England and Wales saw the most company insolvencies since 1993 last year, although the rate of businesses going bust was lower than during the 2008-09 financial crisis when adjusted for a rise in the total number of companies, official figures showed.

Britain's Insolvency Service, a government agency, said 25,158 companies were declared insolvent last year. That was equivalent to 53.7 companies per 10,000 trading, up from 49.6 in 2022 and the highest rate since 2014.

"The number of companies on the Companies House register has increased over time, so the 2023 rate remained much lower than the peak rate of 94.8 insolvencies per 10,000 active companies during the 2008/09 recession," the Insolvency Service said. (Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Elizabeth Piper)