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DROs by area

Figures from the Insolvency Service reveal how many people entered an IVA, bankruptcy or a DRO (Debt Relief Order) per area in 2009.

Here, we`ll look specifically at the DRO figures. Unlike the figures for IVAs and bankruptcies, there aren`t any figures from the first quarter of last year, as DROs were only introduced in April.

In terms of regions, South West Wales had the highest (proportional) number of DROs - 3.6 people per 10,000 adults in this region entered a DRO last year. London had the lowest number - just 1.7 per 10,000.

On a county level, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly saw the most adults per 10,000 enter a DRO - 5.5. At the other end of the scale was Buckinghamshire, where just 1.4 people per 10,000 adults entered a DRO.

Per unitary authority, Torbay had the most DROs: 10.2 adults out of every 10,000 entered a DRO last year. The lowest number - zero - was in the Isles of Scilly, as no-one at all entered a DRO.

When it comes to specific districts, nobody entered a DRO in either the City of London or the Isles of Scilly - while in Berwick-upon-Tweed, a full 14.1 people per 10,000 adults did so.

"In total," said a spokesperson for the IVA Advisory Centre, "we saw 11,831 people in England and Wales entering DROs last year. We now have four quarters of DRO figures available, and the number of people entering this form of insolvency has risen in every one of those quarters.

"In the first three months of 2010, a total of 5,644 people in England and Wales entered into a DRO. That`s almost three times as many as we saw in the first quarter after they`d been introduced. Around twice as many people - 11,782 - entered an IVA, and 18,256 entered bankruptcy."