Retired people are now the quickest growing group of people filing for insolvency in Britain, the baby boomers of the past are struggling to repay debt today.
A record 15 people entered insolvency every hour in 2010, as the total number of people filing for bankruptcies, IVAs and Debt Relief Orders reached around 135,000 – up from 2009’s high of 134,132 –said in a report by a leading insolvency practitioner.
Pensioners, although they made up less than 4pc of the total, now form the age group that is seeing the highest growth rate for insolvency, with a 14pc rise that could point to a worrying trend. This is the first generation of retirees who have been used to money worries.
They are now coming towards 65, moving to a fixed income – generally their pension, and realising that when they retire they will still carry some retirement debts that they were comfortable with a few years ago. When they had more income and that income was more flexible.
Clare Stott, Director at National Money Helpline commented “the expected inevitable rise in inflation & interest rates will mean insolvency numbers will rise still further, to beyond the 2010 figures in 2011”
Statistics for 2010 also highlight an increasing North-South divide. Another study showed that the North was worst-hit with a rate of personal insolvency per head of 40 per 10,000 people, compared with 20 per 10,000 in London and the South East.
Comparing the reports data with population figures from the Office for National Statistics, Peterborough and Newcastle had the highest rates of personal insolvency per head, with more than 1.4pc and 1.2pc of their respective populations entering insolvency in 2010.
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