engage magazine issue 007/\\\'08 | Page 47

FACT FILE 47

Did you know

According to the BERR Annual Survey of Small Businesses’

Opinion 2006 / 07( published February 2008)

Diversity

u In 2006, the vast majority of UK SME employers were led by men; only 14 % of SME employers were women-led( defined as led by a woman or having a management team made up mostly of women).

u Women-led SME employers tended to be smaller than average. Nine in ten women-led SME employers were micro-businesses( 89 % compared to 84 % overall).

u One in twelve UK SME employers was led by a member or mostly by members of a Minority Ethnic Group( 8 %).

17 % is in the public 7 % is in sector and the non-profit sector

Source: GLAECONOMICS Employment in London by firm size- May 2008

u One third of UK SMEs( 34 %) started their operations as home based. The smaller the business, the more likely it was that its first premises was someone’ s home; 35 % of micro, 28 % of small and 22 % of medium-sized businesses used someone’ s home as the main business or work premises at start-up. u 7 % of UK SME employers included at least one owner or director with a disability. 12 % of partnerships and 7 % of companies had partners or directors with a long standing disability. 2 % of sole proprietors had a long standing disability.

u The majority of UK SME employer owners and co-owners fell into the following age groups: 35 and 44 age category( 25 %), 45 to 54( 31 %) and 55 to 64( 26 %). The proportions in younger and older cohorts were much smaller; just 9 % were aged under 35 and 7 % over 65.

Size and Structure

u The vast majority of UK SMEs have no employees; they are sole proprietorships, partnerships comprising only the selfemployed owner-manager( s) or companies comprising only an employee director. Approximately three in ten( 27 %) are SME employers. Of these, almost one million are micro-employers( employing fewer than ten people), 160 thousand are small employers( with between ten and 49 employees) and 27 thousand are medium-sized employers( with 50 to 249 employees). u In total, SMEs employ almost ten million people( approximately 30 % of the total workforce of the UK whole country including Government and not-for-profit organisations) and have an aggregate turnover of approximately £ 1,100 billion( approximately 40 % of the UK whole economy total of £ 2,600 billion).

Focus on ethnicity

u 8 % of UK SME employers were minority ethnic-led; that is led by a member of a minority ethnic group or a management team with at least half of its members from minority ethnic groups.

u Minority ethnic-led SME employers tended to be smaller than other SME employers. The majority were micro-businesses( 90 %); just 1 % were medium-sized.

u Minority ethnic-led SME employers were more likely to be sole proprietorships than businesses generally( 38 % compared to 26 %) and less likely to be incorporated companies( 43 % compared to 55 %). u Two thirds of UK SME employers were family-owned( 68 %). The majority of businesses that were family-owned were“ first generation”, 20 % had been passed down into the second generation. Almost one in ten family owned SME employers had been“ in the family” for three generations or more( 9 %). u Less than 1 % of SME employers were led by minority ethnic women. One in ten minority ethnic led businesses( 10 %) was led by minority-ethnic women.

Source: The Annual Survey of Small Businesses’ Opinions 2006 / 07( ASBS 2006 / 07) Summary report of findings among UK SME employers- February 2008

ISSUE SEVEN 2008 engage | uk