rate (44.5) in Blackpool. Within the Lancashire-12 area, in 2022, rates varied between a low of just 20.5 in Ribble Valley to 40.7 in Burnley.
The government's insolvency service administers compulsory company liquidations and personal bankruptcies. The organisation publishes yearly total individual insolvency results that are the sum of bankruptcy orders, individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and debt relief orders (DROs). DROs were first introduced on 1st April 2009.
The latest data is for 2022. Now including a comprehensive Microsoft Power BI report, this article uses total individual insolvency statistics. The first table shows cases and rates for the 14 Lancashire authorities plus regional and national geographies beginning in 2015. The second slide shows the same geographic areas in a time-series chart dating back to 2000. It also includes a tool that calculates the change in cases between any two dates. The third slide shows rankings compared to all 329 England and Wales local authorities for the years 2015 to 2022. The original data source also details the local authority figures split by the three types of insolvency.
Debt management plans and administration orders are other options used by some people to pay off debts.
National and local results
For England and Wales the total individual insolvency rate rose from 23.3 per 10,000 residents in 2021 to 25.1 in 2022 but had risen in recent years from 17.6 per 10,000 in 2015 up to 26.1 in 2019. The 2015 rate was a ten-year low. The 2019 rate was the highest since 2011. The latest number was 118,860 insolvencies for England and Wales.
For 2022, the rate for Lancashire-12 was below the regional outturn, as it had been below the North West average for all years apart from 2019 and 2020. In 2022, the Lancashire-12 area had 2,773 individual insolvencies that equated to a rate of 28.1. The two unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool recorded an additional 795 insolvencies. Of note was the very high rate (44.5) in Blackpool. Within the Lancashire-12 area, in 2022, rates varied between a low of just 20.5 in Ribble Valley to 40.2 in Rossendale and 40.7 in Burnley.
Although this article does not offer detailed analysis of the three components of insolvencies (bankruptcy orders, DROs and IVAs) it is worth noting that of the 503 new cases in Blackpool, 393 were individual voluntary arrangements. This gives Blackpool an IVA rate of 34.7 IVAs per 10,000 adult population, the second highest in England and Wales after North East Lincolnshire, where the rate was a staggering 45.3. Of the 224 new cases in Rossendale, 171 were IVAs, giving the district an IVA rate of 30.7 IVAs per 10,000 adult population, the 8th highest.
High insolvency rates are noted in some coastal authorities, and in 2022, North East Lincolnshire recorded 54.1 per 10,000 and Kingston upon Hull 47.7. Blackpool (44.5) had the fifth highest rate out of 329 authorities in England and Wales. A selection of London authorities recorded some of the lowest rates that included Westminster (9.7) and Kensington and Chelsea with 10.1.
Personal insolvency report (Microsoft Power BI - 3 slides)
Source: The Insolvency Service.
Problem debt and credit unions The Step Change Debt Charity is said to be the UK's leading debt charity, which has been offering debt advice for a number of years.
The Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL) website has a search facility that allows users to find local credit unions.
The Money Advice Service was set up by the government to offer free and impartial money advice.
Mortgage and unsecured personal debt by postcode sector
As from 1 July 2017, the finance and banking industry operating in the UK is represented by a new trade association, UK Finance. It represents around 300 firms in the UK providing credit, banking, markets and payment-related services. The organisation took on most of the activities previously carried out by the Asset Based Finance Association, the British Bankers' Association, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Financial Fraud Action UK, Payments UK and the UK Cards Association.
UK Finance now publishes statistics on personal loans by certain UK lenders by postcode sector. A similar service was previously provided by the British Bankers’ Association.
Postcode lending statistics are available on the UK Finance website for each of the 12 bank and building societies that participate in the GB and/or Northern Ireland exercises. Two spreadsheets are also available to download from the web page. These contain statistics on GB unsecured personal loans, and Northern Ireland (NI) unsecured personal loans. Similar statistics are available for lending to small and medium business enterprises (SMEs).
Page updated April 2023.