SME Health Check Index – Capturing SME health across the UK

< back to all business news articles

22/06/2017

How many SMEs are making a profit, how many are going bankrupt, which regions are home to the most overstretched business owners? In short - what’s the big picture like for small and medium-sized enterprises in Britain today?

We crunched the numbers to find out.

This report brings together existing statistics on SME performance to produce a comprehensive snapshot of the health of the UK’s macro-economic environment for SMEs.

Data across eight categories is collated by the Centre of Economic and Business Research (Cebr) from a number of existing sources including the Office for National Statistics, the Federation of Small Businesses, and the British Bankers Association.

What did we find out?

Some headline stats

• SMEs are big employers – 99.5% of all UK private sector businesses are SMEs. And they account for roughly 52% of total employment.
• SMEs are helping sustain the economy – SMEs had an annual turnover of £1,825 billion in 2016 – equal to 47% of total revenue across all UK businesses
• Index score at its lowest – Index score is 46.5 down from 56.3 in the first quarter of 2016. This is the lowest reading since records started in Q1 2014.
• Confidence and employment on the up – Two of the Index’s eight categories improved since the last quarter – SME business confidence and employment levels.
• Wales and Yorkshire thriving – The regional ranking puts Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber as the best regions for SME health.
• Northern Ireland and West Midlands struggle – At the other end of the scale is Northern Ireland and the West Midlands.
• Bankruptcies increase – There was a 5.8% increase in bankruptcies recorded since the last quarter – the third consecutive quarterly rise in insolvencies.

View UK SME health check report 2017 (opens in a new window)

Analysis

These are just the headlines. There’s a lot more going on in the report.

We’ve done some of our own analysis on what is happening behind the stats. Look at these articles to get a better insight on what these results mean.

How tough is the current climate for SMEs?

The overall health check shows a downturn. But how complex are the challenges faced by SMEs?

Learn more

Is now a good time for SMEs?

We take a closer look at why now might actually be a great time for SMEs.

Learn more