Rise in Debt Relief Orders pushes up insolvency levels

6 November 2009

Insolvency levels in England and Wales rose once again in the third quarter of 2009, according to official statistics, largely fuelled by a sharp rise in the number of DROs.

There were 35,242 individual insolvencies over the quarter, up from 33,073 in the previous quarter and from 27,488 in the third quarter of 2008. Insolvency levels have now been rising since the fourth quarter of 2007.

Both IVA and bankruptcy levels in the third quarter were roughly the same as in the previous quarter, but the number of DROs more than doubled, from 1,978 in the second quarter to 4,505 in the third.

A debt expert for Think Money said: "IVA and bankruptcy levels remaining more or less unchanged could potentially indicate the beginning of a fall in these numbers, although we will have to see what happens over the next few quarters to get a clear picture.

"Q3 was only the second quarter in which DROs have been available - it`s no surprise that uptake has increased."

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