The number of people declaring themselves bankrupt in the last quarter of last year rose in Kent in line with the national trend, latest figures show.

The statistics, released by the Ministry of Justice today, show a 32 per cent increase to 487 cases of people petitioning for their own bankruptcy in the county, as opposed to being forced into bankruptcy by a creditor, to 487 cases in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

Canterbury witnessed a 29 per cent increase with 190 people declaring themselves bankrupt, while Medway witnessed a 37 per cent increase to 173 cases.

In Maidstone there was a 50 per cent increase as 54 people declared themselves bankrupt and in Tunbridge Wells the numbers rose by 17 per cent with 70 people choosing to go down the personal bankruptcy route.

Nationally the three months ending December 31, 2008, saw an increase of 32 per cent in the number of people making themselves bankrupt in England and Wales compared to the same quarter of last year.

For the same period there was an increase in the use of Individual Voluntary Arrangements - IVAs - which rose 12 per cent compared to last year.

The figures reveal that 15,358 people successfully petitioned the Court to bankrupt themselves and 10,467 agreed an IVA in the quarter October to December 2008.

Mark Sands, Director at accountancy firm KPMG in the South East said: "This means that a total of 25,825 people took the potentially life changing step of placing themselves into personal insolvency; this proportion of people choosing to 'jump before they were pushed' represents an incredible 85 per cent of all personal insolvencies."

He added: "Concerns raised about the inappropriate use of IVAs did have an impact on their numbers, but this was addressed by the introduction of the IVA Protocol in February 2008.

"Since then we have seen a change in the use of IVAs which may mean a reversal of this trend.

"Nonetheless, our research shows that only one half of new IVAs are taking advantage of the new approach and that 17 per cent of all IVAs put forward in the last quarter were rejected."

Data prepared by KPMG showed that the average debt owed by someone entering an IVA in the last quarter was £47,800 and that in the same period more than 500 people entered into an IVA with debts in excess of £100,000.

Falling house prices, the general downturn and the associated increases in unemployment are starting to have an impact.