The number of people declaring themselves bankrupt in Brighton and Hove is rocketing - bucking the national trend.

The city was today said to be in the grip of a "credit crunch", with self-declared bankruptcies up 15 per cent over just three months.

Latest Government figures reveal 470 people went into voluntary bankruptcy in the third quarter of the year, up from 401 in the previous quarter.


The worrying rise goes against the national trend which saw a fall of five per cent over the same period.

According to analysis from auditors KPMG, the average Sussex debtor proposing an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) - a formal payback agreement between debtors and their creditors - now owes a total of £48,666, while the average bankrupt has debts totalling £50,828.

Mark Sands, director of restructuring for KPMG, today warned the problem will only get worse.

He said: "With average debt levels as high as this, interest rate rises and other strains on the family budget, many individuals are likely to see their finances severely affected.

"The impact of the credit crunch has made it more difficult to refinance existing debt so the previous release valve is no longer available. As a result the pressure on the over-indebted continues to grow.

"It is unsurprising that we are continuing to see such high levels of people choosing personal insolvency as the solution to their problems.

"Despite the national fall in personal insolvencies, anyone taking comfort in this slight drop is in for a rude awakening. Almost every indicator suggests this trend as being only a temporary respite from long term increases to record levels."

Elsewhere in Sussex bankruptcies were up an average of six per cent.

The figures show Sussex is a spendaholic county, with the level of bankruptcy and those taking out an IVA constantly on the increase. There are now more than 7,000 bankrupts and 2,200 IVAs in Sussex.

The two exceptions were Eastbourne, which saw a massive 53 per cent reduction in the number of bankruptcy cases in the last quarter, and Hastings which saw a 30 per cent drop.

Joan Kendall was forced to declare herself bankrupt after her charity calendar, featuring semi-naked spinners and weavers, left her with massive debts. Ms Kendall, 53, of Barcombe, near Lewes, wanted to follow in the footsteps of the Rylstone Womenís Institute Calendar Girls, who were first to raise funds for charity by posing in the nude.

But with stiff opposition from scores of similar offerings and a problem with some visible nipples, Ms Kendall found herself unable to sell 9,000 of the 10,000 calendars she had ordered.

Facing a £15,000 mountain of debt, she declared herself bankrupt at Brighton County Court in October.

She said: "Bankruptcy was quite a blow but it hasnít ruined my life. For a while I didnít want to go down that route but in the end I decided I had to.

"I have got over it, although I understand that for some people it would be the end of the world.

"But I am quite resilient. If you havenít got anything to lose then you canít lose it - and I had nothing to lose."


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