The number of people going bust has seen its biggest quarterly rise in three years, according to figures from insolvency supervisors Accountant in Bankruptcy.

The figures show 5319 personal insolvencies in Scotland in the first quarter of the current tax year – a rise of 25% on the previous quarter.

It is the biggest increase since 2008, when a new debt relief scheme saw a massive rise in the number of people using bankruptcy to tackle their debts.

Since then a slight downward trend has been recorded and despite the large quarterly rise, the figures for the most recent quarter remain 1% below the same period last year.

The Citizens Advice Bureau said a quarter of its UK debt cases in 2010 came from Scotland, while a survey by insolvency group R3 suggested that a higher proportion of people in Scotland rely more on credit cards, overdrafts and payday loans than people in the rest of Britain.

Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing, responsible for personal insolvency and debt management, said: "While these new figures mark an increase in personal bankruptcies this quarter, I am encouraged that there has been reduction on levels when compared to this time last year.

"The recent increase in individual bankruptcies can perhaps be explained by the success of the Certificate for Sequestration, introduced in November 2010 to help people in need of debt relief who previously didn't qualify."

The certificate provides another route into bankruptcy and has provided debt relief for 759 people.

Around a third more Debt Payment Programmes have been awarded through the Debt Arrangement Scheme, up 35% on the previous quarter and up 30% on the same quarter of the year before.