Data / VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) / United Kingdom

VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) in United Kingdom

VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) in the United Kingdom was 2.79 million in 2026, according to the Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). That is up 1.9% from 2025.

2026, count2,786,985
Change on 2025+1.9%
Series high2,786,9852026
Series low2,080,8602011

Next release: Friday, 24 September 2027, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

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VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) in United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026

2M2.2M2.4M2.6M2.8M2010201320162019202220262010: 2,100,370 count2011: 2,080,860 count2012: 2,149,185 count2013: 2,167,580 count2014: 2,263,645 count2015: 2,449,415 count2016: 2,554,510 count2017: 2,668,810 count2018: 2,669,440 count2019: 2,718,435 count2020: 2,749,700 count2021: 2,765,150 count2022: 2,767,700 count2023: 2,726,830 count2024: 2,724,770 count2025: 2,734,615 count2026: 2,786,985 count2M2.2M2.4M2.6M2.8M2010201620262010: 2,100,370 count2011: 2,080,860 count2012: 2,149,185 count2013: 2,167,580 count2014: 2,263,645 count2015: 2,449,415 count2016: 2,554,510 count2017: 2,668,810 count2018: 2,669,440 count2019: 2,718,435 count2020: 2,749,700 count2021: 2,765,150 count2022: 2,767,700 count2023: 2,726,830 count2024: 2,724,770 count2025: 2,734,615 count2026: 2,786,985 count
count. Source: Office for National Statistics, UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1). Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-09-24.
All 17 values
Periodcount
20262,786,985
20252,734,615
20242,724,770
20232,726,830
20222,767,700
20212,765,150
20202,749,700
20192,718,435
20182,669,440
20172,668,810
20162,554,510
20152,449,415
20142,263,645
20132,167,580
20122,149,185
20112,080,860
20102,100,370

Definition

Enterprises registered for VAT and/or PAYE on the Inter-Departmental Business Register, as at March of the year.

More on how it is measured
  • An enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units with autonomy over its decisions, counted once in the area of its registered office or main site.
  • ONS UK Business Counts (Nomis dataset NM_142_1), all employment sizes and legal statuses.
  • All industries.

Counts are rounded to the nearest 5 by ONS, so small areas and industries carry rounding error and components do not add up exactly. Businesses below the VAT threshold with no employees are not included, so this is not the total business population (the business population estimates are larger), and it is not comparable with Eurostat enterprise counts for EU countries. The year is the March snapshot: 2026 means March 2026.

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How to cite

Office for National Statistics. UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). (2026). UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1) (VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts), United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest

MLA 9

UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1), VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts), United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026. Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom), 24 Sept. 2026, https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-businesses-uk/united-kingdom. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). 2026. UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1). VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts), United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-businesses-uk/united-kingdom.

Harvard

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom) (2026) UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1), VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts), United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/registered-businesses-uk/united-kingdom (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{office_vat_or_paye_registered_2026,
  author = {{Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)}},
  title = {{UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM\_142\_1): VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts), United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-businesses-uk/united-kingdom. Publisher attribution: Office for National Statistics. UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM\_142\_1). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM\_142\_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424\&industry=37748736\&employment\_sizeband=0\&legal\_status=0\&measures=20100\&time=2010,latest. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)
TI  - UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1): VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts), United Kingdom, 2010 to 2026
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/24
PB  - Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/registered-businesses-uk/united-kingdom
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-businesses-uk/united-kingdom.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Office for National Statistics. UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1.data.json?geography=2092957697,TYPE480,TYPE424&industry=37748736&employment_sizeband=0&legal_status=0&measures=20100&time=2010,latest. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

What is the VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) in United Kingdom?

VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) in the United Kingdom was 2.79 million in 2026, according to the Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). That is up 1.9% from 2025.

Where does this figure come from?

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). UK Business Counts, enterprises by industry and employment size band: all industries (ONS, Nomis NM_142_1). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest VAT or PAYE registered businesses (UK Business Counts) in United Kingdom?

2.79 million in 2026, the highest value since 2010 in this series.

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