Incorporated companies in the UK July to September 2019
Published 31 October 2019
© Crown copyright 2019
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incorporated-companies-in-the-uk-july-to-september-2019/incorporated-companies-in-the-uk-july-to-september-2019
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 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 July and September 2019, there were 169,751 new incorporations and 129,795 dissolutions in the UK. In contrast to the recent trends, the number of dissolutions is lower in the third quarter than the previous quarter, while the number of incorporations has remained stable.
- At the end of September 2019, there were 4,279,972 companies on the total register and 4,008,335 on the effective register. Both the total and effective registers continue to increase in size, although the growth rate has slowed in recent years.
- This is the first quarter where the effective register size has exceeded four million companies.
- Consistent with the recent trend in previous years, there were more incorporations in the third quarter of 2019 than in the same period a year ago.
- Dissolutions have declined compared to the same quarter of the previous year for the first time since 2012.
- Since 2012, both the number of incorporations and dissolutions have continued to increase overall. However, this is the first time both have decreased for a second successive quarter since 2016.
2. Incorporated companies
Between July and September 2019, there were 169,751 incorporations and 129,795 dissolutions in the UK. At the end of September 2019, there were 4,279,972 companies on the UK total register – this includes those in the course of dissolution and liquidation (271,637).
Compared with the end of June 2019, the total register increased by 41,978 companies (1.0%). Increases were seen in all constituent countries: England and Wales increased by 1.0%, Scotland by 0.9% and Northern Ireland by 1.3%.
At the end of September 2019, the number of companies on the effective register – which excludes those in the course of dissolution or liquidation – was 4,008,335. This was an increase of 43,711 companies (1.1%) compared with the end of June 2019.
The total register increased by 168,915 companies (4.1%) compared with the third quarter of 2018, whilst the effective register increased by 164,821 (4.3%). Both the total and effective registers have increased in a linear fashion since 2012, albeit at a slower growth rate in recent years.
2.1 Chart 1: UK total and effective register sizes, 2012 quarter 1 to 2019 quarter 3
Source: Incorporated companies in the UK, July to September 2019, Companies House.
The number of incorporations and dissolutions in the third quarter of 2019 are in line with recent trends, despite noticeable increases during the first quarter of 2019.
The number of incorporations in the third quarter of 2019 was higher than those seen in the third quarter of 2018; this is consistent with previous years. The number of incorporations has continued to increase gradually over time; there were 41,549 (32.4%) more incorporations in the third quarter of 2019 than in the first quarter of 2012.
During the third quarter of 2019, the number of dissolutions decreased by 1,612 (1.2%) when compared with the same period in 2018. However, aside from minor fluctuations, the number of dissolutions has continued to increase over time, nearly doubling between the first quarter of 2012 and the third quarter of 2019. There were 58,527 more dissolutions in the third quarter of 2019 than in the first quarter of 2012.
2.2 Chart 2: UK total incorporations and dissolutions, 2012 quarter 1 to 2019 quarter 3
Source: Incorporated companies in the UK, July to September 2019, 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 document 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 register activity for public companies
- the 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.
4.1 Definitions
A separate document is available. Definitions to accompany statistical releases provides definitions for the main terms used in Companies House official statistics publications.
4.2 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. The document also provides information on how these statistics relate to selected other business statistics.
4.3 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.
4.4 Use and users
Companies House statistics are used extensively by government, the public, public bodies and businesses. For example, they’re 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
4.5 Consultation
The consultation on the annual official statistics has now closed and the consultation results have been published.
4.6 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.
4.7 Date of next release
Statistics for the period 1 October to 31 December 2019 will be published on 30 January 2020. The publication date has been announced on our release calendar.