“Personal insolvencies hit 7 year high” was the headline but reflects just the start.
Personal insolvencies have been creeping up since the end of the last financial crisis – they have not reached the 2009 high but it is a worrying and ongoing trend.
This comes at an increasingly challenging time for businesses, and therefore employees. The retail and hospitality sectors in particular continue to experience very difficult conditions and we have already seen a number of corporate scalps since Christmas. On top of the 10% increase in corporate insolvencies, the economic conditions are only going to be exacerbated – even before the big unknown in Brexit. However, with increasing labour costs (and lower appropriate labour resources), increasing costs and potential logistical challenges with good from the EU, this can realistically only be the beginning of a very difficult period in the UK.
And with the proposal to place Oddbins into administration, and Patisserie Valerie already there, we can’t even have a glass of wine and piece of cake!