West Berkshire insolvency figures down

The trend is repeated, almost without exception, across the whole Thames Valley region, according to Insolvency Service statistics.
However the drop is in contrast to the national picture, which showed that, during the same period, personal insolvencies have increased by 5.1 per cent.
The South East area is now the second best performing region in the UK, just behind London.
The figures show that in West Berkshire, the rate of insolvency per 10,000 adults in 2012 was 19.7 in 2012, falling to 19.1 in 2013.
Reading, meanwhile, has seen a slighter bigger drop in personal insolvencies than West Berkshire - from 15.1 in 2012 to 14.5 in 2013.
Bracknell Forest saw the biggest drop, from 25.9 to 18.2; there was a small drop for Slough from 20.9 to 18.0 and Windsor and Maidenhead has one of the lowest personal insolvency rates in the area, dropping from 14.2 to 13.9.
Oxford, too, saw a notable drop, from 22.7 to 18.0.
The only area in the Thames Valley to have seen an increase was Wokingham, from 10.4 to 11.0.
Despite this, it retains the title of having the lowest personal insolvency rate in the Thames Valley.
A spokeswoman for the insolvency practicioners R3, Julia Branson, said: “While it’s welcome that official personal insolvencies continue to fall, it’s important to remember that these statistics do not tell the full story. The big issue is that debt management plans are not tracked by government. We know thousands of people use plans like these, but we don’t know the exact extent of their use.
“Often people end up in debt management plans because they struggle to access a formal insolvency option, which might be better suited for their situation. We warned earlier this year that some people are so cash-strapped they can’t afford the £700 it costs to declare themselves bankrupt. Our research shows 70 per cent of personal insolvency practitioners have seen this happen