Over 134,000 Become Insolvent In The UK

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 0

Birmingham insolvency team

A jump in the number of middle-class professionals going bust last year as their debt-fuelled lifestyles hit the buffers contributed to a record total for people becoming insolvent, according to official figures.

Findings from the Insolvency Service reveal that more than 134,000 people went bankrupt, entered an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) or took out a debt relief order (DRO) in England and Wales last year, a 26 per cent increase on 2008.

This is the highest total since official records began in 1960 and marks the scale of the toll taken by the recession on debt-laden consumers.

Separate research from Grant Thornton, the accountant, shows that IVA requests rose fastest among mid- dle-class professionals who had been financing their lifestyles on credit.

Experts anticipate that insolvencies will continue to climb this year as interest rates rise and more jobs are axed. But tens of thousands of high earners have already gone under as a result of the credit boom that fuelled the UK’s growth in the decade before the recession. Mike Allen, head of IVAs at Grant Thornton, said: “The [figures] include experienced professionals who would have considered themselves wealthy and able to cope before the financial crash, and many are families with young children where both parents have been earning solid incomes. Changing circumstances and debt can affect anyone.”

The banking crisis prevented many people from gaining access to further credit — their traditional means of covering debt payments. Falling house prices compounded the problem, as they could not borrow more against the equity in their homes, with thousands plunged into negative equity.

Peter Sargent, president of R3, the insolvency trade body, said: “Many people, including professionals, were living to the maximum of their means and beyond, using cheap and easy credit. They can no longer use their house as an ATM machine.”

Mr Allen added that high-earning workers were also hit by the paltry bonuses paid out last year by businesses struggling through the downturn.

“People … still have jobs,” he said, “but they just can’t cover the cost of the debts.”

IVAs are available to people with unsecured debts of more than £15,000, While those who go bankrupt forfeit their home, IVAs usually allow a property to be retained.

The Insolvency Service figures also showed the number of people becoming insolvent in Scotland last year leapt 18 per cent, while Northern Irish insolvencies rose by just 0.1 per cent.

Business liquidations rose 22.8 per cent last year, with 19,077 companies going to the wall. There was a glimmer of hope as the rate of failure slowed in the final quarter, but David Hudson, London head of corporate insolvency at Baker Tilly, the accountant, said: “With the Bank of England calling time on quantitative easing … , administration figures will rise again.”