Record number of companies dissolved
The number of company dissolutions increased by a third in 2021-22, representing the highest number of dissolutions on record, according to Companies House
In 2021 to 2022, there were 581,824 dissolutions in the UK, an increase of 32.9% when compared with 2020 to 2021.
As part of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act, enacted at the peak of the pandemic, companies were granted automatic extensions to their filing deadlines, while compulsory and voluntary dissolutions were paused for approximately eight months, which will have affected the volume of dissolutions in 2020 and 2021.
During the pandemic, the government operated several loan schemes to support companies. The government acts as a guarantor for these loans, and objects to strike-off proceedings if there is an outstanding bounce back loan, coronavirus business interruption loan, coronavirus large business interruption loan, or recovery loan in place.
The objection is only removed once the lender confirms that there is no longer an outstanding loan in place. This has been a contributing factor to an increase in the number of companies in the process of removal since the first quarter of 2021.
The total register size at the end of March 2022 was 4,894,356, an increase of 3.8% when compared with the end of March 2021.
There were 753,168 company incorporations in 2021 to 2022, a decrease of 7.1% when compared with 2020 to 2021. This year saw the second highest number of incorporations on record.
At the end of March 2022, the number of overseas companies on the register with a physical presence in the UK increased to 13,496 from 12,475 at the end of March 2021. This is an 8.2% increase when compared with the previous year. The largest share of overseas corporate bodies on the register originated in the US, followed by the Channel Islands.
Story by Sara White