A HIGHER proportion of people in Barnsley declared bankruptcy last year than anywhere else in South Yorkshire, new figures have revealed.
Bankruptcy rates per 10,000 people fell in 2021 - owing to government and council support for individuals and businesses during the pandemic - but the borough’s rate of 1.7 is still higher than Doncaster’s 1.5, Rotherham’s 1.4 and Sheffield where one per 10,000 people declared bankruptcy.
Barnsley’s rate was 10.1 per 10,000 in 2011, so has significantly fallen in the last decade.
With regards Parliamentary constituencies, Wentworth and Dearne had the highest rate of bankruptcy at 2.2 per 10,000, while Penistone and Stocksbridge had a rate of 0.7 per 10,000.
The same pattern could be seen in individual insolvency rates for which Wentworth and Dearne had 38.3 per 10,000 and Penistone and Stocksbridge had 15.7 per 10,000, although Barnsley’s rate of 30.1 was the second-lowest of the four South Yorkshire authorities.
The insolvency rate peaked in 2018 when it was 39.8 per 10,000 - the tenth-highest in the country.
Insolvency is when a person or business can no longer pay their debts, while bankruptcy is filed for by a person or their creditors and ordered by a court as a form of debt management.
