A record number of people went bankrupt during the first quarter of the year as Britain sank deeper into recession, official figures show.
A total of 19,062 people were declared bankrupt on a seasonally adjusted basis during the first three months of the year - a 23.4% rise on the same period of 2008.
The Insolvency Service said company liquidations rose to 4,941 in the first three months of 2009.
That figure is up 56% on the same period a year ago, and the highest for almost 16 years.
There were 5,011 company liquidations between January and March - the highest since the second quarter of 1993 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.
The number of people who went insolvent, which includes both bankruptcies and those taking out an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), also rose to a new high of 29,774.
Within this total, 10,713 people took out an IVA, under which interest on debt is frozen in exchange for a set amount being repaid each month.
The figure represents a 3.6% rise from the quarter and an 11.8% jump year-on-year.
The rise in bankruptcies was even more dramatic on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, soaring by 14% compared with the previous quarter to 20,446.
They also reflect official estimates of deepening recession in the first quarter of 2009, with the beleaguered UK economy declining 1.9%.
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