Official Statistics

Incorporated companies in the UK: July to September 2017

Published 26 October 2017

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 July and September 2017, there were 153,307 company incorporations and 129,734 dissolutions in the UK.
• At the end of September 2017, there were 3,961,786 companies on the total register and 3,703,135 companies on the effective register. Both the total and effective registers have continued to increase in size since the beginning of 2012.
• Following a decrease in the number of incorporations in the second quarter of the year, numbers for the current period have increased to be only slightly lower than those seen in the third quarter of 2016.
• The number of dissolutions increased sharply in the first quarter of 2016 due to legislative changes introduced in October 2015. Following subsequent declines, the number of dissolutions has continued to climb overall since the final quarter of 2016
• Despite seasonal trends, the numbers of incorporations and dissolutions have increased overall since 2012.

2. Incorporated companies

In the three months to the end of September 2017, there were 153,307 company incorporations and 129,734 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 (258,651) – reached 3,961,786. This was an increase of 25,383 companies (0.6%) since the end of June 2017.

The effective register, which excludes companies in the process of liquidation or dissolution, stood at 3,703,135 at the end of September 2017, an increase of 28,551 companies (0.8%) since the previous quarter.

Compared with the same period in 2016, the UK total register increased by 166,104 companies (4.4%), while the effective register increased by 154,621 companies (4.4%). Consistent with the findings for the second quarter of 2017, these increases are smaller than we would usually see from one period to the next. The smaller increases during the second quarter of 2017 were likely to be due to a relatively low number of incorporations during that period. For the current period, however, it appears that a high number of dissolutions is more likely to be a contributing factor (see below). Despite these smaller increases over the past two quarters, both the total and effective registers have continued to increase steadily in size since the beginning of 2012.

2.1 Chart 1: Total and effective register sizes, 2012q1-2017q3, United Kingdom

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK July to September 2017, Companies House

Following a decrease in the number of incorporations in the second quarter of the year, numbers for the current period have increased to be only slightly lower than those seen in the third quarter of 2016. There were 1,378 (0.9%) less incorporations in the third quarter of 2017 than in the same period in 2016. Normally the number of incorporations in one quarter of a particular year is higher than that for the same period in the previous year. However, figures for 2017 have been consistently lower than those seen in 2016. Chart 2 shows that whereas figures for the first and third quarters were only marginally lower than the corresponding figures for 2016, there was a large difference between the two years for the quarter two figures. It seems, therefore, that the quarter two figures for both 2016 and 2017 were unusually high and unusually low respectively.

2.2 Chart 2: Incorporations by year and quarter, 2012-2017, United Kingdom

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK July to September 2017, Companies House

Despite these fluctuations, the number of incorporations has continued to gradually increase over time. There were 25,105 (19.6%) more incorporations in the third quarter of 2017 than in the first quarter of 2012, and 37,144 (32.0%) more incorporations in the third quarter of 2017 than in the third quarter of 2012.

There was sharp increase in the number of dissolutions in the first quarter of 2016, following the introduction of legislative changes that shortened both the voluntary and compulsory dissolution processes by one month. Although the number of dissolutions subsequently declined, it has been following a largely upward trend since the final quarter of 2016. Consequently, there were 27,053 (26.3%) more dissolutions in the third quarter of 2017 than in the same period in 2016.

As with incorporations, the number of dissolutions has increased since of 2012. There were 58,466 (82.0%) more dissolutions in the third quarter of 2017 than in the first quarter of 2012 and 53,271 (69.7%) more dissolutions in the third quarter of 2017 than in the third quarter of 2012.

2.3 Chart 3: Incorporations and dissolutions, 2012q1-2017q3, United Kingdom

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK July to September 2017, 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 at the quarterly and the yearly level for the years 2011 onwards.

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.

4.1 Definitions

A separate document Definitions to accompany statistical releases is available, providing 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 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.

4.5 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.

4.6 Date of next release

Statistics for the period 1 October to 31 December 2017 will be published on 25 January 2018. The publication date has been announced on the gov.uk release calendar.