New firm formation, 2016

By Buckinghamshire Business First
22 November, 2017

Buckinghamshire’s new firm formation rate of 92.2 businesses for every 10,000 residents is the 3rd highest of all 27 county council areas, behind Surrey and Hertfordshire, ranking 9th among the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

The number of new businesses rose by 2.1 per cent over the previous year to reach a record high of 3,925. However, business deaths rose by more than a fifth to 3,530. Business births were 11.2 per cent higher than deaths in 2016, having been 47.1 per cent higher in 2014. Buckinghamshire’s business stock rose 4.1 per cent in 2016 to a new high of 33,145.

Buckinghamshire’s new firm formation rate is now 16.8 per cent above the national rate, having been 31.8 per cent higher in 2014 and 49.8 per cent higher in 2010.

Table 1: Business births and deaths in 2016

Source: Business Demography, ONS, 2017

South Bucks saw 710 new businesses form in 2016, 126.5 for every 10,000 residents aged 16 and over, to record the 28th highest rate among the 380 local authority districts in Great Britain, and the 11th highest outside London. Chiltern and Wycombe also have new firm formation rates above the national level, however at 75.8 new businesses for every 10,000 residents, Aylesbury Vale has fallen below the national rate for the first time to rank 115th.

Buckinghamshire’s 21.1 per cent rise in business deaths was the 2nd highest among LEPs, while the death rate of 82.9 per 10,000 residents is also the second highest. All Buckinghamshire districts saw the number of business deaths rise by more than the national rate, with only Chiltern seeing birth rates above the national and regional levels. The map at the end of this bulletin demonstrates that Buckinghamshire continues to sit at the centre of the most entrepreneurial part of the UK, with five of the other top seven ranked LEPs bordering Buckinghamshire, with Enterprise M3 separated by just one authority.

With more than half of businesses formed in 2012 still trading in 2016, Buckinghamshire’s four year firm survival is 8.6 per cent above the national rate and the 3rd highest among LEPs, despite ranking only 9th among the 27 county council areas. Buckinghamshire’s survival rates are above the national and regional levels for all periods.

Table 2: Business survival to 2016 by year of formation

Source: Business Demography, ONS, 2017

Across the UK, the stock of businesses grew by 6.1 per cent, or 159,574 businesses, in 2016, with an extra 18,950 management consultancies making the largest contribution from a single sector, ahead of 18,685 new businesses engaged in office administration and business support, 11,340 in computer programming and consultancy, 11,130 in specialised construction activities, and 10,705 in the construction of buildings.

The sectors seeing the largest fall in business population were beverage service activities, including pubs and licensed clubs, for a second successive year (down 1,010), and activities auxiliary to insurance and pension funding (down 740), and retail of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (down 705).

The raw data are available here.