More Scottish firms went bust last year than prior to the pandemic, with the numbers more than doubling across the country and increasing fivefold in some areas.
Withdrawal of government support and soaring energy costs have been blamed for the rise, with retail and construction the hardest hit industries.
The revelations have come from research by the BBC, which analysed insolvency notices in The London Gazette, the official paper of record for public notices.
A total of 243 businesses went insolvent in 2019 in Scotland. That rose to 608 last year, an increase of 150%.
Some local authority areas were more impacted than others, however.
Dundee City, for example, went from five insolvencies in 2019 to 28 in 2022.
That’s an increase of 460%, more than five times as high as before the pandemic.
It’s the largest percentage increase of any local authority in Scotland to have had 40 or more insolvencies across the four years; and the second highest in the UK.
In South Ayrshire the number went from two in 2019 to 27 in 2022, while in North Ayrshire they went from two to 29, and in East Ayrshire from three to 27.
Glasgow City had the largest total increase of any local authority in Scotland.
There were 58 insolvencies there in 2019. That shot up to 134 last year, an increase of 131%.
The City of Edinburgh had the next largest increase ,going from 34 to 78; an increase of 129%.
You can see the figures for your local area using our interactive map:
Construction and high street businesses were hit the hardest last year.
An additional 943 construction firms went bust in 2022, compared to 2019.
Meanwhile, an additional 820 wholesale and retail firms went out of business last year, compared to 2019.
Begbies Traynor regional managing partner Julie Palmer said: “There's a lot of nervousness in the economy at the moment due to macro-economic pressures.
“With interest rates, they are still not high in relative terms, but high in terms of how this generation perceives them, together with inflation that until recently seemed to be galloping out of control.
“This has caused a real cost of living crisis, which is really hitting consumer confidence - people are tightening their belts and it's particularly those consumer-facing sectors, that we're really beginning to see struggle at the moment.
“We are seeing rising levels of distress that's beginning to translate in terms of a pickup in insolvency rates, we haven't seen that massive falling off the cliff edge yet, but I think some factors will speed up that process a little bit.
“The courts are progressively beginning to push through some of the credit applications to take recovery action and HMRC is definitely getting a lot more aggressive in terms of chasing statutory debts,“ she continued, adding: “So we only see insolvency figures going one way; I think it will be a steady rise rather than a fall off a cliff edge.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The Business Minister recently wrote to the CEO of Ofgem to raise this issue and ask them to ensure energy suppliers show forbearance to businesses that are struggling to pay energy contracts, and government support does not go to waste.
“We have already provided around £400bn of direct support to businesses, including business grants, coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, plus income tax payment deferral.
“This is alongside a new arbitration scheme to help resolve pandemic related rent debt.”
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