New firm formation, 2017

By Buckinghamshire Business First
3 December, 2018

Buckinghamshire’s new firm formation rate of 82.6 businesses for every 10,000 residents is the 5th highest of all 27 county council areas, ranking 9th among the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

The number of new businesses fell by 10.3 per cent over the previous year to stand at 3,520. Business deaths rose by 12.8 per cent to 3,490. Business births were just 0.9 per cent higher than deaths in 2017, having been 41.8 per cent higher in 2014.
Buckinghamshire’s new firm formation rate is now 14.7 per cent above the national rate, having been 32.0 per cent higher in 2014 and 49.8 per cent higher in 2010.

Table 1: Business births and deaths in 2017

Source: Business Demography, ONS, 2018

South Bucks saw 620 new businesses form in 2017, 110.2 for every 10,000 residents aged 16 and over, to record the 30th highest rate among the 380 local authority districts in Great Britain, and the 15th highest outside London. Chiltern and Wycombe also have new firm formation rates above the national level, however at 67.8 new businesses for every 10,000 residents, Aylesbury Vale is below the national rate for a second year, ranking 122nd.
Buckinghamshire’s 12.8 per cent rise in business deaths was below the national rate and only 27th highest among LEPs. All Buckinghamshire districts saw the number of business deaths rise by less than the national rate, with Chiltern and Aylesbury Vale also growing by less than the regional rate. 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 Buckinghamshire and its neighbours accounting for five of the ten highest ranked LEPs.
Buckinghamshire’s survival rates are above the national and regional levels for businesses formed in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Despite this, the county does not rank in the top ten highest survival rates for either county council areas or LEPs in any of those years. With 91.1 per cent of businesses formed in 2016 still trading in 2017, Buckinghamshire failed to match the national or regional survival rates and recorded the 3rd lowest one year survival rate among county councils, ranking 6th lowest among LEPs.

Table 2: Business survival to 2017 by year of formation

Source: Business Demography, ONS, 2018

Across the UK, business births outnumber business deaths by 23,155. The sector making the largest contribution was retail with 12,555 more births than deaths, ahead of building completion and finishing (4,740), warehousing (3,445), computer programming and consultancy activities (3,270), restaurants (3,055), and the construction of new buildings (3,020). More management consultancies were formed than any other business type, with 26,915 formed, however the sector also saw 27,260 deaths.
The sectors seeing the largest fall in business population were other business support service activities (down 7,320), followed by other education businesses (3,755), other professional, scientific and technical activities (3,230), and other social work activities (3,120).

The raw data are available here >