According to a report by the Office of National Statistics, the Q2 closings of U.K. companies was the highest number since 2017, at 105.455, a record.
This number was higher than any previous year, reaching 98.880 Q2.
This was 43 percent greater than what happened in 2020 at the same moment.
The transport and storage industries experienced the greatest increases in closures, as did the professional, scientific and technological industries. The report details that the transport and storage industry saw an increase of 91 percent in closures. Meanwhile, the growth in professional, scientific, technical companies was 35%.
However, all sixteen major groups saw an increase of closures.
According to the report business closures led to businesses being removed in the United Kingdom from the Inter-Departmental Business Register. If the turnover and employment of a business has been zero over a period, they are removed from that registry.
However, the report noted that there was a stronger than normal growth in business closures in this quarter compared with the same period in 2020. Q2 2020 had government assistance which may have prevented too many businesses closing their doors.
According to Begbies Traynor data report, many U.K. companies reported that they were in financial distress in April 2021. The figure was an increase of 15 percent over the numbers at the end of 2020 as well as a 42-percent spike from the same period in 2020.