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		</div><p>The number of people going financially insolvent across England and Wales jumped to a seven-year high in 2018, official figures show.</p>
<p>Some 115,299 people went insolvent during 2018 &#8211; marking the third year-on-year increase in a row and the highest annual total since 2011 when 119,943 cases were recorded.</p>
<p>The figures, released by the Insolvency Service, are made up of bankruptcies, which are often seen as a last resort; debt relief orders (DRO), which are aimed at people with lower debts but no realistic prospect of paying them off; and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), where money is shared out between creditors.</p>
<p>Of the people who went insolvent last year, 61.6% used an IVA, 24% used a DRO and 14.4% entered bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the underlying number of company insolvencies increased to 16,090 last year &#8211; the highest level since 2014.</p>
<p>The Insolvency Service said the 16.2% year-on-year jump in personal insolvencies was driven by IVA numbers, which reached record levels last year.</p>
<p>There were 71,034 IVAs last year &#8211; an increase of 19.9% on 2017 and the highest annual level recorded, the Insolvency Service said.</p>
<p>There was also a spike in the number of people going insolvent in the run-up to Christmas.</p>
<p>Between October and December, there were 34,108 personal insolvencies &#8211; an increase of more than a third (34.8%) on the previous three months.</p>
<p>The Insolvency Service said personal insolvencies in the fourth quarter of 2018 were at their highest since the second quarter of 2010 &#8211; due to IVAs rising to a record high quarterly level, with 22,717 IVAs recorded.</p>
<p>Stuart Frith, president of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, said: &#8220;As banks and other lenders have tightened their credit standards in response to the Bank of England&#8217;s concerns around consumer over-indebtedness, many people have run out of road.</p>
<p>&#8220;In previous years, the &#8216;helicopter money&#8217; provided by PPI refunds, along with generally less stringent lending requirements, helped to paper over the cracks that opened up as a result of a decade of persistently stagnant wage increases, but these avenues look to be closing themselves off.</p>
<p>&#8220;People are having to spend more of their income on housing and transportation, leaving less left over for savings and making budgets more vulnerable to shocks.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Frith said of the corporate insolvency figures: &#8220;The pressure point for businesses most frequently cited by our members is weak consumer demand.</p>
<p>&#8220;People just don&#8217;t have much spare cash at the moment, reflected in the rise in the number of personal insolvencies also confirmed today.&#8221;</p>
<p>He continued: &#8220;Every business is part of a network and one struggling business will affect others.</p>
<p>&#8220;R3 research from the middle of last year found that one in four UK companies had taken a financial hit following the insolvency of a supplier, customer or debtor in the previous six months, illustrating the reach and impact of the &#8216;domino effect&#8217;.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Meanwhile, uncertainty around the shape of the final Brexit deal and future EU-UK trading relationship is already forcing businesses to hold off on investment decisions, again affecting their suppliers and customer networks.</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;It has also prompted some companies to stockpile, putting a squeeze on cash flow and reserves.&#8221;</p>
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