The number of people needing breathing space from their debts jumped by 25% in 2023 compared with the previous year.
Across England and Wales, there were 88,390 registered breathing spaces in 2023, comprised of 86,928 standard and 1,462 mental health breathing space registrations, the Insolvency Service said.
A standard breathing space is available to people with problem debt and gives legal protections from creditor action for up to 60 days.
A mental health crisis breathing space is available to someone who is receiving mental health crisis treatment. It lasts as long as the person’s mental health crisis treatment, plus 30 days.
Breathing space numbers were 25% higher than in 2022 – and, since the start of the scheme on May 4 2021, more than 200,000 breathing spaces have been registered, the service said.
People registering for breathing space may or may not end up entering a formal insolvency procedure.
While breathing space registrations increased, the number of people formally going financially insolvent last year across England and Wales fell to the lowest annual level since…
