UK Small Business Statistics
Here's a summary of the key features and statistics about UK businesses in 2014:
- 5.2 million UK businesses in total
- 25.2 million people are employed by businesses, with SMEs employing over 15.2 million alone
- 62% of UK businesses are sole traders, 29% are limited companies and 9% are partnerships
- SME's turnover was £1.6 trillion
- Construction sector has the largest share of business at 18%
- Mining, quarrying and utilities account for only 1%
- Wholesale and retail trade account for over a third of SME turnover
Looking back on UK Business Statistics 2014 and you can visually see that on the whole, it wasn’t a bad year at all. With SME’s as ever propping up the UK economy with a combined small and mid-size turnover of over £1.6 Trillion.
Although the construction sector ended up with the highest percentage of share, it’s interesting to note that wholesale and retail trade results account for over a third of SME turnover in 2014.
So in 2015 – why not work for yourself?
A recent release from Barclays states that more than 50% of entrepreneurs said they wanted to work for themselves. Redundancy from a previous employer accounts for 20% in SME startup ventures, whilst hobby enthusiasts who turn their love into a commercial venture accounts for 16% of business startups in the UK.
“January is a popular time for new business plans to be made, and many making new year’s resolutions may decide to take the plunge and start their own business.”
“It is important that business owners are passionate about what they do, as commitment and motivation are key tools to getting a successful business up and running, so it’s good to see that one in six SME owners have turned their hobby into a source of income.”
“The fact there is a higher number of women starting a business after having children compared to men is interesting”.
Rebecca McNeil - MD for Business Lending at Barclays
So if you’ve already started your venture and you are pushing ahead, get in touch and let us know how it’s going. We’d be delighted to publish your success stories on our blog pages.
