Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the financial viability of running a small or medium-sized building company and (2) the main financial challenges of running a small or medium-sized building company.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Construction is a cyclical industry, and the financial viability of firms can be affected by a range of factors, including the state of the market, commercial negotiations in relation to contracts, liabilities incurred, and the price of wages, products and materials. Small firms in the construction supply chain are also vulnerable to late or non-payment, which is why the Government has taken steps to improve payment reporting, and is committed to publishing a consultation on legislative measures to ensure prompt and fair payment.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many small and medium-sized building companies have ceased trading in the financial years (1) 2024–25, (2) 2023–24, and (3) 2022–23; and what assessment have they made of the trend of these figures.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the Acting National Statistician of the UK Statistics Authority.

Emma Rourke | Acting National Statistician

The Lord Mawson OBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

2 June 2025

Dear Lord Mawson,

As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many small and medium-sized building companies have ceased trading in the financial years (1) 2024–25, (2) 2023–24, and (3) 2022–23; and what assessment has been made of the trend of these figures (HL7770).

Using the quarterly business demography release[1], we can show, in Table 1, the number of businesses which were classified to the construction industry which have ceased trading in the financial years listed. Figures for building companies are not separately available so the wider aggregation of the construction industry has been used. This consists of construction of buildings, civil engineering, and specialised construction activities. These figures are classified as ‘official statistics in development’.

Table 1: Number of businesses classified to the construction industry which have ceased trading in the financial years 2022/23 – 2024/25.

Source: Office for National Statistics

It is not possible to show these figures for small and medium sized enterprises only since this breakdown is not available from the quarterly release. However, figures from our 2024 UK Business: activity, size and location dataset[2] show that small and medium sized enterprises, taken to be businesses with employment less than 250, make up 99.9 per cent of businesses in the construction industry.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) makes no estimate of the trend of these figures.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Rourke

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/latest

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/ukbusinessactivitysizeandlocation/2024

Found: Q93 Lord Mawson: Good morning. My questions are on master planning.

Found: Chair); Lord Bailey of Paddington; Lord Cameron of Dillington; Viscount Hanworth; Baroness Janke; Lord Mawson

Found: The Chair: I am conscious of time but Lord Mawson wants to ask a very quick question.

Found: The Chair: I am conscious of time but Lord Mawson wants to ask a very quick question.

Found: Andrews; Lord Cameron of Dillington; Lord Faulkner of Worcester; Viscount Hanworth; Baroness Janke; Lord Mawson

Found: Our next question goes to Lord Mawson. Q15 Lord Mawson: Good morning.

Found: Andrews; Lord Bailey of Paddington; Lord Faulkner of Worcester; Viscount Hanworth; Baroness Janke; Lord Mawson