The Most Company Incorporations in the Past Year

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data from November 2020, the UK unemployment rate is shown to have risen to 5% - an increase of 0.6% from the previous three months. This means that as of November 2020 there are 1.72 million people unemployed. At the end of 2020, it was anticipated that unemployment in the UK is predicted to rise to 2.6 million by mid-2021. But this hasn’t shaken the spirit of Brits.

The rate of new company incorporations has skyrocketed, suggesting that the pandemic has given people the momentum and motivation to see their true calling.

With that in mind, our team of SEO company experts sought to find the sector that had the newest company incorporations. We then compared the current rate to the number of new incorporations over the last three years to discover which sectors have seen the highest number of company incorporations in the past year.

To do this, we analysed recent data from Companies House, focusing on the newly registered incorporations from January 2020 to January 2021.

Sectors with the Most Company Incorporations: 2020/2021

1. Retail Sale Via Mail Order Houses or Via Internet

The sector with the most company corporations in the past year is classified under ‘Retail Sale Via Mail Order Houses or Via Internet’, with a whopping 39,733 registered since January 2020.

The list of activities classified inside the Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (SIC) Code ‘47910’ include:

Internet Auctions
Internet Retail Sales
Mail Order
Radio Direct Sales
Telephone Direct Sales
Television Direct Sales

According to a range of Salary Calculators the average UK salary for a person employed in this field can range from £22,000 to £78,000.

2. Buying and Selling of Own Real Estate

In second place is the ‘Buying and Selling of Own Real Estate’ sector, with 30,637 new company corporations over the last year.

The list of activities classified within this sector (SIC Code ‘68100’) include:

Apartment Buildings Buying and Selling
Building Sales and Purchase
Dwelling Buying and Selling
Land Buying and Selling
Real Estate Buying and Selling
Real Estate Owner
Static Caravan Sales

The average UK salary for an employee in this field can range from £18,750 to £69,500.

3. Management Consultancy Activities Other Than Financial Management

Placing in third is the ‘Management Consultancy Activities Other Than Financial Management’ sector, with 29,911 new company incorporations.

The list of activities classified within this sector (SIC Code ‘70229’) include:

Management Audits Consultancy Services
Management Consultancy Activities
Marketing Management Consultancy Activities (this could include a digital pr agency like us!)
Policy Formulation Consultancy Services
Tourism Development Consultancy Services

The average UK salary for an employee in this field can range from £19,240 to £130,000 annually.

The City with the Most Company Incorporations: 2020/2021

Throughout 2020 and the start of 2021, the UK city that registered the most company incorporations was unsurprisingly London, with a whopping 219,679 new businesses registered in the capital.

Following behind in second place is Birmingham, with 19,724 new incorporations registered between January 2020 to January 2021 – 199,955 less than London in first place. The city of Manchester isn’t far behind Birmingham, with 17,517 new businesses registered between 2020 and 2021, and ranks in third.

Fourth goes to Glasgow, in Scotland, after our analysis of Companies House data found that 10,760 new company incorporations were registered between 2020 and 2021 in the city. Leicester comes in fifth, with 905 less new registered businesses than the Scottish city in the same time frame (9,856).

The Three-Year Comparison

Our analysis found that a staggering 835,494 new company incorporations were made in the UK from January 2020 to January 2021 – estimated at around 2,282 new businesses per day.

This shows a 41% increase from 2019 (591,924 businesses registered), a 96% increase from 2018 (425,703 businesses registered), and a whopping 141% increase from 2017 (345,675 businesses registered).

2019

In 2019, the three most frequently company incorporations were:

‘Management Consultancy Activities Other Than Financial Management’ (26,810)
‘Other Service Activities N.E.C.’ (21,818)
‘Other Business Support Service Activities N.E.C.’ (21,102)

2018

In 2018, the three most frequently company incorporations were:

‘Management Consultancy Activities Other Than Financial Management’ (21,516)
‘Other Business Support Service Activities N.E.C.’ (16,500)
‘Other Service Activities N.E.C.’ (15,488)

2017

In 2017, the three most frequently company incorporations were:

‘Other Business Support Service Activities N.E.C.’ (25,248)
‘Management Consultancy Activities Other Than Financial Management’ (16,105)
‘Other Letting and Operating of Own or Leased Real Estate’ (13,944)

Lockdown Inspired Creativity

Photo Credit: STEKLO / Shutterstock

Some sectors that didn’t make the top 10 but were most likely inspired by creativity in lockdown and spending countless hours on Tik Tok. These sectors include:

‘Hairdressing and Other Beauty Treatments’ - 12,603 new businesses registered
‘Educational Support Services’ - 3,760 new businesses registered
‘Painting’ - 2,404 new businesses registered

The average UK salary for an employee in the field of beauty can range from £13,374 to £30,056. A role in educational support can range from £18,200 to £122,720, and a role in painting can range from £18,410 to £43,000.

Methodology:

To find out how many new company incorporations there were and what kind, we extracted and analysed in detail recent data from Companies House.
We analysed each Excel document and focused on the new company incorporations from January 2020 to January 2021.
The results were then compiled together and filtered to see which job sector and postcode city had the most registered.