In its latest Monthly Business Survey, a third of the 400 companies polled said that access to finance had been more difficult over the past three months – a significant increase on the 20% that reported a worsening of conditions in June.

In addition, the number of companies reporting an improvement in access to finance halved from 6% to 3%.

Gerry Hoare, of funding adviser DealBureau, echoed the findings. He said: "It is no easier for SMEs to raise funds. Banks are focusing on larger deals and so can say they are lending more, but this is not filtering down to smaller businesses.

"If you look back at the recession of the early 90s, it wasn't until 1994 that lending really came back."

The survey's claims about worsening access to finance came despite the central bank's extensive quantitative easing process that has resulted in an additional £200bn of money being pumped into the economy by buying up assets.

Many banks under government ownership are being put under pressure to use these funds to lend to businesses; however, given the 54% increase in the value of the FTSE 100 since its nadir in March, it would seem that money is being invested in equities rather than loans to business.

BCC director general David Frost said: "It is clear that the huge sums that have been injected into the financial system by quantitative easing are still not reaching small- and medium-sized businesses in anything like the scale required for businesses to invest in future success."

He called on the chancellor to include measures to encourage companies to invest in the pre-Budget report, which will take place on 9 December.