Research index

UK Business Succession Index

1,130,901 active UK companies — 32.5% of the 3,475,770 we hold a director age for — have a director aged 60 or over.

412,405 have a director aged 70 or over.

Director aged 60+1,130,901
Director aged 70+412,405
Share of base32.5%
Companies House register·Measured base 3,475,770·Data as at 13 August 2026·Full methodology
3,475,770
Companies measured
1,130,901
With a director 60+
32.5%
Succession exposure rate
412,405
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 1,130,901 with a director over 60, 63,464 score 50 or higher on business quality — 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
Funeral Services2,2021,21855.3%
Agriculture36,92619,76553.5%
Insurance4,1032,11751.6%
Plastics & Rubber Products5,1862,67251.5%
Electronics / Electrical9,7264,95050.9%
Precision Engineering / Machining9,1254,64050.8%
Machinery & Equipment Wholesale5,1022,43247.7%
Hotel / Accommodation30,68314,14246.1%
Print, Signage & Graphics4,2921,92844.9%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)8,5893,84744.8%
Metal Fabrication / Structures6,9143,02143.7%
Property Development63,62327,38743%

By region

RegionCompanies60+Rate
London1,018,216280,24927.5%
South East471,121174,68937.1%
North West354,479110,49531.2%
South West261,877106,75240.8%
East of England286,78898,89234.5%
West Midlands260,98280,57430.9%
Yorkshire & The Humber224,72573,70732.8%
Scotland172,43260,02834.8%
East Midlands175,96456,81732.3%
Wales106,47139,98137.6%
North East82,02426,81732.7%
Northern Ireland58,56620,97935.8%

All trades

Accounting / Audit 34.9%Aerospace, Defence & Security 41.8%Agricultural Materials & Live Animals 41.1%Agriculture 53.5%Architecture / Design 24.3%Arts / Entertainment 27.7%Automotive & Vehicle Manufacturing 42.8%Bakery / Confectionery 26.3%Beauty / Salon / Spa 13.1%Brewery / Drinks Manufacturing 37.7%Building Materials & Aggregates 48.9%Care Home / Nursing 33.5%Catering / Events 21.7%Ceilings & Partitioning 32%Chemicals & Coatings 42.5%Childcare / Day Nurseries 28.1%Childrens Social Care 43.7%Civil Engineering 30.7%Cladding & Facades 20.2%Commercial Cleaning 21.2%Consultancy Services 35.7%Dairy Products 47.2%Data / Cloud / Hosting 24.1%Demolition & Site Prep 30.7%Dental Practice 17.6%Digital Agency 14.4%Distillery / Spirits 38.5%Driving Schools 26.2%E-commerce Retail 18.2%Early Years / Pre-Primary 32.8%Education / Training (General) 32.5%Electrical Installation 20.4%Electronics / Electrical 50.9%Energy 36.8%Engineering Services 35.7%Equipment & Plant Hire 38.8%Estate Agent 27.2%Events 29.8%Facilities Management 36.7%Fencing & Ground Barriers 31.9%Financial Advisory / Wealth 38.3%Fintech 23.5%Fire & Safety Services 32.8%Fitness / Sports 23.8%Flooring & Tiling 25.4%Food & Beverage Manufacturing 32.6%Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale 31.3%Freight Forwarding & Support 30%Funeral Services 55.3%Furniture & Interiors Manufacturing 41.2%General Construction 28%Glazing & Windows 32.8%Home Care / Domiciliary 36.1%Hotel / Accommodation 46.1%Household Goods Wholesale 29.7%ICT Equipment Wholesale 26.5%Insulation Installation 39.9%Insurance 51.6%Investment 29.9%Investment / Fund Management 36.6%IT Services / Consultancy 20.9%Joinery & Carpentry 21.1%Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance 24.4%Legal Services 34%Lettings 36.8%Machinery & Equipment Wholesale 47.7%Machinery & Industrial Equipment 55.8%Management 37.7%Marine & Boatbuilding 46.2%Marketing 20.6%Masonry & Stonework 20%Meat Processing / Butchery 35.9%Media 28.9%Medical Practice / GP Surgery 22.7%Members Club 77.3%Metal Fabrication / Structures 43.7%Motor Parts 31.4%Motor Vehicle Dealers 24.7%Motorcycles 41.7%Non-Specialised Wholesale 31.8%Other Leisure 30.1%Other Specialist Trades 27.5%Packaging Manufacturing 45.7%Painting & Decorating 24.6%Passenger Transport 29.8%Passive Fire Protection 27.3%Pet Care & Boarding 40.5%Pharmaceuticals / Biotech 30.2%Pharmacy 26.7%Photography 22%Plastering & Drylining 15%Plastics & Rubber Products 51.5%Plumbing, Heating & HVAC 20.3%Postal & Courier 14.6%Precision Engineering / Machining 50.8%Print, Signage & Graphics 44.9%Property Development 43%Pub / Bar 35.5%Recruitment / Staffing 19.4%Removals & Storage 18%Restaurant / Cafe 18.2%Retail 21.9%Road Freight 19.8%Roofing 24.1%Scaffolding 23.1%Security Services 25.6%Software / SaaS 21%Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals) 44.8%Specialist Clinics / Allied Health 24.3%Sports Clubs & Recreation 66.6%Structural Steelwork Erection 29.9%Telecommunications 32.9%Textiles, Garments & Soft Furnishings 49.8%Travel / Tourism 30.7%Tutoring & Educational Support 24.6%Vehicle Hire / Rental 26.8%Vehicle Repair & MOT 28.4%Veterinary Practice 23.9%Vocational & Professional Training 30.3%Warehousing & Storage 40.9%Waste Management & Recycling 35.8%Wholesale Agent 33.4%Wood & Timber Products 35.2%
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, 13 August 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/

Need a cut that is not published here — 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 3,475,770 active UK companies where Companies House records an age bracket for at least one serving director — 93.8% of the 3,706,712 companies on the active register. A company counts as succession-exposed when its oldest serving director is 60 or over — not 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 13 August 2026; updated quarterly, next update October 2026. Full methodology.