How many companies is the UK forming?
The live tracker of UK company incorporations, built directly from the Companies House register and refreshed with every monthly snapshot. Every figure on this page is free to cite with a link, the underlying data is downloadable below, and the method is stated in full, including what a live-register count can and cannot say.
Cite: 68,618 UK companies were incorporated in July 2026, and 776,540 over the last 12 months. Leadistry Company Formations Tracker, register snapshot 2026-08-01. #
A year on the public record, narrated
The tracker’s headline year in eighty-three seconds: the forty-second rhythm, the London asterisk, and the industry mix. Every figure spoken is on this page, with its citation anchor. There is a full write-up and transcript.
Incorporations per month, last 24 months
Hover any point for the exact figure. The month-to-month shape is real: formations dip every December and surge each spring, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier, not with the month before.
Cite: Monthly UK incorporation counts, Aug 24 to Jul 26. Leadistry Company Formations Tracker, snapshot 2026-08-01. #
Formations by region, last 12 months
Regions are assigned from the registered office postcode area, so London's figure includes the many companies registered at London formation-agent addresses while trading elsewhere. That inflation is real and disclosed, not smoothed away: the registered office is what the public record actually says.
Cite: UK company formations by region over the last 12 months, from registered-office postcodes. Leadistry Company Formations Tracker, snapshot 2026-08-01. #
Formations by industry section, last 12 months
Sections are the top tier of the SIC 2007 system; each new company files at least one code at incorporation. The twelve largest sections are shown; 11,003 new companies filed no usable code. For any single industry, every code has its own page in the SIC code library with live company counts.
Cite: UK company formations by SIC 2007 section, last 12 months, first-position codes. Leadistry Company Formations Tracker, snapshot 2026-08-01. #
Where new companies register, town by town
The fifteen post towns with the most incorporations in the last 12 months. City-level company data, including established companies, lives on the companies by city pages.
| Post town | Incorporations, last 12 months |
|---|---|
| London | 201,808 |
| Manchester | 20,528 |
| Birmingham | 16,878 |
| Glasgow | 11,147 |
| Liverpool | 7,899 |
| Leeds | 7,502 |
| Leicester | 6,981 |
| Bristol | 6,793 |
| Nottingham | 6,425 |
| Edinburgh | 5,983 |
| Ilford | 5,316 |
| Sheffield | 5,097 |
| Coventry | 4,800 |
| Bradford | 4,688 |
| Cardiff | 4,665 |
Cite: Top UK post towns by company incorporations, last 12 months. Leadistry Company Formations Tracker, snapshot 2026-08-01. #
Downloads, embeds and citation
Download the CSVs
The exact data behind every chart, refreshed with the tracker. Open Government Licence v3.0; free for any use including commercial, with attribution.
Embed the live counter
A small live counter of active UK companies, free to embed. Copy both lines: the iframe and the visible credit link beneath it.
<iframe src="https://leadistry.co.uk/embed/register-counter" width="320" height="120" style="border:0" title="Live UK company register counter"></iframe>
<a href="https://leadistry.co.uk/reports/uk-company-formations">UK company formation statistics, by Leadistry</a>Citation policy
Every figure is free to quote with a link to this page. Journalists and researchers: we run the full register and can cut these numbers by any sector, place or period on request, free, usually same-day. Details on the press page.
How these numbers are made
Source. Companies House Basic Company Data monthly snapshot (2026-08-01), Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts are companies still on the live register, so older months slightly undercount (companies incorporated then and since dissolved are absent); recent months are effectively exact. The snapshot is published free by Companies House under the Open Government Licence; our data sources page covers the wider provenance.
The survivorship caveat, stated plainly. The snapshot lists companies alive on the public record today. A company incorporated 20 months ago and since dissolved is not in it, so older months slightly undercount their true formation totals. Recent months are effectively exact, and the trend shape is unaffected. National statistics that count filings at the time they happen, like ONS business demography, will therefore read slightly higher for older periods; both are correct about different questions.
Regions. Postcode area of the registered office, mapped to the region holding the area's centre; Greater-London-boundary areas are filed under London. Industries. First-position SIC code joined to its SIC 2007 section. Windows. monthly = last 24 full months to 2026-07; splits = last 12 full months.
Questions this page gets asked
How many companies are formed in the UK each month?
68,618 in July 2026, the most recent complete month, and 776,540 over the last 12 months. The monthly chart above carries the full 24-month series.
How many companies are there in the UK in total?
5,190,464 active companies as of the 2026-08-01 snapshot. Our small business count guide explains how that register figure relates to the ONS business population, which also counts unregistered sole traders.
Which industries are growing fastest?
By raw formation volume, the section chart above answers directly. For churn rather than volume, our guides to openings and closures and survival rates by industry carry the fuller picture.
Can I get this data for one sector or town?
Yes. The SIC library holds per-industry counts, the city pages hold per-place counts, and for anything bespoke the press page explains the free data-request route. To work the public record as a prospecting source rather than a statistic, start with finding newly incorporated companies.
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