Official figures released by Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB) today report 5,601 personal insolvencies in Scotland in the first quarter of 2012/13 - a 14.9 per cent increase on the previous quarter and a 5.3 per cent increase on the same period in the previous year.
In total there were 3,310 awards of bankruptcy, showing an increase of 26 per cent on the previous quarter and a 12.3 per cent increase on the same period from the previous year.
Changes to AIB's fees structure were introduced via the Bankruptcy Fees etc. (Scotland) Regulations 2012 which came into effect (in part) on 1 June 2012, including an increase in the fee for debtors applying for their own bankruptcy, may account for some of this increase: high numbers of debtors applied for bankruptcy in May, before the change, leading to a 36.1 per cent increase in bankruptcies by debtor application for the quarter. The number of 'Protected Trust Deeds' (PTDs) recorded was 2,291 in total, an increase of 2.0 per cent on the previous quarter and a decrease of 3.4 per cent on the corresponding quarter of last year.