THE number of new bankruptcy cases in Denbighshire and Wrexham last year was higher than the average for England and Wales.
Figures from the Insolvency Service reveal that the figure for Denbighshire was among the highest, with 17.4 people per thousand members of the county’s adult population officially going bust.
That represents a total of 135 individual cases.And it was a considerable increase on the previous year when 121 cases were recorded, equal to 121 people per thousand of adult population.
Another bankruptcy blackspot was Wrexham, where 172 cases were registered last year, or 16.5 per thousand of adult population.
This was also a considerable hike on the previous year when 137 cases were recorded, representing 13.2 per thousand of adult population in the county.
Both these figures were higher than the England and Wales average rate for 2008 of 15.7 - itself up from 15.2 in 2007.
In Flintshire the number of bankruptcy cases in 2008 was 161 - a rate of 13.6 per thousand of adult population.
This compared to 147 cases the previous year, giving a rate of 12.5.For the whole of Wales, there were 3,324 new bankruptcy cases in 2008 - the highest on record.
The figures also show that there were 2,276 Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) in 2008 in Wales, also the highest on record.
Eleanor Burnham, Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for North Wales, said: “These figures show just how hard the recession is hitting the pockets of families in Wales.
“This government has done far too little to prevent the mountain of personal debt building up and now we are seeing this debt timebomb go off.”
She added: “The real tragedy is that with so many households going bankrupt, we are likely to see further rises in long-term unemployment, child poverty and homelessness.
“The government cannot continue to make announcements claiming they are delivering help without ensuring that is readily available for families when they need it.”
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