UK Small Business Statistics

Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions

There were a record 5.7 million private sector businesses at the start of 2017.
This is an increase of 197,000 since 2016, and 2.2 million more than in 2000.
The number of employing businesses increased by 41,000 (+3%) since 2016, and the number of non-employing businesses by 155,000 (+4%).

Small businesses accounted for 99.3% of all private sector businesses at the start of 2017 and 99.9% were small or medium-sized (SMEs).
Total employment in SMEs was 16.1 million; 60% of all private sector employment in the UK.
The combined annual turnover of SMEs was £1.9 trillion, 51% of all private sector turnover in the UK.

In 2017 there were 1.3 million employing businesses and 4.3 million non-employing businesses. Therefore, 76% of businesses did not employ anyone aside from the owner(s).
The overall business population includes three main legal forms: there were 3.4 million sole proprietorships (60% of the total), 1.9 million companies (33%), and 414,000 ordinary partnerships (7%).
Of the 5.7 million businesses, 45% (2.6 million) were registered for VAT or PAYE.

There has been sustained growth in the total business population, with increases of 2.2m (+64%) since 2000 and 197,000 (+4%) since 2016.
The majority of population growth since 2000 has been due to non-employing businesses, which accounted for 89% of the overall increase.
Non-employing businesses accounted for 79% of the overall 197,000 increase in the last year.
The number of companies and sole proprietorships has increased in the last year by 128,000 (+7%) and 76,000 (+2%) respectively. However, the number of ordinary partnerships fell by 7,200 (-2%).

The number of businesses per person is higher in southern England than elsewhere in the UK.
SMEs account for at least 99.5% of the businesses in every main industry sector.
Nearly a fifth of all SMEs operate in Construction, compared with less than 1% in the Mining, Quarrying and Utilities sector.