Fall in rate of insolvencies welcomed

During July, 1,776 companies – 0.09 per cent of the business population – failed, compared to 1,962 companies (0.10 per cent) in July 2011.

Experian, which carried out the research, said improvements were across the board, but the biggest improvement came from the UK’s largest firms with more than 501 employees.

This segment saw failures fall to 0.08 per cent from 0.15 per cent last July.

Smaller firms with 11 to 25 firms were also resilient, with the failure rate dropping to 0.19 per cent from 0.26 per cent last year.

Max Firth, of Experian Business Information Services, said: “Since March this year, when the insolvency rate peaked at 0.11 per cent, it has remained fairly stable – between 0.08 per cent and 0.09 per cent.

“The lack of any real increase is clearly welcome and this picture is unlikely to change in the near future.”

Yorkshire saw 135 insolvencies during July, or 0.11 per cent.