Insolvency figures for the whole of the UK reached 128,046* for 2008, and is a 5% rise on the preceding year. UK insolvency practitioners believe the real fall out will show during 2009, with personal insolvencies predicted to peak at around 158,820.
Sarah Walford, Manager of Business Recovery and Insolvency at regional business advisers, Cooper Parry comments: “The figures for 2008 show that we saw a staggering 350 people become insolvent in the UK each day. In 2009 we believe this number will surpass 430 people a day in the UK.”
Insolvency practitioners believe the recession or credit crunch is only partly to blame for the insolvencies. There have been other significant contributing factors such as, misuse of credit cards, irresponsible borrowing, irresponsible lending, and lack of general financial education.
The people who deal with financially troubled individuals each day, still believe there needs to be a cultural shift away from the acceptance of borrowing in order for things to improve.
Insolvency practitioners expect to see in excess of 158,000 personal insolvencies annually. Sarah continued, “We’ll start to see the knock on effects of increasing business failures and redundancies on personal financial situations. We urge all individuals who are worried about their finances to seek professional advice early whilst there are still options.”