BUSINESS failures “have not fallen off a cliff” – despite the UK economy slipping back into recession, it was said.

Latest figures show that 5,772 companies entered insolvency in the first quarter of 2012 – up by 2% on the same quarter of 2011 and 8% higher than the final quarter of last year.

Toby Underwood, partner in the business recovery services practice at PwC in Leeds, said: “Insolvency volume increases at these levels highlight how fragile the economy is. But we can take comfort from the fact that they have not fallen off a cliff – despite the recession.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that the SME market is bearing the brunt of this fragility. Some of these businesses have very limited options in the face of reduced demand and other business problems”.