FOI ref: FOI/2022/4445

You asked

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information:

1) The number of people (individuals not businesses) in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) who between the years of 2012 and 2022 who have entered into an IVA as a yearly breakdown e.g. 2012 - 13456, 2013 - 12378 etc

2) The number of people (individuals not businesses) in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) who between the years of 2012 and 2022 who have declared bankruptcy as a yearly breakdown e.g. 2012 - 13456, 2013 12378 etc

3) The number of people in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) who between the years of 2012 and 2022 have claimed financial motive for suicide as a yearly breakdown e.g. 2012 - 13456, 2013 12378 etc

Please provide the information in the form email response, and if possible could the information be filtered by each country e.g 2012 Scotland- 1000, Wales 2000 England 3000 Northern Ireland 4000.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry,

The Wealth and Assets Survey provides estimates of the value of wealth for private households in Great Britain.

However, unfortunately, the data you have requested for parts 1 and 2 of your request is not held by our organisation. Estimates of those who entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or who have been declared bankrupt would require the creation of new information involving a high level of statistical skill and judgement to produce the analysis on data that is not routinely processed (including validation and imputation). Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities are not obliged to create new information in order to answer FOI requests. Therefore, the information requested is not held.

If you have any queries about our Wealth and Assets Survey, please contact Wealth.and.Assets.Survey@ons.gov.uk.

Th Insolvency Service may be better placed to assist with this request, as they publish company and individual insolvency statistics for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as company insolvency statistics for Scotland, they may hold the information you require. They can be contacted at the following email address: statistics@insolvency.gov.uk.

Unfortunately, we also do not hold the information requested for part 3 of your request. Information on suicide registrations in England and Wales includes estimates of registered deaths in England and Wales from suicide analysed by sex, age, area of usual residence of the deceased, and suicide method. If you have any queries about suicide statistics, please contact Health.data@ons.gov.uk.