Bankruptcy (also known as sequestration in Scotland) is a legal declaration that someone cannot pay their debts. If a person is declared bankrupt, control of things that they own, is passed to a trustee who may sell them to pay money owed to creditors. A regular payment from a person's income may also have to be made. Protected Trust Deed (PTD) is a form of insolvency that transfers a debtor's estate to a trustee to be realised for the benefit of creditors. Number of personal insolvencies (count) and the rate per 10,000 adult (aged 16+) population (ratio) in Scotland by local authority. This ratio provides a representative picture of the concentration of bankruptcies and PTDs in Scotland. The statistics are compiled by Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB), an executive agency of the Scottish Government. The majority of the statistics presented are derived from AiB administrative records. This dataset covers insolvencies in Scotland. Statistics covering England & Wales, and Northern Ireland are available from The Insolvency Service. Non-statutory debt solutions, where debtors make their own arrangements with creditors or enter informal debt management plans with a debt management firm, are not included.
Insolvency rates are annually revised, as a result of revisions to the underlying population data published by the National Records of Scotland. Annual personal insolvencies in each local authority are based on finalised data and as such there are no associated planned revisions. There are times, however, when revisions may still need to be made. Where ad-hoc revisions are made, they will be highlighted and reasons for any revisions will be given. More information on the revision policy can be requested from AiB.
All formal insolvency procedures entered into by an individual are required by law to be reported to the appropriate body, so the statistics should be a complete record of insolvency in Scotland at the time of publication. The numbers of bankruptcies and PTDs are based on the date of the order or agreement of the insolvency procedure. They are not based on the date registered on AiB's administrative recording system. Personal insolvencies have been classified into geographic areas on the basis of the postcode supplied by the individual. The most recent address is used to classify the debtor's location. Adult population estimates for each local authority are taken from the National Records of Scotland mid-year estimates. Rate per 10,000 adults (aged 16+) is the specific number of statutory debt solution divided by the number of people aged 16 or over, multiplied by 10,000. A rate of a 100 per 10,000 adults is equivalent to 1% of the adult population. A small number of cases were unable to be matched to the Scottish Postcode Directory (either the postcode was unknown, missing or the applicant supplied a postcode outside of Scotland) and therefore not included in a local authority and listed as 'unknown'. These cases have been included in the overall Scotland totals and rates. For all three statutory debt solutions unknown postcodes accounted for around 1% of annual statutory debt solutions in 2022-23.
Personal insolvencies in Scotland (awards of bankruptcy and Protected Trust Deeds).
The Scottish Debt Solutions Statistics are available free of charge to the end user on the [AiB website](https://www.aib.gov.uk/about-aib/statistics-data/quarterly-statistics), ScotStat and this website.
This dataset does not contain any sensitive or personal information.
Changes in legislation and policy can affect the extent to which comparisons can be made over time for individual data series. Where such changes are known, they have been highlighted in the general background notes for the quarterly Scottish Statutory Debt Solution Statistics, available from AiB. Further information on the historical trends of the statutory debt solutions in Scotland can also be found in this publication. The number of Scottish statutory debt solutions and the rate per 10,000 adults presented in this dataset may not be consistent with the official, quarterly Scottish Statutory Debt Solution Statistics publication. This dataset is based on data extracted from the live database at a different point in time and on a different basis. Differences between the two sources are larger for earlier years where historic data extracts have been used. The quarterly statistics are the definitive source of the number of Scottish statutory debt solutions in each financial year and the rate per 10,000 adults.
Checks are in place to identify and remove duplication of cases when extracting data from the administrative systems, to ensure that returns cover all debt management solutions, and to check consistency within tables and between related tables.
The latest data relate to the financial year 2022-23. The final 2022-23 figures were published in July 2023 as part of the Scottish Statutory Debt Solutions: April to June 2023 (2023-24 Q1) statistical release. The number of personal insolvencies (count) and the rate per 10,000 adult (aged 16+) population (ratio) in Scotland by local authority in 2022-23 were included in the Scottish Statutory Debt Solutions Annual Statistics, published on 02 August 2023. Future updates to this dataset will be made annually, alongside the publication of these statistics. The quarterly Scottish Debt Solutions Statistical release contains the latest statistics on personal and corporate insolvencies, as well as DAS in Scotland. They are published on the fourth Wednesday of the month on the AiB website following the end of the quarter being reported on. This publication date allows receipt of all the data inputs, and sufficient time for quality assurance the data extracts, tabulating records and completing the compilation of the statistical release in the publication format. The rate per 10,000 adults (aged 16+) population is dependent on population estimates at local authority level for the denominator in this calculation. Adult population estimates for each local authority are taken from the National Records of Scotland mid-year estimates, which for mid-2021 were published in July 2022.
The statistics produced by AiB are the most complete record of personal and corporate insolvencies, as well as the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) in Scotland. They include all statutory debt solutions available. This dataset does not include non-statutory debt solutions. This is where debtors make their own arrangements with creditors or enter informal debt management plans with a debt management firm. Key users of AiB's debt solution statistics are AiB itself (which has policy responsibility for personal insolvencies and DAS in Scotland), the insolvency profession, local authorities, debt advice agencies, media organisations, academics, creditors and the general public.
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