Debt taken on during the pandemic, higher borrowing costs and the cost of living crisis will drive an increasing number of businesses to close in 2024, warns the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

There were over 6,700 business insolvencies in the UK in the second quarter of 2023, more than double what was seen in a typical quarter during the pandemic.

Even compared with a normal period, insolvencies were 50% higher than the same quarter pre-pandemic in 2019 and averaged 4,100 every quarter between 2015 and 2019.

The high level of business failures followed the potential collapse of retailer Wilko as well as warnings of the risk of bankruptcy at shared office provider WeWork.