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The Money Advice Service collaborated with CACI to write a report, compiling a list of local authorities in the UK with the highest and lowest "over-indebtedness".
What is the definition of over-indebtedness? Respondents were instructed to answer 'yes' or 'no' to the following two questions:
Do you find keeping up with bills and credit commitments a heavy burden?
And:
Have you fallen behind or missed payments in at least three of the last six months?
According to the research, the national average is 16.1 per cent:
Here are the 10 most over-indebted areas:
1. Sandwell, West Midlands (24.7%)
2. Blaenau Gwent, Wales (24.3%)
3. Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (24.1)
4. Newham, London (23.8%)
5. Derry and Strabane, Northern Ireland (23.8%)
6. Barking and Dagenham, London (23.0%)
7. Belfast, Northern Ireland (22.9%)
8. Tower Hamlets, London (22.9%)
9. Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire and The Humber (21.9%)
10. Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales (21.9%)
Most of the local authorities who fall below the UK average are located in the South west.
Here are the 10 least over-indebted areas:
1. East Renfrewshire, Scotland, (10.0%)
2. East Dorset, South West (10.1%)
3. East Dunbartonshire, Scotland (10.1%)
4. Elmbridge, South East (10.2%)
5. Mole Valley, South East (10.3%)
6. South Bucks, South East (10.6%)
7. Chiltern, South East (10.6%)
8. Epsom and Ewell, South East (10.6)
9. Aberdeenshire, Scotland (10.7%)
10. Hart, South East (10.7%)
The over-indebtedness population is younger, more likely to rent and more likely to have children than the UK as a whole.
Of the top ten most indebted areas, London features three times - Newham, Barking and Dagenham, and Tower Hamlets.
These boroughs are also amongst the most deprived areas of the UK, which seems to indicate a correlation between local authority areas that are heavily in debt, and poverty.
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