Insolvency figures fall after record highs last year

The number of people going insolvent between April and June has eased back from record highs last year, official figures show.

Some 22,772 people went insolvent across England and Wales in the second quarter of this year, a 0.1% decline compared with a year earlier and 9.7% fall in contrast to the quarter before.

The latest figures mean one in every 489 adults became insolvent over the past 12 months, a slight drop in comparison to the first-quarter rate of one in 486, according to the Insolvency Service.

Personal insolvencies consist of bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and debt relief orders (DROS).

The second-quarter decline was driven by a 15.6% drop to 12,854 in IVAs, which are agreements where money is shared out between creditors.

Meanwhile, DROs grew marginally to 6,146 quarter on quarter, while bankruptcies fell by 2.5% to 3,772 over the period.

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