Number of people declared bankrupt falls for first time in nine years

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The number of people declared bankrupt fell during 2007, ending nine years of consecutive rises, Government figures showed today.

A total of 106,645 people went insolvent during the year, 0.6 per cent fewer than during 2006, despite the ongoing credit crunch, the Insolvency Service said.

But the figure was still the second highest on record and dwarfed 2005's total of 67,584.

The headline figure also masked a 2.4 per cent jump in bankruptcies during the year to 64,480, although the number of people taking out an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) was nearly 5 per cent lower at 42,165.

The number of IVAs agreed was hit during 2007 by an ongoing dispute between creditors and IVA providers over issues such as the way the plans were advertised and the information given to people taking them out.

The problem, which has now been resolved, led to one in six of the agreements being rejected by creditors during the year.

The number of people declared insolvent was also down on a quarterly basis at 24,846 during the final three months of 2007, 16.4 per cent lower than for the same period of 2006 and 3.9% below the previous quarter's figure.

Within the total, bankruptcies fell by more than 8 per cent year-on-year, while IVAs dived by 27.3 per cent.