Personal insolvencies on rise for first time in year Bankruptcies are at their lowest level since 2003 and are down 20.5pc compared to the previous year, reaching 7,617 in the three months to September. There were 7,777 debt relief orders, up 2.3pc, over the period. Elsewhere, the figures showed that number of company insolvencies fell 2.8pc on the quarter to 3,971, down 6.6pc from a year ago. This was made up of 1,092 compulsory liquidations and 2,879 creditor's voluntary liquidations. But industry experts warned many firm were acting as "zombie business," only just surviving in the current trading environment. Chris Ratten, head of recovery at accounting firm RSM Tenon, said: "The decline in corporate insolvencies in this quarter sounds like great news but businesses are still facing on-going problems. "Just in the last few weeks some high profile companies such as Manganese Bronze and Comet have shown that the market is tough and the threat of an unprecedented "triple dip recession" is just round the corner." Frank Tschentscher, partner at law firm Schultze & Braun, said: "The number of bankruptcies and bankruptcy petitions is down and on the face of it that is good news, but is it a true picture? Personally, I doubt it. There is always a time lag between the end of a recession and a spike in bankruptcy figures. I fear there is worse to come. Other figures showed the percentage of personal bankruptcy orders involving sole traders - people who work for themselves - was 22.9pc in the second quarter of 2012, the latest figures available, which is higher than in previous years. The high level has been exposed due to the decline in the number of cases involving "non-traders," such as people who have racked up debt by opening several store cards.