Individual Insolvency Statistics: October to December 2020
Statistics on new individual insolvencies in England and Wales, and related statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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This statistics release contains the latest data on individual insolvency (people who are unable to pay debts and enter formal procedures).
Statistics are presented separately for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland because of differences in legislation and policy.
Main messages:
Individual insolvencies in Q4 2020
Overall numbers of individual insolvencies in England and Wales increased in Q4 2020 when compared with Q3 2020, and were higher than during the same quarter in the previous year.
This increase was largely driven by individual voluntary arrangements, although these tend to be volatile and were particularly low in Q3.
Bankruptcies increased while debt relief orders decreased in the latest quarter, though both remain low.
Individual insolvencies in 2020
There were fewer total individual insolvencies in 2020 than in 2019.
This was driven by a decrease in both bankruptcies and debt relief orders.
Individual voluntary arrangements were slightly higher in 2020 than in 2019, although this increase was smaller than has been seen in recent years.
The reduction in individual insolvencies in 2020 compared with 2019 was likely to be partly driven by Government measures put in place in response to the coronavirus (COVID 19).