Out of 16,677,531 companies ever registered in the UK, only 5,241,727 remain active. That means nearly two in three no longer exist — dissolved, liquidated, or struck off. Before you add to that number, your choice of legal structure matters more than most founders realise.
BORSCH.AI’s database, aggregating signals across 53 UK government sources, gives a uniquely detailed view of how British businesses are structured, where they cluster, and — critically — which sectors show the highest rates of survival. Here’s what the data tells us about choosing between a Private Limited Company (Ltd), a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), and a Public Limited Company (PLC).
The UK Company Landscape: What 16.7 Million Records Reveal
The raw numbers are sobering.
| Status | Count |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 10,742,846 |
| Active | 5,241,727 |
| Active – Proposal to Strike Off | 545,082 |
| Liquidation | 119,427 |
| Converted/Closed | 18,602 |
| In Administration | 3,546 |
| Voluntary Arrangement | 543 |
The 545,082 companies currently tagged “Active – Proposal to Strike Off” deserve particular attention. These are businesses that Companies House has flagged for removal, typically for failing to file confirmation statements or accounts. They are technically still alive, but on death row. For due diligence analysts and investors, this status is a critical red flag that basic company search tools often miss.
What the aggregate data doesn’t tell you — but BORSCH.AI’s enriched profiles do — is which structure these companies are built on. That’s where the choice of Ltd, LLP, or PLC becomes a survival question, not just an administrative one.
Private Limited Companies (Ltd): The Default — For Good Reason
The Ltd is the workhorse of the UK economy. The vast majority of active companies in BORSCH.AI’s 5.24 million active records are private limited companies. It’s the default choice for a reason: limited liability (your personal assets are protected from business debts), relative simplicity of setup, and flexibility in how profits are distributed.
Who it’s for: Startups, SMEs, sole-trader upgrades, property investors, consultants.
The top SIC codes in our dataset reveal exactly which sectors have gone heaviest on the Ltd structure:
| SIC Code | Sector | Active Companies |
|---|---|---|
| 68209 | Other letting/operating of own or leased real estate | 280,347 |
| 68100 | Buying and selling of own real estate | 255,981 |
| 70229 | Management consultancy (non-financial) | 229,353 |
| 82990 | Other business support services | 195,677 |
| 47910 | Retail via mail order/internet | 176,834 |
| 62020 | IT consultancy | 138,645 |
Real estate dominates — two SIC codes alone account for over 536,000 companies. Property investors almost universally choose the Ltd wrapper for tax efficiency and liability protection. Management and IT consultants follow the same logic: a one-person Ltd is cleaner than operating as a sole trader the moment revenues grow beyond a modest threshold.
Key limitations: Directors have public filing obligations (accounts, confirmation statements — the failure of which explains much of that 545,082 strike-off queue). Profit extraction is less flexible than an LLP for firms with fluctuating revenues.
Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs): The Professional’s Choice
An LLP combines the liability protection of a limited company with the tax transparency of a partnership. Members are taxed directly on their share of profits (no corporation tax at the entity level), and there’s no requirement to have directors or shareholders in the traditional sense.
Who it’s for: Law firms, accountancy practices, architects, surveyors, financial advisers, and any professional services business where partners want both protection and tax pass-through.
LLPs are structurally underrepresented in raw company counts compared to Ltds, but they punch above their weight commercially. Many of the UK’s largest professional services brands — from Magic Circle law firms to Big Four accountancy networks — operate through LLP structures.
The management consultancy sector (229,353 companies in our dataset) spans both Ltds and LLPs. Smaller consultants typically go Ltd; established partnerships with multiple senior professionals often opt for LLP to reflect the economics of a true partnership model.
Key limitations: All members must be named at Companies House (reducing privacy vs a corporate director structure). Accounts must still be filed publicly. And LLPs cannot issue shares, which rules them out if equity investment is on the roadmap.
Public Limited Companies (PLCs): Rare, Regulated, and Consequential
PLCs represent a tiny fraction of the total registered company base, but they account for a disproportionate share of economic activity, employment, and — for compliance teams — regulatory risk. The requirement to have at least £50,000 of nominal share capital, two directors, a company secretary, and audited accounts immediately filters out all but serious, scaled businesses.
Who it’s for: Companies seeking a stock market listing (Main Market or AIM), businesses wanting to raise capital publicly, or large organisations needing the credibility of PLC status even without a listing.
Of the 5,241,727 active companies in BORSCH.AI’s database, only a small subset carry PLC designation. Yet from a due diligence perspective, PLCs generate a far higher data footprint — prospectuses, regulatory news services (RNS) announcements, FCA filings, and full audited accounts that go well beyond the abbreviated accounts many small Ltds file.
Key limitations: Cost and complexity. Ongoing regulatory obligations — particularly for listed PLCs under FCA, UKLA, and market abuse rules — demand significant compliance infrastructure. For most businesses, this is architecture for a later stage, not day one.
What the Geography of Business Tells Us
London dominates the active company landscape in our data, and the gap is vast:
| City | Active Companies |
|---|---|
| London | 1,155,104 |
| Manchester | 115,596 |
| Birmingham | 104,868 |
| Glasgow | 78,225 |
| Cardiff | 67,562 |
| Edinburgh | 61,144 |
| Bristol | 60,573 |
| Leeds | 56,786 |
London’s 1.15 million active companies represent roughly 22% of the entire active UK company base — nearly ten times Manchester’s count. For compliance officers and investors, this concentration matters: London-registered companies, particularly in financial services and tech, are statistically more likely to have debt obligations (802,299 companies in our full dataset carry mortgages or charges) and more complex group structures.
The regional data also hints at structure choices. Glasgow and Edinburgh’s combined 139,369 active companies include a significant proportion of Scottish partnerships and LLPs, reflecting Scotland’s distinct legal tradition and the dominance of professional services in those cities.
The Due Diligence Angle: What Structure Signals
For compliance officers and investors, company structure is a signal — not just an administrative fact.
- Ltds with no website, email, or phone (BORSCH.AI finds that only 387,664 of 5.28 million enriched companies have a website, and just 50,913 have a verified email) should prompt questions about operational reality. A shell structure? A dormant holding company? Legitimate SPVs are common in real estate, but so is abuse.
- LLPs with frequent member changes can indicate instability or, in certain sectors, structured avoidance schemes. BORSCH.AI tracks member appointment and resignation history across the full company lifecycle.
- PLCs in administration (3,546 companies currently in our database) often have complex creditor hierarchies and charge registers that require specialist analysis — exactly the kind of cross-referenced data that manual Companies House searches struggle to produce at scale.
Choosing Your Structure: A Practical Summary
| Factor | Ltd | LLP | PLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liability protection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Tax at entity level | Corporation tax | No (pass-through) | Corporation tax |
| Can issue shares | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Public filing requirement | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes (more extensive) |
| Minimum capital | None | None | £50,000 |
| Best for | Most SMEs, property, startups | Professional partnerships | Listed/large businesses |
| Complexity | Low–Medium | Medium | High |
The data is clear: the Ltd dominates UK company formation because it balances protection, flexibility, and administrative simplicity at a scale nothing else matches. But for professional services partnerships, the LLP’s tax transparency and structural fit often outweigh the marginal extra complexity. And PLCs, while rare, are non-negotiable for any business seeking public capital markets access.
The 10.7 million dissolved companies in BORSCH.AI’s database are a reminder that structure alone doesn’t guarantee survival. But choosing the wrong wrapper — an LLP that can’t raise equity when you need it, or a PLC that drowns a small team in compliance — can create friction that compounds over time.
Explore the full distribution of UK company structures, sector concentrations, and compliance flags across 5.9 million companies at borsch.ai — the only platform combining 53 government data sources into a single, searchable intelligence layer.
Disclaimers
Disclaimer: This article was generated with AI assistance using data from Borsch.AI’s aggregation of 53 UK government sources. While all statistics are derived from real data, analysis and interpretation are AI-generated and should be independently verified.
Disclaimer: Data presented reflects information available at the time of publication and may not reflect the most current state. Source data is aggregated from public government registers which may contain delays, errors, or omissions.
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