Cost of living crisis hits small businesses Metro warns that small businesses are feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis particularly acutely. A survey by Nucleus Commercial Finance shows that 23% of UK business leaders fear their company will not survive the financial year due to the current cost of living crisis, while 72% feel the cost of living crisis is a cause for concern for the survival of their business. Government figures show that almost 2,000 registered businesses went bust in England and Wales in August. This is an increase of 6% on July and 43% on the same period last year. The 1,933 insolvencies in 2022 so far take the total number of companies going out of business this year to 20,000.