Companies: Registration
(asked on 14th November 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many companies registered with Companies House were a). trading b). dormant and c). pending strike off action for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by
Blair McDougall
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The following table shows the total size of the Register of Companies and the trading status of companies in the specified periods:
Financial Year | Total register at end of period | Trading Status | |
Trading | Dormant | ||
2015-16 | 3,678,860 | 3,191,442 | 487,418 |
2016-17 | 3,896,755 | 3,398,018 | 498,737 |
2017-18 | 4,033,355 | 3,528,417 | 504,938 |
2018-19 | 4,202,044 | 3,681,450 | 520,594 |
2019-20 | 4,350,913 | 3,811,504 | 539,409 |
2020-21 | 4,716,126 | 4,159,227 | 556,899 |
2021-22 | 4,894,356 | 4,294,680 | 599,676 |
2022-23 | 5,116,743 | 4,474,920 | 641,823 |
2023-24 | 5,350,759 | 4,697,033 | 653,726 |
2024-25 | 5,427,787 | 4,757,947 | 669,840 |
The following table shows the status of entities on the register at the start and end of the reporting period:
Financial Year | Total register at end of period | Effective register at end of period | In course of dissolution | In liquidation |
2015-16 | 3,678,860 | 3,433,780 | 160,419 | 84,661 |
2016-17 | 3,896,755 | 3,648,478 | 159,802 | 88,475 |
2017-18 | 4,033,355 | 3,770,022 | 172,455 | 90,878 |
2018-19 | 4,202,044 | 3,926,374 | 185,065 | 90,605 |
2019-20 | 4,350,913 | 4,064,063 | 194,049 | 92,801 |
2020-21 | 4,716,126 | 4,410,236 | 210,732 | 95,158 |
2021-22 | 4,894,356 | 4,499,342 | 293,784 | 101,230 |
2022-23 | 5,116,743 | 4,645,402 | 364,998 | 106,343 |
2023-24 | 5,350,759 | 4,876,374 | 365,033 | 109,352 |
2024-25 | 5,427,787 | 4,872,293 | 443,076 | 112,418 |
Figures in both tables are extracted from management information. They are unaudited and subject to change.
Due to timing differences, discrepancies can occur between the register status statistics and the trading status statistics. Consequently, the trading status statistics have been adjusted proportionally to align with the Official Statistics publication.
A review of the statistics regularly published is ongoing.