Accredited official statistics

Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2023: statistical release

Published 5 October 2023

Headline statistics

The number of private sector businesses in the UK at the start of 2023 was

5.6 million

5.51 million businesses were small (0 to 49 employees)

36,900 businesses were medium-sized (50 to 249 employees)

8,000 businesses were large (250 or more employees)

Compared with 2022, the private sector business population has increased by

0.8% (46,000 businesses)

Figure 1: Number of private sector businesses in the UK, 2010 to 2023

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As shown in Figure 1, business numbers in the private sector increased from 4.5 million in 2010 to a peak 6.0 million at the start of 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the UK withdrawal from the European Union.

What you need to know about these statistics

This publication provides the only official estimate of the total number of private sector businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) at the start of each year.

Businesses covered in this in this publication include both those registered for value-added tax (VAT) traders and/or pay as you earn (PAYE) businesses and unregistered businesses. Data on unregistered businesses are estimated and therefore subject to uncertainty, as are estimates that combine data from registered and unregistered businesses.

Because unregistered business numbers are estimated, changes in counts of businesses that include unregistered businesses may reflect real changes in the population, or may be due to sampling error. At more detailed levels of breakdown by geography and industry, levels of uncertainty increase and estimates become less robust. The section “Uncertainty in the business population” provides further information.

These estimates, produced by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), cover a wider range of businesses than Office for National Statistics (ONS) outputs, which report on registered businesses only. See related statistics section for links to ONS publications and Guide to business statistics explaining how each publication differs.

Introduction

This publication provides information on private sector businesses in the UK at the start of 2023, broken down by number of employees, legal status, industry, and geography. Employment and turnover data are also provided, primarily for use in classifying businesses by employee size band and to calculate shares of employment and turnover across industrial sectors, regions, and legal statuses. The recommended source of data on private sector employment is ONS’s monthly Labour Market Statistics. For turnover data, ONS’ Annual Business Survey is the recommended source.

Counts of businesses (and associated employment and turnover) are based on businesses’ head office location. A business operating in a particular English region/country with a head office located elsewhere is not included in the business count for the region/country in question.

The publication:

• reports on businesses in the private sector

• excludes the government and not-for-profit sectors; an overview of the number of businesses in the whole economy is provided in Table 2 of the detailed tables

• estimates numbers of private sector businesses by combining estimated numbers of unregistered businesses with data on registered businesses derived from a comprehensive business register (the ONS Inter Departmental Business Register)

• measures net changes in numbers of private sector businesses, but cannot be used to estimate numbers of business start-ups or closures

• quantifies uncertainty around key estimates of business numbers

• comprises this statistical release, a set of detailed tables, a methodology note, data underlying charts and a paper providing estimates of numbers of unregistered companies

Trends in the business population

Between 2010 and 2023:

• the business population has increased by 1.1 million (24%)

• business numbers increased from 4.5 million in 2010 to a peak 6.0 million at the start of 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the UK withdrawal from the European Union.

• the highest rate of increase was 6.8% between 2013 and 2014, followed by 5.0% between 2011 and 2012

• in contrast, the decrease of 6.5% between 2020 and 2021 is the largest of three year-on-year decreases in the series since 2010, all of which have occurred since 2017

Between 2020 and 2023:

• the business population decreased by 425,000 (7.1%)

• numbers of employing businesses increased by 32,000 (2.3%), whilst non-employing business numbers decreased by 458,000 (10.0%)

• the decrease in non-employing businesses resulted from a decrease of 414,000 (12.4%) unregistered businesses and a decrease in non-employing registered businesses of 44,000 (3.5%)

Between 2022 and 2023:

• the total business population increased by 46,000 (0.8%)

• numbers of employing businesses decreased by 3,000 (0.2%), whilst non-employing business numbers increased by 49,000 (1.2%)

• The increase in non-employing businesses resulted from a increase of 81,000 (2.9%) unregistered businesses, and a decrease in non-employing registered businesses of 32,000 (2.6%)

The net change in the business population is determined by the balance of new business start-ups and de-mergers (inflows) against those businesses that closed, merged or were taken over by another business (outflows)

Further information on trends is in Tables A and B, Figures 2 and 3, and Tables 25 to 29 of the detailed tables

Table A: Estimated number of businesses (in thousands) in the UK private sector by employment size-band, start of 2010, and 2019 to 2023

	2010	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
All private sector	4,483	5,868	5,981	5,591	5,509	5,555
All SME (0 to 249)	4,477	5,860	5,973	5,583	5,501	5,547
All small (0 to 49)	4,447	5,825	5,937	5,548	5,465	5,510
All employers (1+)	1,224	1,410	1,413	1,416	1,448	1,445
Non-employers	3,259	4,458	4,568	4,175	4,061	4,110
Micro (1 to 9)	1,015	1,155	1,157	1,162	1,187	1,177
Small (10 to 49)	174	211	212	211	217	223
Medium (50 to 249)	29	36	36	36	36	37
Large (250+)	6	8	8	8	8	8

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Growth in the UK private sector business population since 2010 has mainly been due to increasing numbers of non-employing businesses, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Since 2010:

• the number of non-employing businesses has increased by 852,000 (26%)

• the number of employing businesses has increased by 221,000 (18%)

• non-employing businesses accounted for 79% of total growth over the period

Figure 2: Growth in the number of UK private sector businesses by size band, 2010 to 2023 (index: base year = 2010)

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Figure 3: Non-employing and employing businesses in the UK private sector, 2010 and 2019 to 2023

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Overall, the number of SMEs has increased by 1.1 million (24%) since 2010, including 219,000 SME employers (18%). Over this period:

• the number of small employing businesses grew by 18%

• the number of medium-sized employers grew by 26%

• the number of large businesses grew by 26%

In terms of legal status, between 2010 and 2023:

• the number of sole proprietorships (an unincorporated business run by one self-employed person) grew by 380,000 (14%) and the number of companies increased by 782,000 (62%)

• in contrast, the number of ordinary partnerships fell by 90,000 (20%)

Between 2022 and 2023 (as shown in Table B):

• the number of companies decreased by 12,000 (1%), sole proprietorships increased by 46,000 (1%) and ordinary partnerships increased by 13,000 (4%)

Table B: Changes in the number of businesses, by legal status, between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023

	Sole proprietorships	Ordinary Partnerships	Companies	Total
Unregistered businesses	59,900	20,900	N/A	80,800
Registered businesses	-14,100	-8,200	-12,300	-34,600
Breakdown of registered business
with employees	-8,200	-4,600	9,800	-2,900
without employees	-5,900	-3,700	-22,100	-31,700
All private sector	45,800	12,700	-12,300	46,200

Notes for table B:

• numbers of businesses are rounded, in order to avoid disclosure. Consequently, totals may not exactly match the sum of their parts

• unregistered business (none of which have employees) comprise self-employed people working alone or in partnership

• N/A (not applicable) - BPE methodology assumes all companies are registered

• ‘registered’ businesses are those businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE

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In terms of employment trends, between 2022 and 2023:

• total employment across all private sector businesses increased from 27.1 million to 27.5 million, an increase of 1.7%

• total employment in SMEs increased from 16.4 million at the start of 2022 to 16.7 million at the start of 2023, an increase of 1.7%

• the SME share of total employment remained unchanged at 61%

• further information on employment trends is in Table 28 of the detailed tables

Composition of the 2023 business population

The UK private sector comprises largely of non-employing businesses and small employers, as shown in Table C. SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) account for 99.9% of the business population. At the start of 2023:

• there were estimated to be 5.6 million UK private sector businesses

• 1.4 million (26%) businesses had employees and 4.1 million (74%) did not employ anyone aside from the owner(s)

• there were 5.51 million small businesses (with 0 to 49 employees), 99.2% of the total business population

• there were 36,900 medium-sized businesses (with 50 to 249 employees), 0.7% of the total business population

• a further 8,000 businesses were large businesses (with 250 or more employees), 0.1% of the total business population

Table C: Estimated number of businesses in the UK private sector and their associated employment and turnover, by size of business, start of 2023

	Business	Employment (thousands)	Turnover (millions)
All businesses	5,555,130	27,524	4,479,552
SMEs (0 to 249 employees)	5,547,170	16,715	2,355,421
Small businesses (0 to 49 employees)	5,510,265	13,119	1,592,473
With no employees	4,110,145	4,485	330,789
All employers	1,444,985	23,039	4,148,763
of which:
1 to 9 employees	1,177,335	4,288	592,131
10 to 49 employees	222,785	4,346	669,553
50 to 249 employees	36,905	3,596	762,947
250 or more employees	7,960	10,809	2,124,131

Notes for table C:

• turnover column: figures exclude businesses in SIC 2007 Section K (the financial and insurance activities sector) where turnover is not available on a comparable basis

• “with no employees” category comprises sole proprietorships and partnerships with only a self-employed owner-manager(s) and companies with one employee, assumed to be a working proprietor

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The 8,000 large businesses in the UK make a major contribution to employment and turnover. Nonetheless, as shown in Figure 4, SMEs account for around three-fifths of employment and half of turnover in the UK private sector. At the start of 2023:

• total employment in SMEs was 16.7 million (61% of the total), whilst turnover was estimated at £2.4 trillion (53%)

• employment in small businesses was 13.1 million (48%) and turnover £1.6 trillion (36%)

• employment in medium-sized businesses was 3.6 million (13%) and turnover £0.8 trillion (17%)

• employment in large businesses was 10.8 million (39%) and turnover £2.1 trillion (47%)

• further information on composition is shown in Table 1 in the detailed tables that accompany this publication, and in Figure 4

Figure 4: Contribution of different sized businesses to total population, employment and turnover, start of 2023

Note for figure 4

• turnover figures exclude Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 Section K (financial and insurance activities) where turnover is not available on a comparable basis

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Legal form

There are three main legal forms of businesses in the private sector; sole proprietorships, ordinary partnerships, and companies. Sole proprietorships are the most common legal form, as shown in Figure 5. At the start of 2023:

• the UK private sector business population comprised 3.1 million sole proprietorships (56% of the total), 2.1 million actively trading companies (37%) and 365,000 ordinary partnerships (7%)

• 1.1 million companies were employers, as were 212,000 sole proprietorships and 91,000 ordinary partnerships

• 2.9 million sole proprietorships, 910,000 companies and 275,000 ordinary partnerships did not employ anyone aside from the owner(s)

• further information on legal form is given in Figure 5 and Table B, and Table 3 of the detailed tables

Figure 5: Number of businesses in the UK private sector with and without employees, by legal status, start of 2023

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Registration for VAT and PAYE

Around three quarters of UK private sector businesses are non-employers. The majority of these are not registered for either VAT (value added tax) or PAYE (pay as you earn). At the start of 2023:

• the Office for National Statistics recorded 2.6 million private sector businesses as registered for VAT or PAYE, 48% of the estimated total population

• 2.9 million businesses (52%) traded without being registered for VAT or PAYE and are classified here as unregistered

• 13% of sole proprietorships and 48% of ordinary partnerships were registered for VAT or PAYE

The proportion of registered to unregistered businesses has increased since 2020, when 44% of businesses were registered.

UK countries and the regions

Counts of businesses (and associated employment and turnover) are based on businesses’ head office location. A business operating in a particular region/country with a head office located elsewhere is not included in the business count for the region/country in question.

Private sector businesses are not evenly distributed across the UK. London and the South East of England have considerably more businesses than any other UK country or region of England, as shown in Figure 6. At the start of 2023:

• there were 4.9 million private sector businesses in England, 298,000 in Scotland, 219,000 in Wales, and 122,000 in Northern Ireland

• London (1.0 million) and the South East of England (852,000) had the most private sector businesses, accounting for 34% of the UK business population

• the North East had the fewest private sector businesses amongst the English regions (156,000)

• further information on location is in Table 9 of the detailed tables

Figure 6: Number of private sector businesses by English region and UK country, start of 2023

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In the last year:

• numbers of private sector businesses increased by 95,000 in England and by 300 in Wales, whilst numbers decreased in both Scotland (43,000) and Northern Ireland (6,000)

• The reduction in private sector businesses in Scotland was predominantly in the unregistered business population, which decreased by 41,000

• in percentage terms numbers of private sector businesses increased by 2% in England and by less than 1% in Wales, whilst decreasing by 12% in Scotland and by 5% in Northern Ireland

• the number of private sector businesses increased in eight of nine English regions

• the North West was the English region with the largest numeric increase (32,000), followed by the East of England (26,000), whilst the largest percentage increase was in the North West (6%)

• business numbers decreased in the South West by 13,000 (2%)

• In all regions and countries, changes were driven largely by changes in numbers of unregistered businesses

Since 2020

• the number of businesses has decreased in all the UK countries and regions, except Wales

• the country with the largest percentage decrease was Scotland (19%), where numbers of businesses have decreased by 72,000

• the English region with the largest decrease, in percentage terms, was the South East (9%)

Since 2010:

• the number of businesses has increased in all the UK countries and regions

• the largest increase, in percentage terms, was in London (46%)

• the smallest percentage increase was in Northern Ireland (2%)

Further information on regional trends is in Table 26 of the detailed tables

At the start of 2023, as shown in Figure 7:

• London (1,477) had the highest number of businesses per 10,000 adults; there were also relatively high rates in the South East (1,125), South West (1,104) and the East of England (1,103)

• Scotland had the lowest business density rate (653) of any UK country and the North East the lowest rate for any English region (718)

• Northern Ireland (805) and Wales (856) had relatively low business density rates compared to the UK average (1,014)

• further information on business density is in Table 8 in the detailed tables

Figure 7: Number of businesses in the UK private sector per 10,000 adults, UK region and country, start of 2023

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Industries

SMEs account for at least 99% of the overall population in each of the main industry sectors and therefore determine the distribution of the business population overall, as shown in Figure 8. At the start of 2023:

• the largest number of SMEs (883,000 or 16%) were operating in Construction, compared with less than 1% in the Mining, Quarrying and Utilities sector (24,000)

• there were also a large numbers of SMEs operating in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (770,000 or 14%), and Wholesale and Retail Trade and Repair sectors (546,000 or 10%)

Figure 8: Industrial sectors with most SMEs, as percentage of total SME numbers, start of 2023

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SMEs accounted for 61% of employment and 53% of turnover at the start of 2023. Wholesale and Retail Trade is the industrial sector which has the highest share of both SME employment and turnover, as shown in Figure 9. At the start of 2023:

• Wholesale and Retail Trade and Repair accounted for 14% of all SME employment and 33% of SME turnover in the UK private sector

• almost a third of SME turnover was spread across three more sectors: Construction (12%), Professional, Scientific and Technical (11%) and Manufacturing (9%)

• further information for industries is in Table 5 in the detailed tables

Figure 9: Industrial sectors with highest SME turnover and employment, as percentage of total SME employment and turnover, start of 2023

Notes for figure 9

• turnover figures exclude SIC 2007 Section K (Financial and Insurance Activities) where turnover is not available on a comparable basis

• Accommodation and Food Service Activities, had the fourth largest share of SME employment in 2023 (9.2%), whilst accounting for less than 3% of turnover

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Large businesses accounted for 39% of employment and 47% of turnover. At the start of 2023:

• the sector with the most large businesses was Manufacturing (1,300), followed by Administrative and Support Service Activities (1,200) and Wholesale and Retail (1,200)

• Wholesale and Retail Trade and Repair accounted for 24% of all large business employment and 34% of large business turnover in the UK private sector

• the second largest sector in terms of large business employment was Administrative and Support Service Activities, which accounted for 14% of the total

• the second largest sector in terms of large business turnover was Manufacturing, which accounted for 18% of the total

In the last year:

• the greatest numeric increase in total business numbers was in Manufacturing (25,000). The percentage increase was greatest in Real Estate Activities (12%)

• the greatest numeric decrease in total business numbers was in Construction (31,000). The percentage decrease was greatest in Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas and Air Conditioning Supply; Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities (25%)

• amongst registered businesses, the sectors Construction, and Real Estate Activities had the largest numerical increases (4,000 and 3,000 respectively). The percentage increase was greatest in Human Health and Social Work Activities (3%). The sectors Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles, and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities, and Information and Communication had the largest numeric decreases (16,000 and 10,000 respectively). The percentage decrease was greatest in Transportation and Storage (5%)

Since 2020:

• the business population has decreased in all industrial sectors except Real Estate Activities, Accommodation and Food Services, and Transport and Storage

• Real Estate Activities had the largest numeric (19,000) and percentage increases (15%)

• Construction had the largest numeric decrease (109,000). The greatest percentage decrease was in Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas and Air Conditioning Supply; Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities (39%)

Since 2010:

• the business population increased in all industrial sectors except Construction, consistently the sector with the largest number of businesses, which has decreased by 16,000 (2%)

• Administrative and Support Service Activities had the largest numeric increase (190,000). The greatest percentage increase was in Real Estate Activities (87%)

Uncertainty in the business population estimates

Numbers of unregistered businesses reported in this publication are estimated, based on Labour Force Survey (LFS) data. This leads to uncertainty in the total count of businesses in the private sector, which comprises the sum of unregistered business numbers and registered business numbers. Registered businesses are not estimated, being derived from an administrative data source, the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). IDBR data does contain other sources of error, which are likely to be small for counts of businesses. These are not captured in the measurements of uncertainty used in this publication, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and coefficients of variation (CVs).

CIs indicate a range of values around an estimate within which the ‘true’ value of the estimate is likely to lie, with 95% probability. CIs are the same for both estimates of unregistered business numbers and estimates of all private sector businesses numbers.

CVs, the ratio of an estimate’s standard error (SE) to the estimate itself expressed as a percentage, indicate the quality of estimates. The smaller the CV, the more precise the estimate. Values less than 5% indicate an estimate is precise for most practical purposes, those over 20% indicate an estimate is unreliable. CVs are smaller for estimates of unregistered business numbers than estimates which combine registered with unregistered business numbers.

At the start of 2023, the 95% CI around the total number of private sector businesses, estimated at 5,555,000, was ±134,000. On this basis:

• there was a 95% probability that the total number of businesses in the private sector was between 5,421,000 and 5,689,000

• the CV was 1%, indicating the estimate was precise

Figure 10: Estimated private sector businesses numbers in each English region, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with 95% CIs, start of 2023

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For data shown in Figure 10:

• the smallest CV for the countries and English regions shown in Figure 10 was 3% for the South East, South West and East of England, indicating estimate were precise

• the North East had the largest CV (7%), though estimate quality was still good

For private sector businesses numbers in England (not shown in Figure 10), estimated at 4,916,000, the 95% CI was ±128,000 and the CV was 1%, indicating a precise estimate.

Figure 11: Estimated private sector businesses numbers by industrial sector, with 95% CIs, start of 2023

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For data shown in Figure 11:

• CVs for Sectors F (Construction), G (Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles) and M (Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities) were smallest (both 3%) indicating estimates were precise

• the combined sector B, D and E (Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas and Air Conditioning Supply; Water Supply: Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities) had the largest CV (12%), indicating the estimate was acceptable

Uncertainty around estimates of business numbers was higher in 2023 than in 2022 for all English regions, UK countries and sector level breakdowns. This indicates estimates of business numbers were less precise this year than in 2022 and reflects lower LFS response rates.

Table 30 in the detailed tables provides further details of CIs and CVs for all business numbers and unregistered business numbers at the country and English region level, by industry sector, and at the more detailed level of industry sector by country and English region.

The statistical significance of changes in the business population over time can be partially assessed by comparing CIs around estimates. Non-overlapping CIs indicate significant changes. However, in cases where CIs do overlap changes may, in some cases, also be significant.

• CIs around 2023 estimates overlapped with CIs for 2022 estimates for all English regions, UK countries and sector level breakdowns

In comparison to 2020:

• there were significant decreases in estimates of both total and unregistered business numbers in the UK, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland

• there were significant decreases in total business numbers in sectors B, D and E (Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas and Air Conditioning Supply; Water Supply: Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities), F (Construction), J (Information and Communication) and M (Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities)

• there were significant decreases in unregistered business numbers in in sectors B, D and E (Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas and Air Conditioning Supply; Water Supply: Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities) and F (Construction)

The processes used to quantify uncertainty in this publication is described in the section “Accuracy” in the Methodology and Quality Note.

Technical information

• this publication is the latest in a series providing estimates of the total number of private sector businesses in the UK. It estimates the total number of UK private sector businesses at the start of each calendar year, including those that are registered for VAT or PAYE and those that are unregistered. Related ONS publications report only on VAT/PAYE registered businesses

• a Guide explaining how this publication relates to other accredited official statistics on business population and demography has been published to help users understand the differences and choose the most appropriate source

• there is no single database containing all private sector businesses in the UK. The main source for this publication is the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), managed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is used to provide data on VAT/PAYE registered businesses in the UK. This publication also includes estimates of smaller non-employing (unregistered) businesses which are calculated using a combination of information from the ONS Labour Force Survey and HMRC self-assessment tax return data. More detail on the estimation process is provided in the Methodology and Quality Note

• companies can take a range of legal forms, including Public Limited Companies, Private Limited Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships, and others. The IDBR only includes those companies registered for VAT and/or PAYE, rather than all those recorded on the Companies House register. A paper published as part of the 2023 BPE assesses how this may impact data in the publication

• this edition uses the same methodology as that used since the 2011 edition of this publication. The methodology differs from that used for BPE 2010 and the older SME Statistics series (1994-2009)

• information on business employment and turnover is also provided. The function of this data is primarily to (i) classify businesses by employee size band and (ii) calculate shares of employment and turnover across industrial sectors, regions, and legal statuses. This release includes an employment time-series in Table 28 of the detailed tables. However, users should note that these employment estimates are indicative: ONS publishes other sources of employment data more suitable for monitoring total jobs and people in employment. See the Workforce Jobs series, the Business Registers Employment Survey (BRES), and the wider Labour Market Statistics (refer to the Methodology and Quality Note for more information). Likewise, for registered businesses the recommended source of turnover data is the Annual Business Survey

• IDBR employment data is updated from administrative sources (His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records and Office for National Statistics (ONS) Surveys. It is recommended that Business Register Employment Survey (BRES) estimates are used as the main source of employment information for detailed industry and geographical employment comparisons for registered businesses. The only time that IDBR employment should be considered for use is for very small area, below the level of BRES publication

• IDBR turnover is updated via administrative sources (HMRC VAT records) and ONS Business Surveys. It is recommended that the Annual Business Survey (ABS) turnover estimates are used as the main source of turnover information for detailed industry and geographical turnover comparisons. The only time that IDBR turnover should be considered for use is for very small area, or fine cross tabulations, below the level of ABS publication

• turnover data throughout this release excludes SIC2007 Section K (Financial and insurance activities) as turnover is not available on a comparable basis

• the definition of the private sector used in this publication excludes the non-profit sector but includes public corporations and nationalised bodies

• businesses that have sites (and employees) in more than one region or country are counted here only in the region or country where they are registered. These estimates will therefore differ from actual employment in a region

• all figures and percentages in this document are rounded. Therefore, totals may not exactly match the sum of their parts. Suppression and controlled rounding have been used to protect the data in this publication from disclosure. For further information, refer to the Methodology and Quality Note

• for data relating to business births, deaths and survivals, it is recommended that the ONS Business Demography publication is used as the main source of information

• from 2024 onwards changes in the methodology will be implemented to accommodate the transformation of the Labour Force Survey. This will affect estimates of unregistered businesses

Definitions and terminology

Term	Description
Company	Companies can take a range of legal forms, including Public Limited Companies, Private Limited Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships, and others such as public corporations and nationalised bodies in which the working directors are classed as employees
Employers	a company with a single employee director is treated as having no employees
Large business	a business with 250 or more employees
Medium-sized business	a business with 50 to 249 employees
Ordinary partnership	a business run by two or more self-employed people
Non-employing business	Non-employing businesses are those without employees. However, in the BPE companies with only with one employee are classified as having no employees under the assumption that this will be a working proprietor
Small business	a business with 0 to 49 employees
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)	businesses with 0 to 249 employees
Sole proprietorship	an unincorporated business run by one self-employed person

Further information

Future updates to these statistics

The next publication in this series is scheduled for Autumn 2024.

Related statistics

UK business; activity, size and location, published annually by the ONS, gives information about registered UK businesses broken down by legal status, industry, region, employment and turnover size bands.

Business Demography, published annually by the ONS, provides information on births, deaths and survivals of registered businesses in the UK, by geographical areas and standard industrial classification groups. Business Demography, Quarterly Experimental Statistics has also been published since August 2020.

Small Business Survey reports are published annually by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and detail the performance of small and medium-sized businesses. Reports also contain sociodemographic information about business owners (gender, ethnicity and whether a family business).

Businesses in Scotland, published annually by the Scottish government, provides information on numbers of registered enterprises (businesses) operating in Scotland, broken down by industry, business size, local authority area, urban/rural area, and country of ownership.

Business Structure, published annually by the Welsh Government, contains data on the estimated number of registered businesses active in Wales.

Northern Ireland business; activity, size and location, published annually by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, provides an overview of Northern Ireland’s registered business population.

Further information on other sources of business and employment data are available in Annex E of Methodology and Quality Note

Revisions policy

The DBT statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics, which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

Uses of these statistics

This publication is used extensively by government, the public, public bodies, and businesses to analyse the scale, structure and significance of the total business population in the UK and to monitor change over time. For example, they are used by:

• government in understanding the likely impact of policy changes and monitoring the impact of recessions on different sections of the business population

• businesses in understanding 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 a local and national level

• a range of public bodies in decision making and in evaluating the success of regeneration and business-related policies

• public and private business support providers in targeting business support

User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and should be sent to: business.statistics@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

The Business Population and Demographics Statistics (BPDS) user group provides a forum for discussion of statistics and statistical research on the business population and demographics and is open to users based in central and local government, academia and the private sector.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) reviewed the ONS’ Business Demography statistics and reported their findings in October 2020. In consequence, a steering group of key business demography users was set up the remit of which covers the IDBR, which constitutes an important input into the BPE. The group meets quarterly.

The DBT statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Official statistics accreditation

Accredited official statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

The accreditation of these official statistics was confirmed in August 2022 following a compliance check. following an independent review by the OSR. These statistics were previously assessed in 2012. They comply with the standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

Since the 2012 review, we have made the following improvements:

• alterations to processing of ONS Labour Force Survey (2013 and 2016) and HMRC self-assessment tax returns (2016) data have improved data quality

• reduction in numbers of people with pre-release access to the publication

• changes have been made to format and layout of the statistical release in 2019 to make it more accessible and consistent with format of similar publications

• since 2019 detailed tables are published in OpenDocument spreadsheet format as well as excel format – for accessibility purposes

• in 2020, uncertainty around key estimates of business numbers was quantified, with further information detailing uncertainty at the sector by region level added in the 2021 publication

• in 2021 a new time series table was added to the detailed tables detailing changes in numbers of businesses by industrial sector

• in 2022 the detailed tables were published in accessible format

• in 2023 Tables 1 to 3 included additional employment size splits for large businesses and a research paper exploring unregistered companies (which are not included in the BPE) was published alongside the publication

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) compliance check in August 2022 identified three areas that would enhance the trustworthiness, quality and value of Business Population Estimates (BPE):

• ensure users are informed about differences between the BPE, ONS’ Business Demography and UK Business; Activity, Size and Location statistics and changes made to BPE statistics, such as the inclusion of composite management service companies between 2004 and 2017

• the team confirmed it has a user-led programme of development for the BPE which is reviewed regularly and meets user priorities. Adding a summary of the development plans to the bulletin may further enhance user engagement and contribute positively to the development of the statistics

• DBT is aware of the user need for other information about businesses, such as sociodemographic information about business owners mentioned in the methodology note. It may be beneficial to users for DBT to include links to alternative data sources such as the Longitudinal Small Business Survey in the BPE bulletin

In accordance with these recommended enhancements:

• an up-to-date guide has been produced to inform about the differences between BPE, ONS Business Demography and UK Business statistics. The technical information section (above) and the Methodology and Quality Note inform users about changes to BPE statistics

• composite and managed service companies were set-up to take advantage of specific tax benefits. They were excluded from previous BPE and related ONS publications between 2004 and 2017. The exclusion was applied at the postcode level. Since 2018, these postcodes have been included in the data, as there is no evidence to support their continued exclusion

• DBT welcomes user feedback – see the user engagement section. Developments since the 2012 assessment are outlined above. Future development plans are closely linked to the development of a new Statistical Business Register (SBR), under development by the ONS. The SBR could make use of new data sources, such as Corporation Tax and Self-Assessment data. Currently the BPE uses a combination of ONS Labour Force Survey and HMRC data to estimate the unregistered business population. This process could potentially be replaced with the SBR administrative data source, post validation and comparison. Further work will be undertaken investigating both the rationale and feasibility of adding data on unregistered companies to the publication, whilst the assumption that no unregistered companies are active businesses will be reviewed

Pre-release access to statistics

principle T3 of the Code of Practice for Statistics requires that access to official statistics before their public release is limited to certain individuals. This includes those involved in the production of the statistics and the preparation of the release, and those involved for quality assurance and operational purposes. Pre-release access may only be granted in accordance with the rules and principles set out in the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008. In addition, the order requires that records are published of those who have access prior to public release

Below is the list of roles holders who received pre-release access to Business Population Estimates 2023:

• Secretary of State, Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
• DBT Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business
• DBT Special Advisers
• DBT Permanent Secretary
• DBT Second Permanent Secretary
• DBT Director General, Business Sectors
• DBT Director, Business Growth
• DBT Chief Statistician
• DBT Deputy Director, Cities and Local Growth Analysis
• DBT Deputy Director, Business Growth Analysis and International Policy
• DBT, Head of SME Analysis, Business Growth
• DBT Press Office x 2
• ONS Analysts x3
• Welsh Government, Head of Economy and Transport Statistics

Contact

• responsible statistician: Darren Barton

• email: business.statistics@businessandtrade.gov.uk

• media enquiries: 020 7215 2000, Public enquiries 020 7215 5297