East of England saw largest rise in businesses voluntarily shutting down last year
Every region in England saw a rise of at least a third
Last updated 13th Jun 2023
Around eight out of ten UK local authorities saw an increase in the number of businesses voluntarily closing (insolvencies) last year compared to the year before the pandemic.
That's according to analysis from the BBC Shared Data Unit, which has looked at insolvency data and found the worst affected areas saw the number of firms winding up rise five-fold in 2022 compared to 2019.
On a regional level, the East of England saw the biggest rise of 78%, while the South West of England saw the smallest at 31%. However every region in England saw a rise of at least a third.
The withdrawal of government support and soaring energy costs have been blamed for the rise, with retail and construction the hardest hit industries.
Norfolk has seen a 33% increase in the number of businesses voluntarily closing, whilst data suggests Suffolk has seen a 40% increase.
Candy Richards works for the Federation of Small businesses in the East: "Increase the rate of VAT, from £85,000 up to £100,000 - we know from speaking to small businesses that would make a huge difference.
"Alongside that, late payments really need to be tackled.
"Too many big businesses are paying small businesses late and when you have limited cash flow, that can make a huge difference.
"Construction has always been disproportionally hit by late payments - something that we are seeing impacting lots of small businesses.
"There are also some real challenges within retail and hospitality, which are really in the eye of the storm dealing with high inflation costs, crippling energy costs and around hiring and retaining staff.
"Now as we've seen energy costs come down, we're really urging the energy companies to enable small business customers to renegotiate contracts.
"A couple of the energy companies have come forward to start those conversations but we need all of the energy companies to follow suit."