by David Jones

The number of people declaring themselves bankrupt fell in Kent fell over the last quarter but the figures mask a dramatic rise in personal insolvencies.

KPMG's analysis of the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice shows the reduction in the county's bankruptcies was in line with the national trend.

But despite this apparently good news, personal insolvencies are set to soar in England and Wales and will break all records in 2010.

The statistics reveal a 10 per cent decrease in people petitioning for their own bankruptcy in Kent, as opposed to being forced into bankruptcy by a creditor, to 493 cases in the three months ended March, 2010, compared with the same period last year.

Across the whole of England and Wales, 16,348 people filed their own petition in bankruptcy in the quarter ended March 31, 2010, a decrease of three per cent compared to the same quarter in 2009.

Chris Nutting, director of personal insolvency at KPMG said: "While these figures show an apparent decrease in the number of people filing for their own petition in bankruptcy the numbers do not reflect the true picture.

"A new procedure called a Debt Relief Order (DRO) was introduced in April, 2009, which allows consumers with debts of less than £15,000, and minimal assets or surplus income, to write off their debts without entering into a full blown bankruptcy.

"Our research shows that a percentage of these people would have previously used bankruptcy to resolve their financial problems.

"Adding the number of DROs for the three months ended March 31, 2010, to the number of debtor's petitions reveals that 21,992 people took action themselves to resolve their financial problems by seeking out a formal insolvency procedure.

"Comparing this to the same quarter last year it can be seen that there has been an overall increase of 31 per cent."

No figures are available for the number of DROs in Kent.

Figures released last week by the Insolvency Service show that nationally a record 35,682 people went into insolvency in the first three months of 2010 which confirms that a growing number of people are still faced with problems of debt and job security, says KPMG.