Trust deeds and sequestrations information: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information:

1. The average payment per month in a trust deed, sequestration and Debt Arrangement Scheme made by a debtor.
2. Average fee per case in a trust deed and also sequestration.
3. Total number of trust deeds and sequestrations granted / awarded per trustee/company from the 1st of January 2018 to 25 April 2019.
4. Average debt level per trust deed and also sequestration case.
5. How many trust deeds and sequestrations have been granted / awarded with a debt level between £5,000 and £8,000 since January 2017.
6. How many of the Trust Deeds which gained protection were handed back to creditors before the expiry of the expected 4 year period of the Trust Deed?

Please rank the firms which handed back cases to creditors by the number handed back in the requested period, specifying the firm’s name.

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested, detailed below and attached in the Excel spreadsheet format you asked for. Note that while nearly all the information requested is available, for some parts of your request there will be differences in time period requested. Further details below.

1. The average payment per month in a trust deed, sequestration and Debt Arrangement Scheme made by a debtor.

The median payment per month for bankruptcies, protected trust deeds (PTDs) and the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) is shown in the following table:

Table 1: Median monthly payment by statutory debt solution: Scotland, 01/01/18-31/03/19 (1), (2)

Statutory debt solution						Median monthly payment (£)
Bankruptcy: Full Administration (3)						£130
Bankruptcy: Creditor Petition (4)						£190
Protected trust deed						£140
Debt Arrangement Scheme						£220

(1) - Based on actual and scheduled monthly payments only. Bankruptcy information based on relevant Debtor Contribution Order. Protected trust deed information based on latest Form 4 as at 1 May 2019. Debt Arrangement Scheme information based on DASH administrative system.

(2) - Figures rounded to nearest £10.

(3) - Debtor Contribution Order for Full Administration bankruptcies, where contribution is set at more than £0 (739 cases out of 2,020 FA awards).

(4) - Debtor Contribution Order for creditor petition bankruptcies, where contribution is set at more than £0 (184 cases out of 801 for which we have records, 1,281 creditor petitions actually awarded in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19).

This information is based on payments made in between 01/01/2018 and 31/03/2019, and relate to actual and scheduled monthly payments only. For bankruptcies the value shown is the Debtor Contribution Order (DCO), where a contribution of more than £0 has been set for Full Administration and creditor petition bankruptcies (DCO for Minimal Asset Process (MAP) is set at £0).

2. Average fee per case in a trust deed and also sequestration.

The average fee per case for bankruptcies and PTDs discharged is shown in the following table. Caution is needed when comparing costs across different statutory solution as different type of costs are included based on information availability and whether VAT is applied.

Table 2: Average cost of administration by statutory debt solution: Scotland, 01/01/18-31/03/19 (1)

Statutory debt solution						Average cost (including outlays)				Average cost (excluding outlays)
Bankruptcy: AiB as trustee (2)						£3,000				£2,500
Bankruptcy: private sector trustee (3)						N/A				£5,800
Protected trust deed (4)						£6,300				£4,200

(1) - Figures rounded to nearest £100.

(2) - Bankruptcy: AiB as trustee information based on cases discharged in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19. Average cost of administration based on Part 1 and Part 2 fees due and outlays (expenses of realisation are not included). MAP/LILA cases are not included.

(3) - Bankruptcy: private sector trustee information based on cases discharged in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19. Average cost of administration based on trustee's remuneration only (outlays are not included).

(4) - Protected trust deed information based on Forms 7 and 11 of PTDs discharged in between 01/04/18 and 31/03/19. Average cost of administration equals sum of (i) fixed administration fee, (ii) percentage of assets and contributions realised and (iii) outlays (statutory fees and 3rd party fees).

3. Total number of trust deeds and sequestrations granted / awarded per trustee/company from the 1st of January 2018 to 25th April 2019.

AiB does not have information on the total number of trust deeds granted as records are not retained on trust deeds that are granted but do not go on to be protected. This is a notice under section 17 of FOISA that the information you have requested is not held.

However, information is held on the number of PTDs registered by company, shown in table 3 and bankruptcies awarded by company is shown in table 4:

Table 3: Protected trust deeds registered by company: Scotland, 01/01/18-25/04/19 (1)

Company								PTDs registered
Carrington Dean								3,546
Harper McDermott								1,882
Campbell Wallace Fraser								1518
KPMG								917
Hanover Insolvency								420
Wylie & Bisset								327
Campbell Dallas								292
Pinnacle Insolvency								253
William Duncan								209
Wilson Andrews								193
Begbies Traynor								165
Payplan Scotland								117
Grant Thornton UK								66
Murray Stewart Fraser								34
Personal Debt Support								30
Others								88
Total PTDs registered								10,057

(1) - Displaying companies with 25 or more PTDs registered.

Table 4: Bankruptcies awarded (excluding MAP) by firm of appointed trustee: Scotland, 01/01/18-25/04/19 (1)

Firm of appointed trustee									Bankruptcies awarded (exc. MAP)
Accountant in Bankruptcy									2,571
KPMG									96
Campbell Dallas									88
Wylie & Bisset									74
AMI Financial Solutions									71
Begbies Traynor									65
Grant Thornton UK									64
Condies Business Recovery and Insolvency									60
BDO									51
Johnston Carmichael									41
French Duncan									40
Middlebrooks Business Recovery & Advice									31
Thomson Cooper									30
William Duncan & Co									28
KLM									27
Others									163
Total bankruptcies awarded (exc. MAP)									3,500

(1) - Displaying companies with 25 or more bankruptcies awarded. Figures include Full Administration and creditor petition bankruptcies. Minimal Asset Process (MAP) bankruptcies are excluded as The Accountant must act as trustee - 2,758 MAP cases since 01/01/2018 were awarded.

Note figures presented here may not be consistent with official, quarterly Scottish Insolvency Statistics publication. These tables are based on data extracted from live databases at a different point in time. Official quarterly statistics on the number of statutory debt solutions are the definitive source and available here.

4. Average debt level per trust deed and also sequestration case.

The median debt level for bankruptcies (Minimal Asset Process and Full Administration) and protected trust deeds is shown in the following table. Information is based on bankruptcies awarded and PTDs registered in between 01/01/2018 and 31/03/2019 from debtor application (bankruptcies) and Form 3 (PTD) forms respectively.

Table 5: Median debt level by statutory debt solution: Scotland, annual financial data, 01/01/18-31/03/19 (1), (2)

Statutory debt solution				Median total debt due to creditors (£)
Bankruptcy (MAP and FA):				£13,400
Minimal Asset Process				£9,500
Full Administration				£26,500
Protected trust deed				£14,900

(1) - Bankruptcy information based on debtor application form for bankruptcy awards in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19. AiB does not have readily available information on debt levels in creditor petitions. PTD information based on Form 3 for PTDs registered in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19.

(2) - Figures rounded to nearest £100.

5. How many trust deeds and sequestrations have been granted / awarded with a debt level between £5,000 and £8,000 since 01 January 2018.

The number of bankruptcies (Minimal Asset Process and Full Administration) and PTDs registered with total debt due to creditors between £5,000 and £8,000 is shown in the following table:

Table 6: Bankruptcies awarded and PTDs registered in 2017-18 with debt level between £5,000 and £8,000: Scotland, 01/01/18-31/03/19 (1)

Statutory debt solution					Number with total debt due to creditors between £5,000 and £8,000
Bankruptcy (MAP and FA)					629
Minimal Asset Process					602
Full Administration					27
Protected trust deed					1,345

(1) - Bankruptcy information based on debtor application form for bankruptcy awards in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19. AiB does not have readily available information on debt levels in creditor petitions. PTD information based on Form 3 for PTDs registered in between 01/01/18 and 31/03/19.

6. How many of the Trust Deeds which gained protection were handed back to creditors before the expiry of the expected 4 year period of the Trust Deed since January 2018.

Please rank the firms which handed back cases to creditors by the number handed back since January 2018, specifying the firm’ name.

The definition of a failed protected trust deed (PTD) is a PTD that a trustee has been discharged, but not the debtor. The number of PTDs that failed within the 4-year period is shown in the following table:

Table 7: Number of protected trust deeds failed within the 4-year period by company: Scotland, 01/01/18-25/04/19 (1)

Company				Number of failed protected trust deeds
Pinnacle Insolvency				733
Carrington Dean				495
Campbell Wallace Fraser				202
Wylie & Bisset				85
KPMG				39
Others				102
Total PTDs failed				1,656

(1) - Displaying companies with 25 or more PTDs failed.
(2) - Including PTDs that trustees were discharged in between 01/01/2018 and 25/04/2019.

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