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A Guide to Entrepreneurialism
Across the UK
Across the country, every year young entrepreneurs and businessmen and women decide to take a leap of faith and put their ideas into practice, and although unfortunately some will not last, many will go on to achieve great success in their various fields.
Using data from across the UK we have established which areas of the country are currently booming with new businesses, what chances startups have of succeeding, and which sectors have seen the biggest startup growth over the past half-decade.
The biggest city in the country also has the biggest percentage of self-employed workers, as 18% of all workers in Greater London are self-employed. Greater London has just under 3.8 million total workers, 864,000 of whom are self-employed.
In second place comes the Swansea Bay City Region which incorporates Swansea, Pembrokeshire and Port Talbot, with a total of 263,000 workers. 50,000 are self-employed which means 16.1% of the area’s workforce are self employed.
Staying in the South we come to the West of England (Bristol) where 14.9% of workers are self-employed. This city region which includes Bristol as its biggest city has 74,000 self-employed workers from a total of 422,000.
Ranked #1
3.8 million
864,000
18.60%
Ranked #2
263,000
50,000
16.10%
Ranked #3
422,000
74,000
14.90%
|
Rank |
City Region |
Total Employees |
Number of self |
Percentage of Self |
|---|
We have looked at the rate at which startups were founded in 2018 and 2019 to see which local authority area has had the biggest surge in new businesses.
The majority of areas saw a growth, the top ten was dominated by the South and the Midlands, with Oldham being the top ranked Northern area, coming in at eleventh. The top three are as follows:
|
Rank |
Local authority |
Region |
2018 New Business |
2019 New |
Difference |
|---|
Unfortunately, not every new startup goes on to great success and sadly many fail fairly quickly.
Of the 350,505businesses started in 2014, only 148,870 survived five years.
By looking at the survival rate of new businesses over a five year period, between 2014 and 2019 we have been able to identify the areas where startups are most likely to survive.
Ranked #1
135
75
55.56%
Ranking first in the list is Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland with 75 of the 135 startups surviving at least five years. The survival rate in Ballymena is 55.56%, significantly higher than the UK average of 43.92%.
Ranked #2
110
60
54.55%
West Somerset is officially the UK district with the highest average age of residents, at 52. This staying power is reflected in the survival of businesses, with 54.55% still going strong five years after their genesis.
Ranked #3
240
130
54.17%
Sticking in the South West for third place is the district of Torridge in Devon. In 2009 for his ‘Toy Stories’ TV show, presenter James May attempted to build a 10-mile model railway to Torridge’s biggest town of Bideford, and although that failed, 54.17% of startups in the area did not.
|
Rank |
Local authority |
Region |
New Startups |
Five Year Survival |
Five-Year |
|---|
Entrepreneurs launch startups in every sector imaginable, but some sectors are booming while others are in decline.
To discover which sectors are growing fastest in the UK, we have calculated the increase in startups in each sector over five years between 2014 and 2019.
Ranked #1
3,045
11,070
263.5%
By far the biggest sector to experience growth during the past half-decade is Postal and Courier services, with over 100% higher growth than any other sector. With the continued rise in online shopping and trading during this period it is unsurprising more courier services have sprung up.
Ranked #2
370
695
87.8%
The second-ranked sector is Veterinary Activities, with 695 startups in 2019, an 87.8% increase from 370 in 2014. In the UK it is estimated that 12 million households have pets, leading to demand for veterinary services. This is likely to continue to be a growth sector, with a spike in pet ownership during the COVID-19 lockdowns. , and with the demand for more pets during lockdown the sector is surely going to continue to grow.
Ranked #3
875
1600
82.9%
Because so many products are manufactured in the country every year, all of the smaller more specific sectors are grouped together under ‘other manufacturing’. During the five year period recorded, other manufacturing sectors achieved the third highest increase in startups, with an increase of 82.9%.
|
Rank |
Industry |
2014 |
2019 |
Increase / |
Difference |
|---|
Starting a business can be a daunting prospect with many more worries and considerations to take into consideration for prospective entrepreneurs. But why not give yourself and your business the best chance possible to succeed?
By combining data on a number of important factors we have been able to calculate an overall score out of ten for 50 of England’s biggest towns and cities outside of the capital. These factors are: The rise in the number of startups, the five year startup survival rate, and the number of Tide registered businesses as a percentage of the town's population.
Ranked #1
8.6/10
The most attractive town to launch a new business in is Bournemouth in Dorset. The primary reason for Bourenmouth’s high ranking is the 95.8% increase in startups between 2018 and 2019, this is by far the highest of any of the top 50 towns and cities. Bournemouth also has a 5 year survival rate of 45.65% which makes it the fifth best performing city by this regard. The city also ranks in the top 15 for registered business’ as a percentage of the population.
Ranked #2
7.7/10
The Hertfordshire town of Stevenage comes second in the rankings with an overall score of 7.7/10. Consistency is key to the towns high score as they feature in the top seven towns and cities for each ranking factor, the highest ranking aspect are the registered businesses, there are 520 in Stevenage which accounts for 0.59% of the population. On top of this there is a 45.54% five year survival rate for startups in the town, and there was a 26.7% rise in new businesses between 2018 and 2019.
Ranked #3
7.45/10
Another Southern town comes third in the rankings with Watford scoring 7.45/10. Just like Stevenage, the scores for Watford are very consistent as they rank in the top ten for every scoring factor. There was a 38.1% increase in startups between 2018 and 2019 which is the fifth highest of the top fifty cities, moreover there is a five year survival rate of 45.45% in the town. There are 482 registered businesses in the town which is equivalent to 0.5% of the population.
|
Rank |
Towns/Cities |
Increase |
Five Year |
Tide Registered |
Buisnesses Per |
Overall |
|---|
Which cities have seen the biggest surge in self-employment and startups in the last 12 months?
The number and percentage of self-employed people in each ‘city region’ according to Self-employment in city regions dataset (CR by employment tab)
The number of new business births by local authority according to the Business demography, UK dataset (tab 1.1c) compared to the previous year.
How startup survival has changed in the UK over time
The one-year survival rate of newly born enterprises nationally over the last five years, according to the Business demography, UK dataset (tabs 5.1a to 5.1e).
The sectors enjoying the fastest growth in entrepreneurial activity
The number of births of new enterprises in each sector and those with the greatest increase between 2014 and 2019 according to the Business demography, UK dataset (tab 1.2).
The most attractive cities to launch a post-pandemic business in
We compared each local authority on the following factors, giving each one a normalised score out of ten for each factor before taking an average across each factor to create an overall score to rank the best ones.
Twelve-month increase in new businesses according to the Business demography, UK dataset (tab 1.2).
Five-year survival rate according to the Business demography, UK dataset (tabs 5.1a to 5.1e).
Median salary according to the Office for National Statistics’ ASHE Table 8: earnings and hours worked, place of residence by local authority.
The rate of 16-64-year-olds in employment, according to the Office for National Statistics’ regional labour market: Local indicators for counties, local and unitary authorities.
Educational attainment (Education statistics by LA district and pupil disadvantage)
Tide Registered Businesses (Tide internal data)
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