Britain is facing an "insolvency epidemic" with nearly 300 people going broke every day.

The spiralling cost of living means up to five million people are living beyond their means each month, say experts. Official figures out yesterday show 25,264 people went bust in the first three months of 2008.

While this was down on the same period last year, and only a 1.7 per increase on the previous three months, the credit crunch has deepened since then.

The number of banks pushing up mortgage rates reached a peak last month. But this will take time to have a serious impact on family budgets, suggesting that the figures could get much worse towards the end of the year.
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Ann Robinson, of price comparison site uSwitch, says that even if the current trend continues more than 100,000 people will go broke this year.