The Office for National Statistics reported that more than 105,000 businesses were removed from Inter-Departmental Business Register in April and June. This is a list of all registered businesses to pay value-added taxes and levies for wages. Josh Martin (an economic adviser to the ONS) said that this surge is due in part to the difficulties companies faced when filing for bankruptcy a year earlier during the pandemic.
The ONS’s new research aims to provide a clearer picture of which companies are on the brink of bankruptcy than the insolvency statistics, which account for only a fraction.
The most significant increase in business closings in the second trimester was in professional, technical and scientific activities.
The number and type of new businesses that were added to the register during the second quarter increased 28% in comparison to last year. It is close to the pre-pandemic level for the same period. Closures rose by 10% over 2019.