Data
How many companies are live on the UK company register, how many of them are active or on their way out, which company types dominate and in which industries the companies say they work. Counted from the free Companies House snapshot.
Snapshot of 1 November 2026 · counted and retrieved on 4 November 2026 · by Martin Adamec
| Status | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Active | 5 179 256 | 90,7% |
| Active – Proposal to Strike off | 417 325 | 7,3% |
| Liquidation | 107 871 | 1,9% |
| Administration, receivership or voluntary arrangement | 7327 | 0,1% |
| All live companies | 5 711 779 | 100.0% |
“Active – Proposal to Strike off” means that striking the company off the register has been proposed; the company is still live but may be dissolved. The last row combines administration, receivership and voluntary arrangements.
| Company type | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Private limited company (Ltd) | 5 283 363 | 92,5% |
| Private company limited by guarantee without share capital | 154 555 | 2,7% |
| Limited partnership (LP) | 61 162 | 1,1% |
| Limited liability partnership (LLP) | 49 867 | 0,9% |
| Community interest company (CIC) | 45 753 | 0,8% |
| Charitable incorporated organisation (CIO and SCIO) | 49 021 | 0,9% |
| Overseas entity | 30 166 | 0,5% |
| Registered society | 10 770 | 0,2% |
| Private unlimited company | 4806 | 0,1% |
| Public limited company (PLC) | 4470 | 0,1% |
| Other types (Royal Charter, ICVC, Scottish partnership and others) | 17 846 | 0,3% |
Companies limited by guarantee without share capital include the two categories with and without the exemption from using “Limited” in the name.
| SIC division | Title | Companies | Share of active |
|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | Real estate activities | 631 159 | 11,3% |
| 47 | Retail trade | 432 264 | 7,7% |
| 43 | Specialised construction activities | 304 465 | 5,4% |
| 62 | Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 291 721 | 5,2% |
| 70 | Activities of head offices; management consultancy | 276 256 | 4,9% |
| 56 | Food and beverage service activities | 240 193 | 4,3% |
| 41 | Construction of buildings | 222 809 | 4,0% |
| 96 | Other personal service activities | 202 681 | 3,6% |
| 64 | Financial service activities | 197 688 | 3,5% |
| 82 | Office administrative and business support activities | 196 518 | 3,5% |
A company can give up to four SIC codes; only the first is counted here. 231 826 live companies gave no SIC code (“None Supplied”) and 103 488 gave the code 99999 for dormant companies. The SIC code is supplied by the company itself, as the value “None Supplied” shows.
The free BasicCompanyData file lists live companies with company name and number, registered office address, company type, status, country of origin, incorporation date, accounts and confirmation statement dates, numbers of charges, up to four SIC codes and previous names. It is updated monthly. It contains no phone numbers, email addresses or websites. The download page states no licence; Companies House said on its forum that it “imposes no rules or requirements on how the information on the public register is used”. Data protection law still applies to names and addresses of individuals.
How we use the snapshot: we match it with our records to add the company number, company type and status; the matching is still in progress, see the database status.
The counts are our own counts of the official Companies House file. Suggestion:
firmdat.co.uk: The Companies House register in figures. Based on Companies House, BasicCompanyDataAsOneFile-2026-11-01 (live companies), counted by firmdat.co.uk. Retrieved on 4 November 2026. https://firmdat.co.uk/pl/data/companies-house-register/
Our exports combine addresses, phone numbers, websites and email addresses with the company number where the match is confirmed. Name the industry, region and fields you need.
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