State of UK Small Business Barometer
815,280 new UK companies were incorporated in the year to Mar 2026, against 787,261 dissolutions
The all-sector, all-UK read on small business conditions, fusing Companies House formations, Insolvency Service insolvencies, and ONS/DBT survival and population data into one quarterly barometer. Updated Jun 2026.
Key findings
- 815,280 new companies were incorporated across the UK in the year to Mar 2026, up +1.7% year on year, against 787,261 dissolutions, up +8.3%. Britain is still starting companies faster than it closes them, but dissolutions are growing faster than formations, narrowing the gap.
- The effective UK company register stood at 4,930,634 companies as of Mar 2026, growth of +0.9% on the year.
- 23,151 companies entered insolvency across England and Wales in the 12 months to Jun 2026. 76.0% of these were Creditors' Voluntary Liquidations, directors choosing to wind up voluntarily rather than a bank or creditor forcing the issue through the courts, the clearest signal of owner-led distress rather than external pressure.
- Of businesses born in 2019, only 38.4% were still trading five years later. The UK private sector counted 5,690,265 businesses at the start of 2025, up +3.5% (191,300 more) on the year before.
- 56.6% of UK businesses are sole proprietorships, 37.0% are companies, and 6.5% are ordinary partnerships. 75.1% employ nobody but the owner.
Sources: Companies House, The Insolvency Service, Office for National Statistics / Department for Business and Trade, all under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Free to cite with attribution to Holloway Davies.
Company formations vs dissolutions
Each pair of bars shows new company incorporations (orange) against dissolutions (grey) for that calendar year, UK-wide. The gap between the two is the net growth in the company register.
Formations peak in Q1 (Jan-Mar) on average, the busiest quarter for new company registrations across the period covered.
Company insolvencies, all sectors
Total registered company insolvencies by year, England and Wales, all SIC sections combined (2026 year to date excluded as a partial year). See the UK Sector Insolvency League for the sector-by-sector breakdown.
How many new businesses survive?
Survival rate of the 2019 birth-year cohort of UK enterprises, tracked for five years by ONS Business Demography. Attrition is steepest in year one; survivors of the first two years have a much better chance of lasting the full five.
The UK business population, 2010 to present
Total UK private sector business count at the start of each year, from ONS/DBT Business Population Estimates. The population dipped through the pandemic years before recovering to a new high.
Methodology and sources
Company formations and dissolutions. Companies House's quarterly official statistics release, "Incorporated companies in the UK", UK-wide, all corporate body types classed "All companies".
Company insolvencies. The Insolvency Service's monthly Company Insolvency Statistics, all-sector totals and procedure mix (Tables A1a and 1b). Coverage is England and Wales only; Scotland and Northern Ireland insolvencies are published separately and are not included here.
Survival. ONS Business Demography Table 4.2, the "Total" row (all industries), tracking each birth-year cohort of enterprises for up to five years.
Population. ONS/DBT Business Population Estimates, the headline UK private sector business count, legal-status split, and employment size bands.
Caveats. Insolvency counts are gross registered events, not rates against the number of active companies, so sector or year-on-year comparisons should account for the size of the underlying population. The 2026 calendar year is partial and excluded from annual bar charts. Company register figures are UK-wide; insolvency figures are England and Wales only, a difference in geographic coverage that this page states throughout.
- Incorporated companies in the UK (quarterly) (Companies House)
- Company Insolvency Statistics -- Industry Tables (Table A1a) (The Insolvency Service, England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland published separately))
- Company Insolvency Statistics -- Data Tables (Table 1b, procedure mix) (The Insolvency Service, England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland published separately))
- Business Demography, UK -- Table 4.2 (survival of newly born enterprises) (Office for National Statistics)
- Business Population Estimates for the UK and regions (Department for Business and Trade / ONS)
Download the barometer data (CSV)
Free to cite and republish with attribution to Holloway Davies. This page is a data summary and does not constitute financial, tax or business advice for any individual situation.
Running a small business in a tightening market?
Rising insolvencies and narrowing formation growth mean cash flow, tax planning and structure decisions matter more, not less. Holloway Davies works with UK limited companies, contractors, sole traders and partnerships on exactly these questions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the State of UK Small Business Barometer?
It is a quarterly-refreshed, all-sector barometer that fuses four national UK series into one read on small business conditions: Companies House company formations and dissolutions, Insolvency Service company insolvency statistics, ONS Business Demography survival rates, and ONS/DBT Business Population Estimates. Unlike a single-sector index, it covers the whole UK economy, every SIC section, every legal structure.
Is the number of UK businesses growing or shrinking?
The UK private sector business population stood at 5,690,300 at the start of 2025, up +3.5% on the year before. Growth has been positive most years since 2010, though the population fell in 2021 to 2023 following the pandemic before recovering. Company incorporations are still comfortably outpacing dissolutions nationally, but the gap has narrowed.
What share of UK businesses are small or medium-sized?
99.8% of UK private sector businesses are SMEs (fewer than 250 employees) by the official Business Population Estimates definition. 75.1% employ nobody except the owner. Large businesses with 250 or more employees are a small fraction of the total business count, though they employ a disproportionate share of the workforce.
How many UK businesses survive five years?
Of the enterprises born in 2019 (the most recent birth-year cohort with a full five-year track record), 38.4% were still active five years later, according to ONS Business Demography. Survival drops off fastest in the first year or two; a large majority of businesses that fail do so early.
Which sectors have the most company insolvencies?
See our companion page, the UK Sector Insolvency League, which ranks every SIC section by trailing 12-month company insolvencies. Construction, wholesale and retail, and accommodation and food service consistently rank highest by volume, though that partly reflects the size of those sectors, not just their riskiness.
Where does this data come from and how often is it updated?
Every figure is drawn directly from official UK government statistics: Companies House quarterly official statistics (Incorporated companies in the UK), The Insolvency Service's monthly Company Insolvency Statistics, and ONS/DBT's Business Demography and Business Population Estimates releases. All are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. We refresh this barometer as each new release lands: monthly for insolvencies, quarterly for company formations, annually for survival and population.