UK company counts · IT and software
IT and software companies in the UK
About 340,000 active IT and software companies are registered in the UK, according to the Companies House register of 1 September 2026. 62% of them have an employee count in accounts filed up to 24 October 2026.
Accounts filed up to 24 October 2026 Register of 1 September 2026
The list behind the number
Which companies these are, with names, company numbers, registered addresses and each dated headcount, is what the report is for. Here they stay hidden.
| Company | Location | Incorporated | Employees |
|---|
One-off payment · no sales call · no account needed · CSV sent to the email you pay with. A report holds the first 1,500 by name; narrow by region or size, or Unlimited holds 5,000 a list.
Growing IT and software companies in the UK, every Monday
Firmo Weekly: how many IT and software companies in the UK added staff since their last filed accounts, the searches that find them, and one click to the list. Free, at 08:00 every Monday.
By size: it and software in the UK
| Employees | Companies | Share | All sectors, UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro 0 to 9 | about 190,000 | 56% | 58% |
| Small 10 to 49 | about 8,700 | 3% | 4% |
| Medium 50 to 249 | about 1,500 | under 1% | 1% |
| Large 250 or more | about 130 | under 1% | under 1% |
| No figure filed not known | about 130,000 | 38% | 37% |
| All active companies | about 340,000 | 100% | 100% |
| Grew by 10 or more staff any size | about 1,100 | under 1% | under 1% |
Shares are worked out from the rounded counts. No figure filed means the company has not filed a machine-readable headcount: it may be large or small, and it is never counted as zero. A filed 0 is a real answer and sits under micro.
By region
| Region | All sizes | Medium 50 to 249 | Large 250+ | Grew by 10+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North East | about 5,300 | about 30 | fewer than 10 | about 20 |
| North West | about 27,000 | about 150 | fewer than 20 | about 90 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | about 15,000 | about 80 | fewer than 10 | about 50 |
| East Midlands | about 12,000 | about 50 | fewer than 10 | about 20 |
| West Midlands | about 21,000 | about 90 | fewer than 10 | about 60 |
| East of England | about 32,000 | about 80 | fewer than 10 | about 50 |
| London | about 140,000 | about 610 | about 50 | about 500 |
| South East | about 44,000 | about 210 | fewer than 20 | about 140 |
| South West | about 20,000 | about 110 | fewer than 10 | about 70 |
| Wales | about 6,400 | about 20 | fewer than 10 | fewer than 20 |
| Scotland | about 12,000 | about 60 | fewer than 10 | about 40 |
| Northern Ireland | about 3,400 | about 30 | fewer than 10 | about 20 |
Region comes from the registered office postcode. Companies with no UK postcode count in the UK totals only.
What is counted
- Sector
- Computer programming, IT consultancy and related services (division 62), software and computer games publishing (58.21 and 58.29), and data processing, hosting and web portals (63.11 and 63.12). SIC 2007: division 62 (Computer programming, consultancy and related activities); 58210 (Publishing of computer games); 58290 (Other software publishing); 63110 (Data processing, hosting and related activities); 63120 (Web portals).
- Companies
- Active companies on the Companies House register. A company with several of these codes counts once.
- Headcounts
- 62% of these companies have an employee count in accounts we have read. The rest are shown as No figure filed, never as zero.
- Dates
- Each company's size is from its latest filed accounts, read up to 24 October 2026. Accounts are filed up to nine months after the year end, so a figure can describe a year that ended some time ago.
- Rounding
- Counts are rounded to two significant figures, and under 20 are shown only as fewer than 10 or fewer than 20, so no count points at a single company. The report is exact.
Questions about these figures
How many IT and software companies are there in the UK?
About 340,000 active IT and software companies are registered in the UK, according to the Companies House register of 1 September 2026. 62% of them have an employee count in accounts filed up to 24 October 2026. Counts are rounded to two significant figures, and are for active companies only.
How is company size measured?
By the average number of employees each company states in its latest filed accounts, read from the tagged figure in accounts filed electronically. The bands count employees only: micro 0 to 9, small 10 to 49, medium 50 to 249 and large 250 or more. That is not the Companies Act size test, which also uses turnover and balance sheet. 62% of IT and software companies in the UK have filed a figure; the rest are counted as No figure filed, never as zero.
How up to date is this?
The register is the Companies House snapshot of 1 September 2026, and new accounts are read every day; these figures use accounts filed up to 24 October 2026. Each company's headcount is as of its own accounts date, which can be a year or more before the day it was filed.
Can I download the list?
Yes. The list of these companies, with names, company numbers, registered addresses, SIC codes and every headcount with the date of its accounts, is a one-off CSV for £25 (up to 1,500 companies), with no account and no sales call. Unlimited, from £159 a month, allows up to 5,000 companies a list. The free search shows the same count, not which companies.
Which SIC codes count as it and software?
Computer programming, IT consultancy and related services (division 62), software and computer games publishing (58.21 and 58.29), and data processing, hosting and web portals (63.11 and 63.12). Codes counted: division 62 (Computer programming, consultancy and related activities); 58210 (Publishing of computer games); 58290 (Other software publishing); 63110 (Data processing, hosting and related activities); 63120 (Web portals). A company counts if any of its SIC codes is in the set.