by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Recession is plunging more people into bankruptcy across the county.

According to business advisory firm KPMG, the latest official insolvency figures show an alarming 28 per cent rise in Kent and Medway to 549 cases in the first quarter of 2009.

The statistics cover people petitioning for their own personal bankruptcy in courts as opposed to being forced into bankruptcy by a creditor.

They reveal Maidstone County Court has seen the biggest increase - up 55 per cent - with courts in Canterbury (up 40 per cent), Tunbridge Wells (up 17 per cent), and Medway (up 11 per cent) all dealing with bigger caseloads.

Rising unemployment and falling property prices, with consumers having little or no equity in their homes, are being blamed for the increase.

Nationally, the figures show a 33 per cent rise. There was also an increase in the use of Individual Voluntary Arrangements (s) which went up 11 per cent.

The figures reveal that 17,606 people successfully petitioned the Court to bankrupt themselves and 9,807 agreed an IVA in the quarter January to March 2009.

The average debt owed by someone entering an IVA in the last quarter was £50,020. In the same period more than 500 people entered into an IVA with debts in excess of £100,000.

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