Difficult trading conditions have seen a hike in closures from 1,265 in 2022 while the number of zombie companies which carry on trading while knowing they cannot pay their bills has risen.

The sharp rise in petitions is down to a combination of factors including high interest rates making Covid debts unaffordable for many companies, zombie companies set-up during the pandemic now being forced to liquidate and HMRC’s ongoing customer service crisis exacerbating the backlog of cases.

Brian Johnson, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: ‘Creditors, particularly HMRC are losing patience with companies that – in some cases – have failed to repay their debts for years.

‘These creditors are now pushing to liquidate these debtors and recover whatever they can via a liquidation sale of that company’s assets.’

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