A record number of new businesses registered in the UK in 2014 – and even more are set to start up this year.
There were 581,173 new businesses registered with Companies House last year, up from 526,446 in 2013. That figure is expected to break the record again this year as national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain anticipates more than 600,000 start-ups to launch.
According to StartUp Britain’s map of ‘Entrepreneurial Hotspots’ London, Birmingham and Manchester saw the greatest number of start-ups in 2014. Northampton was 22nd on the list with 5,813 registered start-ups. The list shows that there is an even distribution of new businesses throughout England; however only Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff represent the rest of the UK.
In addition to this growth there has also been a fall in the number of business failures. Last year saw a 6% drop in the number of businesses coming off of the Companies House register with just 238,000 firms ceasing to trade.
Research across the continent found that 93% of the 234,000 UK companies that launched in 2011 were still trading one year later, compared to just 83% of European start-ups. In France and Germany the first year survival rates are 79% and 78% respectively.
Michael Heath, business development director at Rousseau Associates, said: “UK small businesses have been given a helping hand with favourable government policies, which have allowed them to keep growth on track.
“These policies have helped to make it less of a risk for start-ups to take on new staff and expand. While zero hours contracts have often been misunderstood they can offer both employers and employees flexibility.”
Whilst the rise in the number of small businesses is good news for the economy, it does mean that there are thousands of new senior managers out there with no experience of how to hire or manage employees.
HR Solutions have been operating since 2001 and know the ups and downs that running a business can bring. It’s this experience that makes our consultancy service so valuable to so many small companies.
Our SME and New Business package provides the policies, procedures and documents that your business needs to grow, along with the advice that you need to ensure that you’re managing your employees fairly.
