The latest Insolvency Index from Experian has shown that the insolvency rate for 2011 rose only slightly compared to 2010.

21,070 UK businesses, 1.1% of the total business population, failed in 2011. This represented a slight increase on the 1.03% (19,818 failures) recorded in 2010. In 2008 and 2009, the insolvency rates were considerably higher, reaching 1.16% and 1.25% respectively.

Experian’s analysis also shows that during the second half of 2011 the insolvency rate neither rose nor fell significantly – from a rate of 0.53% (H1) to 0.56% (H2).

Max Firth, UK managing director for Experian’s Business Information Services division, said: “Given the challenging economic climate in 2011