New figures reveal a fall in individual insolvencies

The Insolvency Service has released its latest insolvency statistics, revealing that individual insolvencies in England and Wales have fallen.

During the first quarter of 2011, the number of people declared insolvent (in England and Wales) because of their unmanageable debts reached 30,162 - 15.5% lower than in the same period last year.

The total was made up of 12,539 bankruptcies (down 31.3% on the same quarter of last year), 10,835 IVAs (Individual Voluntary Arrangements) (down 8.0% on the same quarter in 2010) and 6,788 Debt Relief Orders (DROs) (up 20.3% on the corresponding quarter of last year).

A closer look at bankruptcies During the first quarter of this year, as we`ve already seen, the number of people made bankrupt because of their debts was 31.3% lower than in the corresponding quarter of last year.

But not all bankruptcies are the same.

84.2% of these bankruptcies were made on the petition of the debtor, which is `broadly comparable to the levels for recent quarters`.

Although the figures for the first quarter of 2011 aren`t yet available, the percentage of `self-employed bankruptcies` (bankruptcy orders involving trade debts) during the final quarter of 2010 was 18.9% - a `notably higher level` than we have seen in recent quarters.