Official Statistics

Business characteristics guidance notes

Updated 18 April 2023

General Notes

Experimental Statistics

This release is seen as “Experimental statistics”. These are official statistics that are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed.

More information can be found on the ONS website.

Guide to Experimental Statistics

Data Sources

The Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) has been combined with the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). The OTS is from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) data. The IDBR is from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The OTS shows the UK’s international trade in goods. Data breakdowns are by partner country and commodity. More information can be found in the Methodology paper for the OTS.

Methodology Paper for Overseas Trade Statistics

The IDBR is a list of UK businesses. These are used by Government for statistical purposes. More information can be found on the ONS website.

Inter-Departmental Business Register

Methodology

Important note on methodology changes for data from January 2021

The change for UK exports to the EU, is that GB to EU trade data is now sourced from Customs declarations, whilst NI exports to the EU is collected through the Intrastat Survey. This has caused a timeseries break from January 2021. Please note this change when making comparisons to previous years.

The change for UK imports from the EU, is that VAT returns now only capture NI imports from the EU. Previously, VAT returns covered all UK trade. As such, trade values for all importing traders below the Intrastat threshold are now unavailable. The Intrastat Survey remains the data source for UK imports from the EU for both NI and GB traders that are above the Intrastat threshold.

This change means that it is not possible to accurately produce business characteristics for UK imports from the EU for 2021, so this has been excluded from this publication.

From 2022 we aim to be able to produce complete UK imports from the EU data. We will use a different method to the one used up to and including the 2020 release. The method will involve data collection from Customs declarations for imports into GB from the EU, plus the Intrastat Survey and VAT returns data for imports into NI from the EU.

The OTS-IDBR data matching process

The VAT number of each business within the OTS data is linked to an enterprise on the IDBR.

If a match is not found, then a ‘fuzzy matching’ process on the name is attempted. The remaining unmatched VAT numbers are given an industry group by searching for matches in HMRC VAT records; their business size and age are recorded as ‘Unknown’. A unique industry group is assigned to each business for all EU and non-EU imports and exports.

The attributes of an enterprise are assessed before it is chosen. This is because there are several that could be chosen where VAT registrations cover a group of businesses. The assessment is made through the following measures:

Step 1: At the first level of assessment, the enterprises with the largest turnover are chosen.

Step 2: If there are multiple enterprises with the same turnover then we select the enterprise with the highest employee count.

Step 3: If multiple enterprises have the same employee count then we select the enterprise with the earliest birthdate.

Step 4: If multiple enterprises have the same birthdate, then we select the enterprise linked to the 12-digit VAT registration with the earliest birthdate.

We make the assumption that trade is more likely to be carried out by businesses with the highest turnover and employee count. We also assume that older businesses are more likely to carry out trade as they are more established.

Comparison with other HMRC publications

Comparison with OTS publication:

The trade value totals do not match the OTS for two reasons. Both reasons relate to EU trade.

1. Data in this publication does not include non-response estimates. The OTS does.

2. The contribution of traders below the Intrastat threshold for EU trade has been recalculated on a per trader basis. It has not been allocated to individual EU countries. This method closely replicates the one used for the estimation of below threshold trade in the OTS, but timing and other methodological differences mean there is not an exact match.

Comparison with Customs Importer and Exporter Population 2021 release:

The business counts in this release do not match those in the Customs Importer and Exporter Population 2021 release. This is due to differences in the methods used to estimate EU trade below the Intrastat threshold. It is also due to timing issues; the UK Importer and Exporter Population release is published in April which is before the annual OTS dataset is made final.

Comparison with the HMRC Regional Trade in Goods Statistics (RTS) releases:

Data in this release will not match the published RTS data. This is due to different production methods:

• This release counts businesses at the level of ‘enterprise’. The RTS counts at the level of ‘VAT-registration’.
• This release includes all UK trade in goods. The RTS excludes trade in non-monetary gold.
• Additionally, methods for estimating EU trade below the Intrastat threshold differ.

Other statistics available on the characteristics of UK exporters and importers:

ONS:

Non financial business economy, UK and regional

UK trade in goods by business characteristics

Data Measures

Trade Value

Trade value is the statistical value of trade in goods in GBP (£).

Business count

All businesses are included in counts for trade with the EU as a whole (EU export only).

However, the counts of exporters to specific EU countries do not include those with trade below the Intrastat threshold.

This is because the EU export partner data is not collected for these businesses.

For EU exports in 2021, the Intrastat threshold was set at £250,000.

Employee count

The employee count is the total number of employees for a business. Users should note that employee count includes employees who are not directly involved in trade.

Suppressions (Excel spreadsheets)

The statistics in this release require active disclosure control. This has been applied by suppressing data. Data has been suppressed in line with GSS guidance.

Where the data has been suppressed, additional suppressions (masks) have been used making it impossible to calculate the contents of suppressed cells. All suppressed cells are shown with a “Suppressed”.

Data Categories

Industry groups 1-10

The industry groups in this release are derived from the Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC).

More information can be found on the ONS website: UK SIC 2007

The industry group is the main activity of a business. Businesses trade in their main activity but may also trade in goods outside of this classification. The data in this release includes all traded goods.

Group 1 - Agriculture & Food

Group 2 - Mining, Petroleum products & Waste

Group 3 - Chemicals

Group 4 - Pharmaceuticals

Group 5 - Electronic & Electrical equipment

Group 6 - Machinery & equipment n.e.s.

Group 7 - Motor vehicles, transport equipment

Group 8 - Aerospace and related machinery

Group 9 - Other manufacturing

Group 10 - Services

Group 1 includes Clothing. This note acts to highlight Group 1’s agricultural component, which can include textile produce.

Group 10 includes only those businesses in the Services industry that trade in goods. The data provides the value of goods, business counts and employee counts for these businesses. It does not provide data on the value of services from these businesses. The business counts and employee counts do not include services industry businesses that do not trade in goods.

Business size

Business size is based on the total number of employees within a business.

This release has the following business size categories:

• Zero employees – These are sole traders.
• 1-9, 10-49, or 50-249 employees. These are collectively known as SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises).
• Over 250 employees. These are known as Large businesses.

Age of business

The age of a business is determined by the birth date and death date of the enterprise, and not the underlying VAT-registered business. This maintains consistency within the data in that each business will always have the same birth date and death date for all EU and non-EU imports and exports.

This release has the following age categories (in years):

0-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-9, 10-20, 20+

Unknown category (Excel spreadsheets)

Unknown Industry group / size / age:

A business may be classified within the ‘Unknown’ category for industry group, business size, or age group for the following reasons:

• Where the trading VAT / EORI number is invalid.
• Businesses for which IDBR data is unavailable.
• Businesses in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man or overseas-based businesses with a VAT presence in the UK.

The UK Government is placed in the Unknown category for employee count. However, it is categorised under the ‘250+’ group for business size.

Unknown trade value:

The following trade by a business may be classified within ‘Unknown’:

• Parcel post trade that is dealt with centrally (trade with non-EU only) is placed in the Unknown category for industry group, business size and age group.
• EU trade in oil and gas that cannot be linked to a VAT number is placed in the Unknown category for business size and age group. The industry group is estimated from HMRC records on businesses trading similar goods.

Users should be aware that declared trade lines of less than £873 and 1,000kg are below the statistical threshold. They are included as part of ‘low value trade’.

Statistical threshold

Business characteristics are not able to be produced for low value trade. There is no business specific data for this trade.

Partner Countries (Excel spreadsheets)

A selection of partner countries is available. These countries have been selected based on their status as the top EU and non-EU partner countries for the UK based on value of trade:

Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vietnam.

These geographical groups are also provided:

EU (all EU partner countries combined – EU export only), non-EU (all non-EU partner countries combined), World (all countries combined – export only).

Definitions

Business

For the purpose of this release, the term “business” is used to represent an enterprise. An enterprise is the combination of legal units that produces goods and/or services and makes its own decisions on business activity. This is particularly true for decisions on where to place its capital. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

The IDBR record of business characteristics such as industry group, size, and age is at the level of an enterprise. The business counts published in this release are counts of enterprises. The figures for value of trade are from trade declared to HMRC at the level of VAT-registered or EORI-registered businesses.

EORI

EORI stands for ‘Economic Operator Registration and Identification’. HMRC gives these numbers to some UK businesses. This allows them to trade with non-EU countries.