Official Statistics

Incorporated companies in the UK October to December 2020

Updated 24 June 2021

This release provides information about the population of companies in the UK. A company is defined as a specific legal form of business formed under the Companies Act 2006. Companies are registered at Companies House regardless of whether they go on to trade actively. Further information on companies and the Companies Act 2006 is provided in the document Definitions to accompany statistical releases.

The statistics in this release include the total number of registered companies, the number of newly incorporated companies and the number of companies that were dissolved. The release focusses on the headline messages for the UK. Figures for the constituent countries are contained in the supplementary tables that accompany this release. The supplementary tables also contain separate figures for public companies and limited liability partnerships.

Key points

• At the end of December 2020, there were 4,674,672 companies on the total register and 4,320,862 on the effective register.

• Growth of the total register has slowed, increasing by 41,023 companies (0.9%), whereas the effective register growth remains higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, increasing by 82,907 companies (2.0%), during the fourth quarter of 2020.

• Between October and December 2020, there were 201,820 new incorporations and 161,837 dissolutions in the UK.

• The number of incorporations in the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by 45,870 (29.4%) compared with the same quarter of the previous year. This is the largest quarter four year on year increase since 2012, when quarterly breakdowns were first recorded.

• The number of dissolutions in the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by 40,212 (33.1%) compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. The number of companies in the course of removal increased by 57,562 (28.7%) compared with the same period last year. This was partly as a result of the phased dissolution release between September and December 2020.

• In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, a set of easements were announced by Companies House on 16 April 2020. They included the temporary pause of the strike off process (voluntary and compulsory) to give businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak the time they needed to update their records filed with Companies House and help them avoid being struck off the register. The impact of this announcement was that compulsory dissolutions from 2 April onwards were temporarily paused, as was the final stage of voluntary dissolutions.

• On 10 September 2020 the voluntary strike off process resumed via a phased release over 4 weeks through the remainder of September and into October. This removed all companies that applied to be struck off before July 2020 and included some companies that filed for dissolution before the UK wide coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown began in March 2020.

• The release of paused compulsory dissolutions began on 10 October 2020, however for companies in Scotland and Northern Ireland a single release took place on 20 October 2020. Due to the scheduling of the dissolution releases, quarter four observed high levels of dissolutions.

Incorporated companies

At the end of December 2020, there were 4,674,672 companies on the total register – which includes those in the course of dissolution and liquidation (353,810).

Compared with the end of September 2020, the size of the total register increased by 41,023 companies (0.9%). Growth was seen in England and Wales (1.0%) and Northern Ireland (0.5%). The total register size in Scotland decreased (0.7%) in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The release of paused compulsory dissolutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland took place on 20 October 2020. As a result of this single release, peaks were seen in October and December.

In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, high dissolution levels were offset by continuing high levels of incorporations, however the incorporation levels in Scotland have returned to levels closer to that observed in previous years, pre-COVID-19.

The size of the total register increased by 358,277 companies (8.3%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. This represents the largest year on year quarterly increase since 2012, when quarterly breakdowns were first recorded.

At the end of December 2020, the number of companies on the effective register – which excludes those in the course of dissolution or liquidation – was 4,320,862. Compared with the end of September 2020, this was an increase of 82,907 companies (2.0%) and growth was observed in all constituent countries.

The effective register increased in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with the same quarter of 2019, rising by 296,603 (7.4%).

Both the total and effective registers have consistently increased since 2012.

Chart 1: UK total and effective register sizes, 2012 quarter 1 to 2020 quarter 4

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK, October to December 2020, Companies House

Between October and December 2020, there were 201,820 incorporations and 161,837 dissolutions in the UK.

The number of incorporations during the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by 45,870 (29.4%) compared with the same quarter of 2019. This is the largest quarter four year on year increase since 2012. All months in quarter four 2020 showed increases over the same months in the previous year.

The number of incorporations has continued to increase gradually over time. There were 73,618 more incorporations in the fourth quarter of 2020 than in the first quarter of 2012, representing an increase of over 50%.

Due to the restarting of the strike-off process for dissolutions, the number of dissolutions during the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by 40,212 (33.1%) compared with the same quarter of 2019. This is the largest quarter four year on year increase since 2012. All months in quarter four 2020 showed increases over the same months in the previous year. However, when comparing the number of dissolutions in the four quarters of 2020 to the four quarters of 2019 there was a reduction of 113,990 (21.5%). This was partly as a result of a set of easements announced by Companies House in April 2020 and the phased dissolution release between September and December 2020.

The number of dissolutions has continued to increase gradually over time. There were 90,569 more dissolutions in the fourth quarter of 2020 than in the first quarter of 2012, representing an increase of over 100%.

Chart 2: UK total incorporations and dissolutions, 2012 quarter 1 to 2020 quarter 4

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK, October to December 2020, Companies House

The number of companies in the course of removal increased by 57,562 (28.7%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with the same quarter of 2019. Again, this was partly as a result of the release of dissolutions between September and December 2020 that had been paused from April to September 2020 as a response to the pandemic. 

A full breakdown of figures for England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole is provided in the Excel workbook that accompanies this release. Figures are provided on both a quarterly and annual basis from 2011.

Other statistics in this release

In addition to the tables covering register activity for all companies, a range of other statistics are included in the tables that accompany this release. These tables provide information at the individual country level and for the UK as a whole. The tables cover the following:

• register activity for public companies

• register activity for limited liability partnerships (LLPs)

• company insolvencies and liquidations

• removals from the register

Background notes

This section provides a range of information designed to provide the user with more information about the statistics.

Definitions

A separate document Definitions to accompany statistical releases is available, providing definitions for the main terms used in Companies House official statistics publications.

Quality

Information relating to the quality of the statistics is provided in a separate quality document. This document provides information on the quality of Companies House’s official statistics, to enable users to judge whether the data are of sufficient quality for their intended use. The information is structured in terms of the quality dimensions of the European Statistical System. The document also provides information on how these statistics relate to selected other business statistics.

Coverage

This release provides information on the size of the company population and the changes that have occurred within the quarter. The release includes statistics for the United Kingdom, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. The statistics cover companies, which are specific legal forms of businesses that are registered at Companies House. They do not include information on sole proprietorship businesses, partnerships, or charities.

Use and users

Companies House statistics are used extensively by government, the public, public bodies and businesses. For example, they are used by:

• government in understanding the likely impact of policy changes and monitoring the impact of economic changes on companies
• businesses in understanding their market share and planning marketing strategies
• banks in developing an understanding of their customer base
• foreign firms in making UK location decisions
• academics to inform research into businesses at local and national level
• a range of public bodies in decision making and evaluating business-related policies

Consultation

Results of the most recent consultation on these official statistics are published.

Revisions to these statistics

Revisions to these statistics will be mainly due to changes in methodologies and source data. The statistics are derived from administrative data, and changes to the underlying methods will cause revisions. These include changes in statistical methods, definitions, classifications, and geographic coverage.

Although Companies House has robust procedures in place to minimise errors in the methods used to create these statistics, errors may occasionally occur. If errors are found after the publication, their impact will be assessed. If the changes are significant, a correction will be issued as soon as possible. Minor corrections will be included in the next planned release.

Any misleading or incorrect figures will be amended and a footnote added to indicate that the figures have been corrected. The nature and reason for the correction will be explained.

Date of next release

Annual statistics for the financial year of 2020/21 will be published on 24 June 2021.

Statistics for the period 1 October to 31 December 2020 will be published on 28 January 2021.

The publication dates have been announced on the gov.uk release calendar.