The Business of One Monitor

Last checked 31 July 2026

Research

Britain counts its smallest businesses twice and gets two different answers. This is original analysis of the businesses in that gap: the one-person trades that no administrative register records. Every figure is traced to a named official source with a publication date, the arithmetic is printed, and the limitations are on the page. Free to reuse with a link.

By Sage VinsonEditorial policyFree to reuse under CC BY 4.0

The headline figure

500,000

UK construction businesses, 57% of the industry, present in the government’s own estimate of the business population and absent from the register that records businesses. Last checked 31 July 2026, re-run each autumn.

The findings

  1. 2 September 2026, rewritten 6 September 2026

    Two official surveys asked how many of Britain's smallest businesses have a website. The answers are 42.9 points apart.

    ONS put it at 41.1% for businesses with fewer than ten employees in 2019. DSIT put it at 84% in 2025 to 2026, and at 76% for sole traders. Different sampling frames, different modes, and no published reconciliation.

    42.9pts between the two official answers to one question: ONS at 41.1% in 2019, DSIT at 84% in 2025 to 2026

    Read the analysis

  2. 19 August 2026

    By 2028 the UK will require quarterly tax reporting from half a million businesses it cannot count

    Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches £20,000 of turnover on 6 April 2028. The business register does not record a business until it crosses the VAT line. £70,000 of turnover sits in between.

    £70,000 £20,000 to £90,000 of turnover, on a scale ending at the VAT line

    Read the analysis

  3. 18 August 2026

    Nine in ten large firms holding construction retention set no minimum job size

    Retention disclosure became compulsory this year. In the first 762 filings, 92% of the companies holding money back from construction work declare no job small enough to be exempt.

    92% of 762 companies holding retention set no minimum job size

    Read the analysis

  4. 31 July 2026

    Half a million UK trade businesses are missing from the official business register

    Two official sources count UK construction businesses and disagree by around 500,000, or 57% of the industry. The gap is the one-person trade business.

    57% 500,000 of 885,485 construction businesses are absent from the register

    Read the analysis

What gets updated, and when

Each indicator has its own clock, set by whoever publishes the underlying data rather than by us. Nothing here needs new fieldwork: every figure comes from an official release that happens whether or not anyone is watching.

The register gapEach autumn
The annual re-run, when Business Population Estimates and the ONS business register bulletin are both out. The headline value of the Index.
Construction retentionTwice a year
Rebuilt from a fresh payment practices export. Reporting is twice a financial year and companies file on their own year ends, so filings arrive continuously.
Quarterly tax reportingAt each threshold
Re-checked against GOV.UK as each Making Tax Digital rung takes effect, and whenever a threshold or date changes.
Statutory late payment interestWhen the base rate moves
Statutory interest is the Bank of England base rate plus 8%, so every rate move changes what a solo trader is legally owed on an overdue invoice.

Using these figures

Everything in this series is published under CC BY 4.0. Quote it, chart it, put it in a report. The one condition is attribution with a link back, and the blocks below produce it correctly so nobody has to write it themselves.

Journalists are welcome to the underlying working on any figure here. Each study prints its own sources, its arithmetic and its limitations, and the individual studies carry their own citation blocks and charts.

The statutory figures behind these studies are the same ones our free calculators run on, so a rate quoted here and a rate used there cannot drift apart.

In a sentence

For a caption or a line of body copy.

The Business of One Monitor, SoloDesks's original analysis of UK public data on one-person trade businesses. https://solodesks.com/research

As HTML

Paste straight into a post. Includes the link the licence asks for.

<p>Source: <a href="https://solodesks.com/research">The Business of One Monitor, SoloDesks's original analysis of UK public data on one-person trade businesses.</a></p>

As a reference

For a report, a footnote or a reference list.

SoloDesks (2026) The Business of One Monitor. Available at: https://solodesks.com/research

Figures last checked 31 July 2026. How we source and date every number on this site is set out in our editorial and sourcing policy.