ABSTRACT
One of the major features of the 1980s was the remarkable rise in the rate of new business formations in the United Kingdom. The number of businesses registering for value added tax (VAT) rose from 158,000 in 1980 to 255,000 in 1989, falling back slightly in 1990 to 235,000, and the surplus of businesses registering (i.e. new businesses) over those deregistering (i.e. closures) increased from 16,000 to 66,000 over the same period (Table 7.3.1). VAT data give only a partial indicator of trends in business start-ups since at least half of the self-employed are not registered for VAT, usually because their annual turnover is below the registration threshold. However, trends in the self-employed population confirm the increase in new business activity in the UK, with the number of people who were self-employed in their main job increasing between June 1980 and June 1990 by 1.3 million to almost 3.3 million, an increase of 64 per cent (Skills and Enterprise Network, 1991). Most of this growth has comprised one-person businesses without employees: only one-third of the self-employed had employees. New Business Registrations and Deregistrations in the UK, 1980–90 <xref ref-type="fn" rid="tablfn_6"> <sup>[a]</sup> </xref>
|
year |
stock at start of year |
registrations |
deregistrations |
net change |
stock at end of year [b] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
(thousands) |
|||||
|
1980 |
1289 |
158 |
142 |
16 |
1305 |
|
1981 |
1305 |
152 |
120 |
32 |
1337 |
|
1982 |
1337 |
166 |
145 |
21 |
1357 |
|
1983 |
1357 |
180 |
145 |
35 |
1392 |
|
1984 |
1392 |
182 |
152 |
30 |
1422 |
|
1985 |
1422 |
182 |
163 |
19 |
1441 |
|
1986 |
1441 |
191 |
164 |
27 |
1468 |
|
1987 |
1468 |
209 |
167 |
42 |
1510 |
|
1988 |
1510 |
237 |
171 |
66 |
1576 |
|
1989 |
1576 |
255 |
172 |
83 |
1659 |
|
1990 |
1659 |
235 [c] |
185 |
50 |
1709 |
|
1980–90 |
1289 |
2147 |
2727 |
420 |
2709 |
the pattern of registrations and deregistrations may have been affected by disturbances in the regular processing of register amendments because of industrial action in 1979 and 1981;
row totals may not add up due to rounding;
includes an allowance of 15,000 for the effect of changes introduced in the 1990 Budget.
