Number of bankruptcy and IVA rose by 38%

The UK Insolvency Helpline organisation has revealed that the number of Brits affected by the recession has increased significantly as more pleas of help by the jobless and those in serious debt continue to spiral.

According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, an estimated 60,000 Brits have contacted their office in North Wales alone this year, up from around 45,000 who sought their assistance the previous year.

Alarmingly, the figures for the first quarter of 2009 show another dramatic increase with an 84% rise in redundancy enquiries as businesses shed thousands of jobs in the economic downturn.

The Insolvency Helpline organisation said that the number of bankruptcy and Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) cases rose by around 38% in 18 months in North Wales.

Fuel debt enquiries have also more than doubled in counties like Conwy, and fears from people at risk of losing their homes has seen those seeking mortgage arrears advice quadruple in two years on Anglesey.

The huge increase in demand has left the volunteer service struggling to cope.

Jackie Blackwell, CAB chief executive on Anglesey, said “There has been a huge increase in demand and we are struggling. We are breaking the rafters with people coming in.”

Anglesey has also seen hundreds of people who lost their jobs in the last year, Blackwell said and added, “we are struggling to meet that demand”

“Debt cases are also going through the roof and while in the past it has mainly been people on benefits struggling with debt, the recent clients have been those in work but have seen their pay cut or frozen but bills continue to inflate, leaving them struggling to keep up with repayments,” she said.

Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire saw redundancy enquiries more than double in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008, which itself was a record year for enquires.

Blackwell added, “There has been a big increase in people struggling to pay the mortgage, people at real risk of losing their homes. The economic situation is having this impact, we can see it first hand here.”