Experian’s latest Insolvency Index has revealed that the largest companies in the country — those employing 501 or more employees — experienced a year-on-year drop in insolvencies in July 2011.

Figures from the global information services company reveal 13% fewer large firms failed during July 2011 compared to July 2010.

Looking at the overall UK business population, the national rate of insolvencies increased with 0.10% of firms failing in July 2011, up from 0.08% in July 2010. The insolvency rate is calculated by comparing the number of businesses that failed with the total business population in Great Britain.

The overall financial strength score of businesses in the UK dropped from 80.93 in July 2010 to 79.84 in July this year. However, large companies saw their financial strength score improve from 84.20 to 86.13.

Businesses employing 51-100 people experienced the biggest annual increase in insolvencies, with the proportion of businesses failing growing from 0.15% in July 2010 to 0.22% in July this year. Firms with 11-25 employees saw the highest percentage of businesses fail in July 2011 (0.26% of the population).