An ever widening gap in credit information is harming economic recovery prospects, according to research from commercial credit reference agency Graydon.

The research shows that of 3m UK SMEs polled, 62% were considered to be above normal credit risk in terms of defaulting on trade payments or getting into financial difficulties.

The figures recorded little improvement in the state of SME creditworthiness in June, with a previous Graydon UK survey finding a similar proportion (60%) of SMEs assessed as being ‘High Risk’ or ‘Above Normal Risk’.

Martin Williams, Graydon UK managing director, says: “Whatever the truth of the claims by the banks that they are continuing to lend to small firms, the fact remains that for many companies, access to finance remains a real obstacle to ensuring a sustained recovery.

“In an era of easy credit, the truth was that no one really noticed or cared much about the declining value of available information on businesses at Companies House caused by the introduction of audit thresholds and redefinitions of small, medium and large companies and their respective filing requirements.”