Incorporated companies in the UK: January to March 2018
Published 26 April 2018
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incorporated-companies-in-the-uk-january-to-march-2018/incorporated-companies-in-the-uk-january-to-march-2018
1. Introduction
This release provides information about the population of companies in the United Kingdom. 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 incorporated companies, the number of newly incorporated companies and the number of companies that were dissolved. The release focusses on the headline messages for the United Kingdom. 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.
1.1 Key points
- Between January and March 2018, there were 167,717 company incorporations and 129,688 dissolutions in the UK.
- At the end of March 2018, the number of companies on the total register surpassed four million for the first time ever, reaching 4,033,355. There were 3,770,022 companies on the effective register. Both the total and effective registers have continued to increase in size since the beginning of 2012.
- There were slightly fewer incorporations during the first quarter of 2018 compared with the first quarter of 2017.
- The number of dissolutions increased during the first quarter of 2018 compared with the first quarter of 2017, which follows a general upward trend seen since 2016.
- Despite seasonal trends, the number of incorporations and dissolutions have increased since 2012, although the number of dissolutions are increasing at a higher rate.
2. Incorporated companies
Between January and March 2018, there were 167,717 company incorporations and 129,688 dissolutions in the UK. At the end of the period, the number of companies on the total register – including those in the process of dissolution or liquidation (263,333) - surpassed four million for the first time ever, reaching 4,033,355. This was an increase of 40,123 (1.0%) companies compared with the final quarter of 2017. The total regional register sizes for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland increased by 1.0%, 0.7% and 1.9% respectively.
The effective register, which excludes the companies in the process of liquidation or dissolution, stood at 3,770,022 at the end of March 2018. This was an increase of 44,412 (1.2%) companies compared with the final quarter of 2017.
When comparing the first quarter of 2018 with the first quarter of 2017, the UK total register size increased by 136,600 (3.5%), while the effective register size increased by 121,544 (3.3%). Both the total and effective registers have continued to increase in size since the beginning of 2012, despite growth rates for both slowing (e.g. the highest growth rate between the first quarter of the years was between 2013 and 2014 at 6.8%).
2.1 Chart 1: Total and effective register sizes, 2012Q1-2018Q1, United Kingdom
Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK January to March 2018, Companies House
Historically, the number of incorporations in any particular quarter was higher than the number of incorporations in the same quarter of the previous year. Over the past two years, the trend appears to have changed. The number of incorporations in 2016 reached an all-time high. The number of incorporations in 2017 were consistently lower compared with the same quarters in 2016. This trend appears to have continued into 2018, where the number of new incorporations for the first quarter of 2018 was lower than the first quarter of 2017 by 2,426 (1.4%).
2.2 Chart 2: Quarter 1 New incorporations, 2012-2018, United Kingdom
Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK January to March 2018, Companies House
Legislation was introduced in 2016 that shortened the processing time of both voluntary and compulsory dissolutions by one month. This resulted in a spike in the number of dissolutions in the first quarter of 2016. The number of dissolutions subsequently decreased, but the general trend shows that the numbers of dissolutions are continuing to increase. There were 20,769 (19.1%) more dissolutions in the first quarter of 2018 compared with the first quarter of 2017.
Overall, the number of dissolutions appears to be increasing at a greater rate than the number of incorporations. There were 58,420 (82.0%) more dissolutions in the first quarter of 2018 than the first quarter of 2012, compared to 39,515 (30.8%) more incorporations in the first quarter of 2018 compared with the first quarter of 2012.
2.3 Chart 3: Incorporations and dissolutions, 2012Q1-2018Q1, United Kingdom
Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK January to March 2018, Companies House
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 both on a quarterly and annual basis since 2011.
3. 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
4. Background notes
This section provides a range of information designed to provide the user with more information about the statistics.
5. Definitions
A separate document “Definitions to accompany statistical releases” is available, providing definitions for the main terms used in Companies House official statistics publications.
5.1 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 or not 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]((http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4392716/ESS-QAF-V1-2final.pdf/bbf5970c-1adf-46c8-afc3-58ce177a0646). The document also provides information on how these statistics relate to selected other business statistics.
5.2 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, and charities.
5.3 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.
5.4 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.
5.5 Date of next release
Statistics for the period 1 April to 30 June 2018 will be published on 26 July 2018. The publication date has been announced on the gov.uk release calendar