Research index

UK Business Succession Index

1,176,219 active UK companies (32.4% of the 3,631,842 we hold a director age for) have a director aged 60 or over.

427,977 have a director aged 70 or over.

Director aged 60+1,176,219
Director aged 70+427,977
Share of base32.4%
Companies House register·Measured base 3,631,842·Data as at 11 October 2026·Full methodology
3,631,842
Companies measured
1,176,219
With a director 60+
32.4%
Succession exposure rate
427,977
With a director 70+

Around a third of British companies are run by someone at or past normal retirement age. These are not failing businesses. They are ordinary ones whose owners are running out of runway.

Of the 1,176,219 with a director over 60, 69,418 score 50 or higher on business quality. That figure is an output of our own scoring model, not a Companies House figure. How we score it.

Where succession pressure is highest

Trades ranked by the share of companies with a director aged 60 or over. Two kinds of trade are excluded from this ranking: those with fewer than 2,000 companies, where a single percentage point is a handful of companies; and those where more than 25% of companies are limited by guarantee (clubs, associations and mutuals, which have no share capital to buy). Their figures are unchanged and still count towards every total above.

TradeCompanies60+Rate
Insurance5,5823,25958.4%
Machinery & Industrial Equipment2,3681,33056.2%
Funeral Services2,3241,29655.8%
Agriculture38,03320,18053.1%
Plastics & Rubber Products5,4592,80051.3%
Electronics / Electrical10,2725,22650.9%
Precision Engineering / Machining9,4374,75750.4%
Machinery & Equipment Wholesale5,4492,57647.3%
Hotel / Accommodation32,47414,93646%
Print, Signage & Graphics4,3311,95445.1%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)9,3194,15644.6%
Metal Fabrication / Structures7,2403,21044.3%

By region

RegionCompanies60+Rate
London960,765259,44227%
South East531,835196,58837%
East of England365,052122,38733.5%
North West359,693110,42230.7%
South West262,849105,78240.2%
West Midlands286,55089,67231.3%
Yorkshire & The Humber225,46573,40032.6%
East Midlands210,71969,36132.9%
Scotland179,41862,14634.6%
Wales103,51837,60836.3%
North East81,94026,06831.8%
Northern Ireland61,21122,02536%

All trades

Accounting / Audit 34.6%Aerospace, Defence & Security 42.3%Agricultural Materials & Live Animals 40.5%Agriculture 53.1%Architecture / Design 24.1%Arts / Entertainment 29.1%Automotive & Vehicle Manufacturing 43.5%Bakery / Confectionery 26%Beauty / Salon / Spa 12.8%Brewery / Drinks Manufacturing 37.6%Building Materials & Aggregates 50.5%Care Home / Nursing 33.5%Catering / Events 21.4%Ceilings & Partitioning 31.8%Chemicals & Coatings 42.7%Childcare / Day Nurseries 28%Childrens Social Care 41.2%Civil Engineering 30.4%Cladding & Facades 20.8%Commercial Cleaning 20.6%Commercial HVAC & Refrigeration 26.2%Consultancy Services 35.4%Dairy Products 47%Data / Cloud / Hosting 24.2%Demolition & Site Prep 30.4%Dental Practice 17.8%Digital Agency 15.2%Distillery / Spirits 38.3%Driving Schools 25.5%E-commerce Retail 25.9%Early Years / Pre-Primary 32.3%Education / Training (General) 32.6%Electrical Installation 20.1%Electronics / Electrical 50.9%Energy 36.1%Engineering Services 35.4%Equipment & Plant Hire 38.4%Estate Agent 26.9%Events 29.6%Facilities Management 36.8%Fencing & Ground Barriers 31.6%Financial Advisory / Wealth 38.5%Fintech 24.4%Fire & Safety Services 33.5%Fitness / Sports 23.6%Flooring & Tiling 25.1%Food & Beverage Manufacturing 32.7%Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale 31.2%Freight Forwarding & Support 29.8%Funeral Services 55.8%Furniture & Interiors Manufacturing 41.5%General Construction 27.8%Glazing & Windows 32.7%Home Care / Domiciliary 38.8%Hotel / Accommodation 46%Household Goods Wholesale 29.5%ICT Equipment Wholesale 26.5%Insulation Installation 39.8%Insurance 58.4%Investment 29.9%Investment / Fund Management 36.4%IT Services / Consultancy 20.7%Joinery & Carpentry 20.8%Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance 24.1%Legal Services 33.7%Lettings 36.2%Machinery & Equipment Wholesale 47.3%Machinery & Industrial Equipment 56.2%Management 37.2%Marine & Boatbuilding 47%Marketing 20.3%Masonry & Stonework 20%Meat Processing / Butchery 35%Media 29%Medical Devices & Lab Equipment 63.2%Medical Practice / GP Surgery 22.5%Members Club 77.6%Metal Fabrication / Structures 44.3%Motor Parts 31%Motor Vehicle Dealers 24.7%Motorcycles 40.8%Non-Specialised Wholesale 31.4%Other Leisure 30.1%Other Specialist Trades 27.3%Packaging Manufacturing 45.5%Painting & Decorating 24.2%Passenger Transport 29.6%Passive Fire Protection 27.7%Pet Care & Boarding 40.2%Pharmaceuticals / Biotech 30%Pharmacy 26.7%Photography 21.7%Plastering & Drylining 14.8%Plastics & Rubber Products 51.3%Plumbing & Heating 19.9%Postal & Courier 14.3%Precision Engineering / Machining 50.4%Print, Signage & Graphics 45.1%Property Development 42.8%Pub / Bar 35.2%Recruitment / Staffing 19.3%Removals 17.6%Restaurant / Cafe 17.9%Retail 21.7%Road Freight 19.6%Roofing 23.8%Scaffolding 22.8%Security Services 25.3%Self-Storage 46.1%Software / SaaS 20.7%Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals) 44.6%Specialist Clinics / Allied Health 24.4%Sports Clubs & Recreation 66.5%Structural Steelwork Erection 31.4%Supported Living 46.2%Telecommunications 32.8%Textiles, Garments & Soft Furnishings 50.1%Travel / Tourism 30.6%Tutoring & Educational Support 24.7%Vehicle Hire / Rental 26.6%Vehicle Repair & MOT 28%Veterinary Practice 23.8%Vocational & Professional Training 30.3%Warehousing & Storage 40.1%Waste Management & Recycling 35.9%Wholesale Agent 32.8%Wood & Timber Products 34.9%
Cite this page

These figures are free to quote and reproduce, including in commercial work, with attribution to ExitRadar and a link to this page.

ExitRadar, UK Business Succession Index, 11 October 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/

Need a cut that is not published here, such as a different trade grouping, a finer geography or the underlying distribution? Get in touch and we will usually provide it. Methodology.

Method. Figures cover the 3,631,842 active UK companies where Companies House records an age bracket for at least one serving director (94.0% of the 3,863,328 companies on the active register). A company counts as succession-exposed when its oldest serving director is 60 or over. We do not use the board average, which would hide a 70-year-old founder sitting alongside younger co-directors. The business-quality figure covers only the subset our model assesses; see the methodology for why that is far smaller than the number with filed accounts. Data as at 11 October 2026; updated quarterly, next update January 2027. Full methodology.