The Small Business Survey (SBS) is a large scale telephone survey commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) as a follow up to the Annual Survey of Small Businesses 2007/8. The main aims of the first SBS survey in 2010 were to:

• monitor key enterprise indicators (e.g. employment, turnover, finance, business growth) and how these have changed in comparison to previous surveys. In particular the survey measures characteristics of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) such as the proportions which are women and minority-ethnic led, and the proportions applying for and obtaining external finance


• gauge SME intentions, needs, concerns and the obstacles to fulfilling their potential
• provide evidence for possible Government interventions to assist SMEs
• create a database which can be used for follow-up studies among the general SME population, or sub-groups within it

The main aims of the next survey in 2012 were to:

• monitor key enterprise indicators and how these have changed in comparison to previous surveys, the 2010 SBS in particular
• create a database that can be used for follow-up studies among the general SME population, and sub-groups within it.

From 2015, the survey methodology has changed to include a longitudinal tracking element. The Longitudinal Small Business Survey: Secure Access is available under SN 8261.

Linking to other business studies
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

The second edition (August 2014) includes data from 2012.

The Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) is a large-scale telephone survey of small business owners and managers commissioned by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). This survey is the latest in a series of annual and biennial Small Business Surveys (SBS) dating back to 2003.

In 2015, the survey methodology changed to include a longitudinal tracking element. A large sample size was recruited in Year One (2015) to establish a panel of businesses to be re-surveyed in subsequent years. This will allow a detailed analysis of how combinations of factors affect business performance.

The LSBS is intended to:

• Improve the understanding of what drives and constrains business performance and growth by addressing evidence gaps relating to the lags between many business activities and associated performance outcomes;
• Provide improved data on current business performance and the factors that affect this. The larger survey size will provide more reliable findings for key sub-groups of the business population and in relation to activities such as seeking finance, which are only relevant to part of the sample.

The data available covers all respondents over the course of the six years so far. Further information and research reports are available on the GOV.UK "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/small-business-survey-reports"> Small Business Survey Reports webpage.

Controlled (Secure) Access Version
A Controlled (Secure) Access version of the LSBS is available from the UK Data Archive, subject to stringent secure access conditions. Extra variables include postcode district, 2-, 3-, and 4-digit SIC codes; and Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers for linking to other business surveys. Small Business Survey data files for 2010 and 2012 containing 4-digit SIC codes and IDBR reference numbers are available under SN 6856. Users are strongly advised to check whether the safeguarded version is sufficient for their needs before considering an application for the Controlled (Secure) Access version.

Latest edition information
For the ninth edition (December 2024), the data and documentation have been updated to include Year 9 of the survey, completed during 2023-2024.

Underlying data from the publication 'Research to understand the barriers to take up and use of business support' [URN 11/1288]. Data from a survey of 1,202 employer SMEs in England undertaken in March 2011. The survey was designed to provide statistically robust evidence of business use and non use of external business support services, differentiating between private sector and public sector sources of both routine information and strategic advice. The survey aimed to produce a broadly representative sample of SME employers and used a random stratified sample from the Experian database adopting quotas in order to capture sufficient numbers of businesses across key categories (age, size, sector, region). The data presented in the published report was weighted by size band to correct for over-sampling amongst larger SMEs.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.In January 2004, a consortium of public and private sector organisations commissioned Warwick Business School to carry out the United Kingdom Survey of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises' (SME) Finances, 2004. This was the first representative survey of SMEs to offer a close analysis of businesses with fewer than 250 employees, their main owners and their access to external finance. A second survey was conducted in 2008, where business owners were interviewed by telephone about the finances they have used or applied for in the last three years, their financial relationships, the characteristics of the business and personal details. In 2007, another consortium of UK public sector bodies, small business representative organisations and finance providers agreed to sponsor a similar survey to the 2004 survey, conducted by the Centre for Business Research based at the University of Cambridge. This study is held at the UKDA under SN 6049, with the title United Kingdom Survey of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises' Finances, 2007. It aimed to compile another benchmark and to identify any changes or trends that had emerged since 2004, but made a number of changes to the 2004 questionnaire, so that it is not a direct member of the UKSMEF series, but stands alongside it as a separate cross-sectional survey. The UKSMEF 2008 survey was conducted by the same Principal Investigator as the 2004 survey, based at Warwick Business School, and the 2008 report provides direct comparison between the 2004 and 2008 surveys. The aims of the 2009 survey were to:provide benchmarking data on the availability of credit to SMEs and the types of finance usedcollect information on the relationship between SMEs and their providers of financedevelop a general purpose micro database for quantitative research on business finance (offering, for example, scope for comparisons with the US Survey of Small Business Finances) The 2009 sample consisted of 1,250 follow up interviews with businesses interviewed for the 2008 survey. Telephone interviews were conducted by IFF Research Ltd during autumn 2009. These interviews focused on the cost and availability of overdrafts and term loans to businesses in the previous year due to policy makers concerns about the affect of the Credit Crisis on bank lending to SMEs. The data can be used for panel data analysis, in conjunction with UKSMEFs 2004 and 2008, or for standalone cross-sectional analysis. A set of population weights is included in the dataset so that this analysis can be weighted to the UK SME population. These weights were calculated using statistics provided by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills Enterprise Directorate - see Business population estimates, formerly 'SME Statistics'. Further information may be found on the ESRC UK Survey of SME Finances 2009 Follow On Study award webpage.

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.

In 2024, approximately 29 percent of SMEs in the UK reported that they had achieved growth in the previous 12 months, with SMEs in the retail sector, and hotels and restaurant sector the most likely to report annual growth, at 32 percent of SMEs.

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 a survey conducted between October 2023 and April 2024, small and medium enterprise (SME) employers in the United Kingdom (UK) were asked what amount of external finance they obtained in the past 12 months. The largest share of SMEs (** percent) stated that they did not obtained any external finance or obtained finance. Only less than *** percent of SMEs in the UK stated that they secured financing amounting to more than ten million British pounds in 2023.

In a survey conducted between October 2023 and April 2024, small and medium enterprise (SME) employers in the United Kingdom (UK) were asked if they had tried to obtain external finance for their businesses in the past 12 months. A total of ** percent of SME businesses claimed they did not try to obtain external financing in the 12 months preceding the survey. A further **** percent of SMEs stated that they had attempted to access external finance once in the last year.

Ofcom undertakes research on the availability and experience of communications services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, defined as businesses with fewer than 250 employees. A survey of 1501 SMEs (0-249 employees) was undertaken using CATI (computer aided telephone interviewing). The survey data were weighted to be representative of the SME universe on size. Fieldwork took place between 9 May and 18 July 2016.

In the UK, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) now provide more employment and business turnover than large firms and public organisations together. Statistically, firms with under 250 employees in 1998 employed 57% of the workforce and accounted for 54% of turnover. This fits in with government policies to promote small businesses and self-employment more generally. Small size, however, creates problems as well as opportunities. Whereas large firms may operate with special departments to look after innovation, marketing and training needs, for example, small firms lack these resources. This can be a barrier to expansion.
However, by collaborating with other SMEs on certain business functions such as joint marketing to get into or extend export markets, or by sharing non-confidential knowledge to enhance innovation capacity, they can together overcome barriers caused by small size in a relatively costless manner.
The survey and interviews for this project sought to identify firms that engage in formal and informal partnerships based on mutual trust, exchanging favours, and judging reliability, credibility and reputation to be a safeguard against opportunistic behaviour.
The key question asked in this research was whether firms that make use of these kinds of 'social capital' display superior or inferior business performance compared to those that do not, holding everything else as far as possible constant. By exploring different types of social capital, some based on cultural identity, ethnicity or religion, some arising from membership of a specific, perhaps geographically defined economic community or particular industry, the research aimed to show the extent to which social capital may influence economic performance and draw policy lessons accordingly.
In order to investigate relationships between SME performance and social capital, operational measures of these two variables were developed and employed. The former were measured by turnover, profitability, employment and innovation performance, the latter by engagement in networks of a business, professional, social, cultural or political nature that had a bearing upon business performance. These were measured using Likert-based scaling measures. An index of area performance was drawn up for the UK to construct a sampling frame for a postal questionnaire survey capable of discriminating by spatial and economic categories of interest.

During a 2019/2020 survey carried out among owners of small and medium-sized enterprises from the United Kingdom, ** percent of respondents stated social media helped raise brand awareness of their business. The same survey found that ** percent of UK SMEs used social media for marketing purposes.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The research programme had five objectives: to draw upon and develop recent theoretical contributions to the study of industrial organisation, firm behaviour and organisational change in a way which enabled them to be applied to the study of small firm creation, growth and development; to employ this framework to analyse empirically the determinants and constraints upon small business birth, growth and survival in a range of industries including hi-tech sectors, knitwear, printing and publishing; to employ the theoretical framework to analyse empirically the role of interfirm relationships and industrial districts in small firm creation, growth and development; to provide a detailed empirical analysis of the role of acquisition activity in the growth of small firms; to use the results of the theoretical and empirical research programme to evaluate policy proposals at a local, national and European level on a range of issues affecting the creation and growth of small firms. The methodology included econometric and case study analysis. Individual projects were conducted against a background analysis derived from a national postal survey of 2000 businesses and official statistics on the small business sector. The aim of the study was to create a longitudinal panel of small to medium enterprise (SME) data relating to a wide range of non-financial and attitudinal characteristics, and also including a limited number of financial variables not normally available in modified company accounts, from the national postal survey mentioned above. The initial survey was conducted in 1991 (covering 1987-1990). A first recall survey of the same population took place in 1993, and a second in 1995. The initial deposit of this study included only the results of the first survey. For the second edition of February 2002, the data and documentation were updated to include the 1993 and 1995 recall surveys. Main Topics: This dataset consists of two data files, sbe.por and cbr321.por. The first file, sbe.por, contains the responses to a 1991 survey of over 2000 independent small and medium-sized businesses in the manufacturing and business services sectors in England, Scotland and Wales. The questionnaire covered the years 1987-1990, and included topics on the role of independent small businesses, where respondents were asked their views on the roles of such businesses in economic activity and the challenges involved in running them; general characteristics of the business, where the questions were related to the history, ownership and character of the business as well as questions about the chief executive/partner/sole proprietor; commercial activity and competitive situation where the respondent was asked about the key characteristics of the business in terms of its suppliers, customers and competitive situation. Other sections covered: workforce and training (employment figures, recruiting difficulties and whether training was provided); factors affecting expansion and efficiency (designed to help with the understanding of principal factors which affect the rate of development of the business and the use of and access to business advice); technology and innovation (questions on the role of technological change and innovation in the development of the business); acquisition activity (intended to explore the role of acquisition and takeovers in the development of the business; and finance (designed to obtain some basic financial information about the profitability and sources of finance available to the business and the cost of borrowings. The second file, cbr321.por, contains data from 893 firms from the 1991 survey, along with their responses to two recall surveys conducted in 1993 and 1995. To be included in this data file, firms had to respond to the surveys in both 1991 and 1995. The two files should not be used together as one partially duplicates the other. The first recall survey (1993) consisted of a very brief questionnaire, which focused on finance characteristics but also included a few brief questions on general business characteristics and total employment. The second recall survey (1995) had a particular emphasis on innovation and innovation-related expenditure, but also included questions on the same topics as the first survey. A brief faxed questionnaire was sent to those firms unable to complete the full 1995 questionnaire, which included innovation and finance questions.

This dataset provides comprehensive insights into business exit trends among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom for the year 2025. It encompasses data from a survey of 29,965 SME owners, highlighting key factors influencing business exits, preferred exit strategies, and the economic impact of these exits.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The main objective of the research project was to create a longitudinal panel database of SME data relating to a wide range of non-financial and attitudinal characteristics, and a limited number of financial variables not normally available in modified company accounts, from a national postal survey. This database forms the beginning of the second panel - the first panel was started in 1991. A postal survey was sent to over 10,000 independent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing and business services sectors in England, Scotland and Wales. Just over half (5,430) the firms were telephoned prior to being sent the questionnaire, and 4,640 firms were sent the questionnaire blind. One other study concerned with SMEs by the same Principal Investigator(s) is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 4156. Main Topics:

In a study published in 2023, roughly ** percent of decision-makers at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK were willing to pay more for a parcel service provider that follows eco-friendly practices, even though delivery would take longer. However, around ** percent of respondents employed at an SME disagreed with the statement, and another ** percent strongly disagreed.

Exporters and importers of goods and services in Great Britain by employment size and turnover size.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The Small Business Survey, 2014 (SBS 2014) is a large-scale representative telephone survey of business owners and managers in the UK commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Scottish Government and Invest NI. Interviews were undertaken between July and October 2014 by BMG Research Ltd. The survey interviewed 5,115 businesses, each employing fewer than 250 people, across the UK. Some of these were enterprises without any employees, i.e. operated by a single individual or by partners who did not employ anyone else in the business. Further information is available on the Government Small Business Survey reports webpage. Secure Access SBS data SBS data files containing 4 digit SIC codes and Inter-Departmental Business Register reference numbers for linking to other business surveys are available via the UK Data Service Secure Access system. These data are subject to further access restrictions. More information is available under SN 6856.