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"The anti-business Budget is starting to bite" as companies register shrinks for first time since quarterly reporting began

ended 06. March 2025

The companies register shrank during the period October to December 2024 for the first time since quarterly reporting began in the period April to June 2012, data published today by Companies House has revealed. Meanwhile, between October and December 2024, there were 181,261 incorporations in the UK, a decrease of 33,185 (15.47%) compared with the same period in 2023. Also, there were 203,584 dissolutions in the UK between October and December 2024, an increase of 40,132 (24.55%) compared with the same period in 2023. Newspage asked business owners for their views, below.

11 responses from the Newspage community

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David Belle
Founder and Trader at Fink Money
Two words sum up this data: sheer disgust. You cannot dislike this set of politicians enough and what they are doing to the Uk economy and entrepreneurial mindset.
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Katy Eatenton
Mortgage & Protection Specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management
If the Government needed feedback from UK firms on its Autumn Budget, this is it. This is a damning indictment of the tax hikes piled onto UK firms and shows how anti-business the UK has become.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
The anti-business Budget is starting to bite. Many businesses will be downsizing or closing and there has never been less incentive to start a business. This is certainly not bringing the growth the Chancellor was hoping for. This data has a huge red flag all over it and shows how the government is decimating entrepreneurship.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Rachel Reeves effectively hung a giant "closed for new business" sign on the door of UK Plc in the last Budget, and this data only reinforces that reality. If existing business owners are questioning their viability due to rising costs, why would new entrepreneurs take the risk? We risk losing a whole generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, leaving the UK trailing further behind on the global stage.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
With small businesses being the heart of the UK economy, this is extremely worrying data from Companies House and just shows how punitive the October Budget was for businesses. The costs of running a business are sky high, with little personal benefit for those prepared to be entrepreneurs, and there is no cap on what Labour want to take. Why take the risk of running your own business with high taxation, National Insurance costs and servicing Bounceback Loans when a job stacking shelves in a supermarket is probably as profitable and significantly less stressful?
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Steve Humphrey
Founder / Adviser at The Mortgage Pod
We knew the August 2024 Budget was a difficult one to swallow, but now, seeing the latest Companies House data, we have to assume there's been a direct impact. In my view, incentives to start a new business have been significantly reduced, and this data suggests we’re entering a period where entrepreneurial confidence is at a low, existing businesses are under increasing strain, and economic conditions are becoming even less favourable for growth.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
It seems last year is the year entrepreneurialism started to die. People should aspire to be business owners, to create opportunities and jobs for people in their communities. They should be rewarded for taking the leap, but the latest Budget dealt business owners blow after blow and it’s become unattractive.
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Wes Wilkes
CEO at IronMarket Wealth
Unless the next headline is Repugnant, Repulsive Rachel from Accounts Resigns, the UK small business outlook is dire.
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Gabriel McKeown
Head of Macroeconomics at Sad Rabbit
The UK’s entrepreneurial engine is sputtering just when it needs to be roaring. With a significant economic slowdown on the horizon, this shift in the corporate landscape is not just a statistical anomaly, but a flashing red warning light for Britain’s business environment. Despite politicians claiming that the UK is a hub for entrepreneurship, the latest figures suggest that confidence in the system is waning where it truly matters, from business owners. If companies are closing faster than they are opening, the long-term implications for jobs, investment, and economic dynamism could be more severe than the labour government currently anticipate. Restoring confidence will require more than rhetoric, and without decisive policy action, the country could be sleepwalking into an era of economic stagnation.
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Pete Mugleston
Mortgage Advisor & Managing Director at Online Mortgage Advisor
The shrinking companies register is a glaring indictment of the UK’s challenging business environment, exacerbated by Rachel Reeves' mismanagement. High borrowing costs, excessive red tape, and a lack of meaningful support for SMEs have stifled entrepreneurship, forcing many businesses to close while discouraging new start-ups. The sharp rise in dissolutions and decline in incorporations isn’t just a post-pandemic correction – it's a direct result of policies that fail to foster growth. If the government doesn’t act decisively to reduce financial burdens and improve access to funding, we risk further economic stagnation and job losses, hitting both businesses and consumers alike.
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Debbie Porter
Managing Director at Destination Digital Marketing
When you start up a business, you take on 100% of the risk. Whether your new venture thrives or fails is down to hard work and effort to make the idea fly. Running a small business and keeping it profitable has SME owners working long hours, and often 7 days of the week, whilst on holiday and out-of-hours. It's hard work. The anti-business Budget has made taking these risks a lot less inviting. 99.8% of the UK's business population are small businesses. 99.2% of the UK's business population are micros - those with fewer than 10 employees. When margins are tight, every penny counts in running a microbusiness and the equilibrium can be thrown out easily. I predict that these figures are only set to get worse once small businesses see the real impact of the National Insurance hikes when they come in, in April.