Official Statistics

Incorporated companies in the UK: January to March 2017

Published 27 April 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”.

This is the third quarterly release of Incorporated Companies in the UK. The statistics moved to being published quarterly instead of monthly following the outcomes of the Consultation on changes to Companies House statistical products that ran in 2016.

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.

2. Key points

• Between January and March 2017, there were 170,143 company incorporations and 108,919 dissolutions in the UK.
• At the end of March 2017, there were 3,896,755 companies on the total register and 3,648,478 companies on the effective register. Both the total and effective registers have continued to increase in size since the beginning of 2012.
• Despite seasonal trends, the numbers of incorporations and dissolutions have also increased overall since 2012.
• There was an increase in the number of incorporations between the final quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, consistent with trends in previous years.
• The number of companies dissolved at the start of 2016 increased sharply, due to legislative changes introduced in October 2015. The number of dissolutions has since decreased, although they remain consistently higher than before the legislative changes.

3. Incorporated companies

Between January and March 2017, there were 170,143 company incorporations and 108,919 dissolutions in the UK. At the end of the period, the number of companies on the total register was 3,896,755. This was an increase of 63,286 companies since the end of December 2016. The total register includes those companies in the process of dissolution or liquidation (248,277 at the end of March 2017).

The effective register, which excludes companies in the process of liquidation or dissolution, stood at 3,648,478 at the end of March 2017, an increase of 54,876 companies since the previous quarter.

Compared with the same period in 2016, the UK total register increased by 217,895 companies (5.9%), while the effective register increased by 214,698 companies (6.3%). Both the total and effective registers have continued to increase in size in a linear fashion since the beginning of 2012.

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

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK January to March 2017, Companies House

As in previous years, there was an increase in the number of incorporations in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the final quarter of 2016. Typically, incorporations are higher in the first two quarters of the year than in the last two quarters.

Unusually, there were 1,953 (1.1%) less incorporations between January and March 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 quarter in the previous year. However, this difference may be in part due to the large increase in the number of incorporations in the first quarter of 2016.

Despite these fluctuations, the number of incorporations has continued to gradually increase over time. There were 41,941 (32.7%) more incorporations in the first quarter of 2017 than in the first quarter of 2012.

The number of dissolutions has also increased since the beginning of 2012. There were 37,651 (52.8%) more dissolutions in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the first quarter of 2012.

Legislative changes were implemented in October 2015 that shortened both the voluntary and compulsory dissolution processes by one month. These changes resulted in a sharp increase in dissolutions in the first quarter of 2016. The number of dissolutions has since decreased, and there were 25,238 (18.8%) less dissolutions in the first quarter of 2017 than in the same period in 2016. Overall, however, the number of dissolutions has remained consistently higher than prior to the legislative changes, and continues to be relatively stable between the second quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017.

Chart 2: Incorporations and dissolutions, 2012q1-2017q1, United Kingdom

Source: Incorporated Companies in the UK January to March 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.

4. 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

5. Background notes

This section provides a range of information designed to provide the user with more information about the statistics.

5.1 Definitions

A separate document Definitions to accompany statistical releases is available, providing definitions for the main terms used in Companies House official statistics publications.

5.2 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.

5.3 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.

5.4 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.

5.5 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 corrigendum 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.

Revisions in this release: No revisions.

Planned revisions: No planned revisions.

5.6 Date of next release

Statistics for the period 1 April to 30 June 2017 will be published on 27 July 2017. The publication date has been announced on the release calendar.