diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/alfresco/httpclient/HttpClientException.java b/core/src/main/java/org/alfresco/httpclient/HttpClientException.java
index 9dc0f38784..3d9b0cffb5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/alfresco/httpclient/HttpClientException.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/alfresco/httpclient/HttpClientException.java
@@ -27,4 +27,9 @@ public class HttpClientException extends AlfrescoRuntimeException
     {
         super(msgId);
     }
+
+    public HttpClientException(String msgId, Throwable cause)
+    {
+        super(msgId, cause);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/repository/src/main/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.java b/repository/src/main/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.java
index ffeb90d543..e901917ebd 100644
--- a/repository/src/main/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.java
+++ b/repository/src/main/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
+import org.alfresco.httpclient.HttpClientException;
 import org.alfresco.repo.search.QueryParserException;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.Header;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
@@ -139,8 +140,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient
 
             Reader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(post.getResponseBodyAsStream(), post.getResponseCharSet()));
             // TODO - replace with streaming-based solution e.g. SimpleJSON ContentHandler
-            JSONObject json = new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(reader));
-            return json;
+            return new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(reader));
+        }
+        catch (IOException e)
+        {
+            throw new HttpClientException("[%s] %s".formatted(this.getClass().getSimpleName(), e.getMessage()), e);
         }
         finally
         {
diff --git a/repository/src/test/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClientTest.java b/repository/src/test/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClientTest.java
index 8fe0ba05f4..a2926ee02d 100644
--- a/repository/src/test/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClientTest.java
+++ b/repository/src/test/java/org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/solr/AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClientTest.java
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@
 package org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.solr;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThrows;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.doReturn;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
@@ -35,7 +38,9 @@ import static org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations.openMocks;
 
 import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 
+import org.alfresco.httpclient.HttpClientException;
 import org.alfresco.repo.search.QueryParserException;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.Header;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
@@ -53,7 +58,7 @@ public class AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClientTest
     private static final String URL = "http://this/is/a/url";
 
     /** The abstract class under test. */
-    private AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient abstractSolrQueryHTTPClient = spy(AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.class);
+    private final AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient abstractSolrQueryHTTPClient = spy(AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.class);
     @Mock
     private HttpClient httpClient;
     @Mock
@@ -147,6 +152,19 @@ public class AbstractSolrQueryHTTPClientTest
         assertEquals("Unexpected JSON response received.", "{}", response.toString());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testPostQuery_handlesIOException() throws Exception
+    {
+        String messageFromHttp = "Some IO Exception";
+        when(httpClient.executeMethod(any())).thenThrow(new IOException(messageFromHttp));
+
+        HttpClientException expectedException =
+                assertThrows(HttpClientException.class, () -> abstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.postQuery(httpClient, URL, body));
+
+        String exceptionMessage = expectedException.getMessage();
+        assertTrue(exceptionMessage.endsWith("[%s] %s".formatted(abstractSolrQueryHTTPClient.getClass().getSimpleName(), messageFromHttp)));
+    }
+
     /** Create an input stream containing the given string. */
     private ByteArrayInputStream convertStringToInputStream(String message)
     {