The latest results, from a survey taken in the first few days of the new year, follow months of data showing an economy recovering smartly and adding more new jobs than many had predicted even just a few months ago.

While the consensus remains that rates will rise from their record low of 0.5 percent in the second half of next year, 13 of 41 economists said the Bank would need to drop its 7 percent jobless rate threshold before it raises rates.

That is up from six in a bigger sample of 53 taken one month ago, suggesting that the latest responses, gathered while some are still on holiday, might be understating the number who think the Bank may soon be compelled to alter its guidance.

The jobless rate currently stands at 7.4 percent.

While the Monetary Policy Committee has made clear that a fall to 7 percent will not necessarily trigger a rate rise, a drop to that level without any further guidance would likely put upward pressure on market interest rates and could lead to cutbacks in household and business spending.

"Keeping the guidance as it is risks conveying a mixed message on rates, and diluting the reassurance that rates are not rising for the foreseeable future," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.

"We expect the MPC to agree to modify its guidance, which might involve a lowering in the threshold, or a qualification that sub-7 percent unemployment is tolerable, subject to pay growth remaining at low levels."

But none of these changes are likely to happen at the MPC's next policy meeting on January 9.

While the UK economy is the envy of much of Europe, with a respectable growth rate and a rebounding labour market, its durability is still being debated, particularly given how much it relies on household debt and rising house prices.

The biggest threat to the recovery, according to 27 of 45 economists polled, is that business investment and exports do not follow through as strongly.

"There is a risk that the current momentum behind the recovery will begin to look frothy, given the widening gulf between UK house prices, consumer mortgage debt and wages, unless faster business investment and productivity growth begin to lift real incomes in the quarters ahead," said Lena Komileva, chief economist at consultancy G+ Economics.

Net business lending fell by 4.7 billion pounds in November, the Bank data showed on Friday. That was the biggest drop since the data series started in April 2011, leaving lending 3.9 percent lower than a year earlier.

(Writing by Ross Finley; Polling by Ishaan Gera and Shaloo Shrivastava; Editing by Kevin Liffey)