In 2025, there were approximately **** million small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the United Kingdom. Micro-sized enterprises that employ up to nine people constitute the majority of SMEs in the UK, at over *** million. Enterprises that have between 10 and 49 employees are classed as small enterprises, and numbered around ******* in the UK, while there were ****** medium-sized enterprises. Business landscape dominated by SMEs As of this year, the vast majority of business enterprises in the UK were SMEs, accounting for almost ** percent of private sector employment, and just over half of its collective turnover. Over ******* SMEs were based in the construction sector, with a further ******* in the professional, scientific, and technical activities sector. SMEs in wholesale and retail trade employed more people than both these sectors, however, at around **** million people. In terms of turnover Outlook for SMEs in 2025 Towards the end of 2024, ** percent of SMEs surveyed advised that increasing costs would be the main obstacle to running an SME in 2025, with a further ** percent indicating that the current economic climate would also be an obstacle. Higher than expected inflation, as well as tax increases for businesses, are just some of the challenges businesses are facing this year. Perhaps as a result, businesses have been shedding jobs for several months, with an increasing share of SMEs looking to either maintain current staffing levels, or to start cutting jobs.

In 2024, there were approximately 870,040 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction sector in the United Kingdom, the most of any sector in that year. The sector with the second-highest number of SMEs was the Professional, Scientific and Technical activities sector, at 754,520 SMEs.

In 2024, there were approximately ******* small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in London, making it the region with the highest number of SMEs in the United Kingdom. By contrast, in the same year, there were just ******* SMEs in Northern Ireland, the fewest of any UK region.

In 2024, SME's in the UK collectively employed ***** million people. In this year, micro-sized enterprises that had an employee headcount of nine or fewer employed around **** million people in the United Kingdom, with small businesses employing around **** million people, and medium-sized ones **** million.

There almost *** million small and medium-sized enterprises located in London in 2019, the most of any region of the United Kingdom, followed by South East England having *** thousand, and East England at *** thousand. Northern Ireland had the fewest SMEs at *** thousand in 2019.

Numbers of enterprises and local units produced from a snapshot of the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) taken on 14 March 2025.

In 2024, there were approximately 5.49 million small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the United Kingdom. Micro-sized enterprises that employ up to nine people constitute the majority of SMEs in the UK, at over 5.23 million. Enterprises that have between 10 and 49 employees are classed as small enterprises, and numbered around 219,900 in the UK, while there were 37,750 medium-sized enterprises. Business landscape dominated by SMEs As of this year, the vast majority of business enterprises in the UK were SMEs, accounting for almost 60 percent of private sector employment, and just over half of its collective turnover. Over 870,000 SMEs were based in the construction sector, with a further 754,500 in the professional, scientific, and technical activities sector. SMEs in wholesale and retail trade employed more people than both these sectors, however, at around 2.33 million people. In terms of turnover Outlook for SMEs in 2025 Towards the end of 2024, 40 percent of SMEs surveyed advised that increasing costs would be the main obstacle to running an SME in 2025, with a further 35 percent indicating that the current economic climate would also be an obstacle. Higher than expected inflation, as well as tax increases for businesses, are just some of the challenges businesses are facing this year. Perhaps as a result, businesses have been shedding jobs for several months, with an increasing share of SMEs looking to either maintain current staffing levels, or to start cutting jobs.

Success.ai’s UK SME Database gives your business a powerful edge in reaching verified small and medium-sized companies across the United Kingdom. Whether you’re selling business services, SaaS, finance tools, or logistics solutions—this dataset offers direct access to growth-stage companies that are ready to buy.

With rich company data and verified contact info for founders, directors, and operational managers, you’ll have everything needed to identify, engage, and convert high-potential UK SMEs.

Included Data Points:
- Company name and domain
- Business category and industry
- Company size (employee range)
- Location (city, postcode, region)
- Contact name, job title, email, LinkedIn

Why Success.ai?
- Covers 2.5M+ UK small and mid-sized businesses
- Verified data for owners, directors, and decision-makers
- Great for outreach in services, SaaS, HR, and legal sectors
- Curated for accuracy and delivered your way
- Best Price Guarantee – always competitive, always complete

Use Cases:
- B2B sales outreach to UK growth companies
- Local ABM for regional campaigns
- Market expansion for service providers
- SME-focused research and segmentation
- Email marketing and CRM enrichment

Presents the number of enterprises (businesses) in the UK along with the turnover and employment in these enterprises. Source agency: Business, Innovation and Skills Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: SME Statistics

This sample dataset includes information for five different SMEs across various locations. The data includes the SME's capital, turnover, pre-tax profit, tax, and number of employees for both 2018 and 2019.

Please note that the data provided is completely random and is for illustrative purposes only. In practice, the data for a particular SME would need to be based on actual financial and business metrics.

Presents analysis of nearly one thousand small areas within London showing the number of employees working for businesses with fewer than 250 employees in the UK (small- and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs) and for businesses with 250 or more employees in the UK (large enterprises). The release includes numbers of SMEs and large firms in these small areas of London. The figures are calculated using data from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) for the period 2001 to 2012. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: London Analysis

in 2021, 6.1% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with employees and 4.9% of SMEs without employees were 'majority led' by people from an ethnic minority

This statistic shows the number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the food and drink manufacturing sector in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2022, by product type. In that year, there were *** SMEs manufacturing dairy products, and ** SMEs manufacturing oils and fats.

Data on SME performance and the factors that affect this. Based on a series of surveys among small and medium-sized (SME) employer enterprises across the UK. The survey assesses how well or badly small businesses are performing, their needs, concerns and barriers to growth.

This data describes small and medium enterprise (SME) relationships with large businesses and how these affect SME growth. Provides evidence for a report on the factors that affect growth in medium sized businesses; and how relationships and interactions between SMEs and large businesses affect SME growth.

As of the second quarter of 2025, there were around 327,000 job vacancies at UK SMEs, with 104,000 at micro-sized businesses, 114,000 at small enterprises, and 109,000 at medium-sized ones.