Bankruptcy In The UK - Still Better? The Personal Insolvency Regime So Far

The new personal insolvency regime went live on 9 September 2013, and put into action some important and long overdue changes to our bankruptcy laws. After its first two months in operation, is it a success?

While the introduction of these schemes has set a useful benchmark for many clients when they engage in consensual negotiations with their banks, it is still early days and the simple answer is 'not yet'.

Recent press coverage and the comment from insolvency professionals indicate that the new regime has not opened a floodgate of applications for debt write-downs. Prior to its introduction, some commentators anticipated that in the first 12 months up to 15,000 individuals would apply for the non-judicial processes (Debt Relief Notice (DRN), Debt Settlement Arrangement (DSA) and Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA)) and that there would be over 5,000 bankruptcy applications...