Two-thirds of UK businesses expect litigation claims to remain at a high level or to increase this year, with 56% having faced accusations of unlawful behaviour in the last five years. Gary Fletcher, south managing director at Gallagher, says: “Litigation is being fuelled, in part, by supply chains, COVID-19 and Brexit but in addition to this, economic downturns also usually produce a boom in disputes.”

The survey suggest that the largest proportion of risks will come from employment-related claims as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends in two months.

Other prime sources of contingent liabilities come from outstanding debts, alleged contractual breaches, claims against insurers for failing to honour business interruption claims, or alleged infringement of intellectual property rights.

The survey results were reported at longdonlovesbusiness.com.