Self-employed sole traders and partnerships are on the increase, according to the latest figures from the Department of Business which are to be released on Wednesday.
The amount of ‘unregistered enterprises’ rose by almost 120,000 in 2011 made up of approximately 103,000 sole proprietorships and 16,000 more partnerships. There are now a total of 2.4 million unregistered enterprises in the UK.
However, the amount of small proprietorships, essentially small businesses, dropped by 26,000. Registered partnerships fell by 11,000 and companies by 34,000, as the total of enterprises registered for VAT or PAYE fell to 2.07 million.
With the ongoing economic crisis impacting upon small companies, the fact that sole traders and small partnerships are on the rise is a positive and indicates the entrepreneurial spirit of the UK, as people out of work or between jobs begin their own companies to keep them going through ‘fallow’ periods.
Andrew Cave, of the Federation of Small Business (FSB) said of the figures, “Many of those may not be planning to build a business... it may simply be a transitional phase for people who have lost jobs.”
Although the government will be pleased to see new business activity, it will now want to encourage sole traders to grow into small proprietorships in a bid to create more jobs and boost the economy.
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