UK businesses have been hit with record fines for late submission of accounts.

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The number of UK companies filing their accounts more than six months late in consecutive years rose last year, pushing back fines as companies struggle to put the epidemic behind them and convince auditors of their financial health.

A record £34.4mn fine in 2023/24, up from £10.2mn in 2019-20, for private companies who file late for two years in a row, figures from Companies House show.

In 2023-24, the total number of companies that repeatedly filed the maximum £3,000 more than six months late was 11,463 in 2023-24, compared with 3,418 in 2019-20.

Since the outbreak, companies have struggled with slower economic growth, higher borrowing and energy costs, and rising wages. Jonathan Dudley, a partner at accountancy firm Crowe, said: “Companies struggling post-Covid never really got it.”

More businesses were struggling to prove to auditors that they had the financial strength to remain a “going concern,” Dudley said, contributing to the bill’s delays.

Private companies face fines from Companies House if they file their accounts late, and the money is eventually paid to the Treasury. The penalty ranges from £150 for those who file within one month of the deadline to £3,000 for those who file more than six months late in two consecutive financial years.

From 2021-22 the maximum fine of £150 has been reduced significantly, but longer application delays continue to increase.

In total, Companies House collected £785.2mn in fines from all private and public companies that filed their accounts late between 2018 and 2019, according to a parliamentary inquiry. Labor MP Phil Brickell.

“We know that some small companies have higher levels of debt than pre-pandemic business debt and are paying back (Covid-era) loans,” said Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses.

BBL scheme launched in May 2020. It targeted small businesses by offering loans of up to £50,000 – or 25 per cent of annual profits – to help them stay afloat during the pandemic.

Dudley said “ghost companies” set up during the pandemic could explain some of the increase in non-performing loans.

Up to £47bn of loans have been repaid without mandatory credit checks for borrowers. The government guarantees 100 percent of the loan if businesses fail to pay.

The House of Commons estimates that up to £17bn of loans will be irrecoverable by April 2022, with £4.9bn lost through fraud.

Brickell, who is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, said: “The Companies House needs to ensure that application deadlines do not continue to deteriorate at the alarming rate we are currently seeing.”

A government spokesman said: “This government is committed to protecting the interests of taxpayers, which is why we have appointed the Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner to investigate Covid spending.

We will do everything we can to recoup the public money lost to fraud related to the pandemic.