Between 1979 and 2019, the total register has increased by 3.4 million companies whilst the effective register has increased by 3.2 million companies. [footnote 1], [footnote 2]. During this time, the total register has seen 36 annual increases, whilst the effective register has increased 34 times over the same period. The most recent declines in the Great Britain effective register occurred in 2008 to 2009, with a decrease of 157,700 companies. The UK total register declined a year later in 2009 to 2010, with a decrease of 88,300 companies. In the late 2000s, it was anticipated that the register size would increase due to the introduction of Northern Ireland companies to the UK register. However, this may have been offset by the global financial crisis at a similar period leading to a slight decrease in the register size overall. During the period 2009 to 2010 there were also several significant changes to the register:
the Northern Ireland register was included to create a UK register
there was a change in the administrative system that forms the register
there was a purge on the register to remove defunct companies that had spent an extended period in the process of dissolution or liquidation
legislative changes were introduced under the Companies Act 2006, which reduced the time taken to dissolve companies and remove them from the register
These changes in combination are likely to have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of dissolutions between 2009 and 2010. This may in turn have had an impact on the sizes of the total and effective registers overall. Since 2010 to 2011, both registers have continued to increase in size in a steady fashion, albeit at a slower rate in recent years. Between 2012 to 2013 and 2017 to 2018, the average growth rate for the total and effective registers was 5.7% and 6.0%, respectively. During 2018 to 2019, the growth rates have slowed to 4.2% and 4.1%, respectively. Both growth rates in 2018 to 2019 are lower than the average growth seen over the previous 5 years. Chart 2: UK total and effective register sizes from 1979 to 2019 Table A8, in the workbook that accompanies this publication, shows the total and effective register sizes from 1939 to 2018-19, as well as the annual number of incorporations, dissolutions, liquidations and insolvencies.