Insolvencies rise in 2017-18, provisional figures show

Personal and corporate insolvencies in Scotland both increased by close to 5% in 2017-18 compared with the previous year, according to provisional figures from the Accountant in Bankruptcy just released.

Personal insolvencies (bankruptcies and protected trust deeds, or PTDs) increased by 4.7% from 10,032 to 10,503, due to a 9% rise in PTDs. This is the second consecutive year the total has risen, though it remains below the levels seen between 2005-06 and 2014-15.

Over the year there were also 2,322 debt payment programmes (DPPs) approved under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS), 89 more than a year earlier, with £37.6m being repaid from debtors under DAS compared with £37.3m in 2016-17.

Corporate insolvencies increased from 846 in 2016-17 to 886 in 2017-18.

All the figures are provisional until final figures are published in July 2018.