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Number Of Businesses in the UK

Report Highlights:

  • In the UK at the beginning of 2022, there were a total of 5.5 million private sector businesses.
  • The private sector business population has experienced a decline of 1.5% or 82,000 businesses in comparison to the year 2021.

UK Business Statistics

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Number of businesses, Employment, and Turnover

The following data presents the estimated number of businesses, employment, and turnover in the UK private sector at the start of 2022, categorized by the size of the business.

  • All businesses in the UK private sector employed approximately 5.5 million people and generated a turnover of £4.16 trillion.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK private sector employed over 5.5 million people and generated a turnover of £2.12 trillion.
  • Small businesses with 0-49 employees in the UK private sector employed over 5.4 million people and generated a turnover of £1.42 trillion.
  • Businesses with no employees in the UK private sector employed over 4 million people and generated a turnover of £278 million.
  • All employers in the UK private sector employed over 1.4 million people and generated a turnover of £3.88 trillion.
  • Employers with 1 to 9 employees in the UK private sector employed over 1.1 million people and generated a turnover of £530 billion.
  • Businesses with 10 to 49 employees in the UK private sector employed over 200,000 people and had a turnover of £609 billion.
  • 50 to 249 employee businesses in the UK private sector employed over 35,000 people and generated a turnover of £708 billion.
  • Employers with 250 or more employees in the UK private sector employed over 7,000 people and generated a turnover of £2.03 trillion.

The contribution of large businesses in the UK to employment and turnover is significant, but SMEs continue to dominate the private sector, accounting for three-fifths of the employment and around half of the turnover; at the beginning of 2022:

  • Total employment in SMEs was 16.4 million, which accounts for 61% of the total employment, and the estimated turnover was £2.1 trillion, representing 51% of the total turnover.
  • Employment in small businesses was 12.9 million (48%) with a turnover of £1.4 trillion (34%).
  • Employment in medium-sized businesses was 3.5 million (13%) with a turnover of £0.7 trillion (17%).
  • Employment in large businesses was 10.6 million (39%) with a turnover of £2.0 trillion (49%).

UK Private Sector

In the UK private sector, there are three main legal forms of businesses: sole proprietorships, ordinary partnerships, and companies, with sole proprietorships being the most common form. At the beginning of 2022:

  • The private sector business population consisted of 3.1 million sole proprietorships, representing 56% of the total, 2.1 million actively trading companies (37%), and 353,000 ordinary partnerships (6%).
  • 1.1 million companies, 220,000 sole proprietorships, and 95,000 ordinary partnerships were employers.
  • 2.9 million sole proprietorships, 932,000 companies, and 257,000 ordinary partnerships did not employ anyone aside from the owner(s).

Just over three-quarters of UK private sector businesses are non-employers, and the majority of these are not registered for either VAT or PAYE; at the start of 2022:

  • The Office for National Statistics recorded 2.7 million private sector businesses as registered for VAT or PAYE, which is 49% of the estimated total population.
  • 2.8 million businesses (51%) traded without being registered for VAT or PAYE and are classified here as ‘unregistered’.
  • 14% of sole proprietorships and 52% of ordinary partnerships were registered for VAT or PAYE.

Business Population Trends

Regarding trends in the business population between 2000 and 2022:

  • The business population increased by 2.0 million (59%).
  • The highest rate of increase was 6.8% between 2013 and 2014, followed by 6.7% between 2003 and 2004.
  • In contrast, the decrease of 1.5% between 2021 and 2022 is only the third decrease in the series, all of which have occurred since 2017. The largest decrease was 6.5% between 2020 and 2021.
  • Between 2021 and 2022, the total business population decreased by 82,000 (1.5%), with 32,000 more (2.3%) employing businesses and 114,000 fewer (2.7%) non-employing businesses.
  • The decrease in non-employing businesses resulted from a decrease of 98,000 (3.3%)