Peterborough companies shrug off full impact Covid-19 lockdown and cost of living crisis, new figures reveal

Employers in Peterborough look to have shrugged off the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis, according to new insolvency data.

Figures show the there was a steep rise in the number of liquidations comparing 2019, the year before the pandemic, to 2022.

And the East of England was the region that fared worst with the biggest rise of 78 per cent, closely followed by the North West.

But the statistics that have been compiled by the BBC Data Unit, show that in Peterborough in 2019 there were 26 company insolvencies with that number reaching 29 by 2022.

There were 10 company insolvencies in 2010 and 16 in 2021.

It means the total number of company insolvencies over the four years was 81. Yet according to economic development company Opportunity Peterborough, there are about 7,525 VAT registered businesses in the city.

Among the high profile company collapses in Peterborough was that of online car dealership Carzam.

In Cambridgeshire there were 65 insolvencies in 2019 and 87 in 2022 with a total of 87 across the four years.

Regionally, there were 952 insolvencies in 2019 rising to 1,698 bin 2022 with a total of 4,314 over the four years.

Across the country 187 out of 221 upper tier authorities in the UK (85 per cent) saw a rise in liquidations comparing 2019, the year before the pandemic, to 2022.

Stuart Adam from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said while many firms had been “tided over during a period of hibernation” through loans and tax deferrals, those measures would not tackle “piling up” debts.

Liquidations began to rise following the end of the furlough scheme in September 2021.

Michael Weedon, the lead for retail and high street for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “We knew during the first year of pandemic there was deliberate business support from the government - we knew when that tailed away, particularly in terms of finance, there was a risk we'd see companies disappearing, because if the support went away, they wouldn't be able to to persist depending on their state of confidence.”

Insolvency expert Julie Palmer of Begbies Traynor, said : “It was a really unusual time because of the pandemic. The courts were effectively closed for business and businesses were given lots of support to try and get them through the pandemic.

She said that rising interest rates and inflation had caused a real cost of living crisis with rising levels of distress beginning to translate in terms of a pickup in insolvency rates.

“The courts are progressively beginning to push through some of the credit applications to take recovery action and HMRC is a lot more aggressive in chasing statutory debts."

Online car deal was high profile casualty:

Carzam, which was created by Peter Waddell and John Bailey and based at Samson House, in Morley Way, Woodston, where it operated its vehicle preparation centre and claimed to employ about 150 people, went into administration in June 2022.

The collapse came just a few years after bosses had announced ambitious growth plans. The company blamed an inability to get extra funding and falling share prices in the industry generally for its failure.