Number of UK businesses in financial distress ‘at two-decade high’

The hospitality industry has been hit hard this year, with a 5% rise in the number of bars and restaurants in distress to 18,866. Photograph: Nathaniel Noir/Alamy

The number of UK businesses in financial distress has hit its highest level in more than two decades, as pressure grows on the chancellor to provide more support to the private sector in Wednesday’s budget.

There were 738,144 businesses in “significant” financial distress in the third quarter of this year, up 1.6% compared with the same period last year, according to BTG. That is the highest level since the administrator’s closely watched “red flag” report began in 2004.