Plymouth team marks 10 years of granting debt relief

A government department based in Plymouth has reached its tenth anniversary and over the past decade has granted debt relief to more than 250,000 people across the country.

The Insolvency Service’s Debt Relief Order Unit is based in Mayflower Street, issuing Debt Relief Orders (DROs) to people across the country.

A DRO normally runs for 12 months after which the debts are written off and the first was issued in April 2009 with the aim of assisting people with small levels of assets and little surplus income deal with their debts*.

Originally starting with 9 members of staff in 2009, a decade on and the team in Plymouth has grown to 23 people, approving  99% of DROs within 48 hours of the application being received.

Over the past 10 years, £2.3 billion worth of debt relief has been granted – with 2018 seeing the largest amount issued in a single year at £312 million – and the DRO Unit has issued more than 254,000 DROs to people with debts worth an average of £9,400.

The DRO Unit in Plymouth works in partnership with the debt advice sector across the country as it is authorised debt advisors that submit applications on behalf of their clients.

Liz Thomas, Head of the Insolvency Service’s team in Plymouth, said:

“Reaching the 10-year anniversary since the first DRO was issued is a significant milestone. Our dedicated team in Plymouth has played an important role throughout the past decade and work extremely hard to ensure that services are provided right across the country to assist a substantial number of people out of debt.”