This chapter examines how austerity policies have shaped English consumer bankruptcy law in the decade following the financial crisis. Austerity accelerates the ‘loans for wages’ and ‘credit/welfare state trade-off’ trends of contemporary financialised capitalism, as wage stagnation and a shrinking social safety net leave the debt economy reliant on household borrowing to maintain growth and living standards. In addition, austerity adds newfound zeal to government debt collection, increasing pressure on debt-laded households. These conditions challenge bankruptcy law, by increasing need for household debt relief and changing the nature of problem debt from well-examined mortgage and consumer credit to understudied ‘priority’ debts such as rent arrears and government debts. This environment provides a crucible in which to test English law’s commitment to the social insurance vision of bankruptcy.