May 2nd, 2019.


There were 4,187 company insolvencies between January and March this year, according to The Insolvency Service. Construction, administration and retail — sectors all struggling with higher wages and employer pensions auto-enrolment costs — were the sectors most affected by small business insolvency.

The construction sector, which is notoriously dogged by late payments, has the highest level of insolvencies, up 0.6pc in 2018.

Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation for Small Businesses, said: “These latest figures show the immense strain that small businesses are currently under with rising employment costs and unfair business rates as well as significant uncertainty as a result of the Brexit process.

“Both the total number of new company insolvencies as well as underlying total insolvencies have reached their highest levels since 2014, which highlights the ongoing turbulence that small firms are now up against."

Growing number of SMEs in distress
Meanwhile, nearly half a million UK companies are in significant financial distress — 16pc of all businesses in Britain.


For the full story at smallbusiness.co.uk CLICK HERE.