Companies behind with their accounts in November 2026

On 1 November 2026, 317,404 companies on the Companies House register were past the deadline for filing their accounts. That is 5.9% of the 5,377,355 companies that file accounts, about one in 17.

241,226 of them (76.0%) had already been given a proposal to strike off, the notice Companies House publishes in The Gazette before it removes a company from the register. The other 76,178 were still listed as active, and 27,843 of those were less than 30 days late.

By area

Each company is counted in the postcode area of its registered office. Motherwell (8.5%), Liverpool and Glasgow had the highest shares of companies past the deadline. Hereford (3.1%), Harrogate and Shrewsbury had the lowest. In Northern Ireland the share was 5.0%.

Highest share

Postcode area	Companies	Past the deadline	Share
Motherwell	17,606	1,494	8.5%
Liverpool	51,515	4,364	8.5%
Glasgow	70,883	5,845	8.2%
Romford	52,231	4,062	7.8%
East London	119,352	9,254	7.8%
Kilmarnock	13,356	1,026	7.7%
Southall	42,834	3,279	7.7%
Sunderland	8,699	648	7.4%
Ilford	54,149	4,019	7.4%
Plymouth	24,720	1,815	7.3%

Lowest share

Postcode area	Companies	Past the deadline	Share
Hereford	10,781	334	3.1%
Harrogate	11,361	408	3.6%
Shrewsbury	19,255	727	3.8%
Cambridge	32,172	1,227	3.8%
York	32,518	1,248	3.8%
Gloucester	45,108	1,811	4.0%
Oxford	46,203	1,862	4.0%
Galashiels	4,991	204	4.1%
Truro	16,803	689	4.1%
Guildford	59,610	2,508	4.2%

All 117 postcode areas

Postcode area	Companies	Past the deadline	Share
Motherwell	17,606	1,494	8.5%
Liverpool	51,515	4,364	8.5%
Glasgow	70,883	5,845	8.2%
Romford	52,231	4,062	7.8%
East London	119,352	9,254	7.8%
Kilmarnock	13,356	1,026	7.7%
Southall	42,834	3,279	7.7%
Sunderland	8,699	648	7.4%
Ilford	54,149	4,019	7.4%
Plymouth	24,720	1,815	7.3%
Dartford	39,861	2,915	7.3%
Luton	32,980	2,385	7.2%
Wolverhampton	26,204	1,857	7.1%
North West London	76,984	5,438	7.1%
Dundee	13,552	957	7.1%
Croydon	39,089	2,757	7.1%
South East London	89,023	6,219	7.0%
Teesside	30,167	2,092	6.9%
Manchester	111,441	7,698	6.9%
Paisley	13,099	901	6.9%
North London	109,948	7,518	6.8%
Birmingham	157,271	10,662	6.8%
Blackpool	16,756	1,131	6.7%
Oldham	31,740	2,103	6.6%
Doncaster	39,872	2,625	6.6%
Wigan	14,512	947	6.5%
Bradford	38,794	2,518	6.5%
Dudley	26,132	1,696	6.5%
Bolton	33,216	2,133	6.4%
Walsall	29,954	1,898	6.3%
Kirkcaldy	12,872	813	6.3%
Newcastle upon Tyne	59,498	3,746	6.3%
Durham	13,318	837	6.3%
Northampton	52,181	3,266	6.3%
Cardiff	52,988	3,316	6.3%
Wakefield	27,075	1,692	6.2%
Telford	12,148	754	6.2%
Blackburn	32,184	1,980	6.2%
Harrow	78,113	4,781	6.1%
Coventry	61,628	3,766	6.1%
Southend-on-Sea	43,986	2,662	6.1%
Enfield	42,501	2,557	6.0%
South West London	103,691	6,187	6.0%
Twickenham	53,268	3,164	5.9%
Chester	37,318	2,213	5.9%
Canterbury	29,069	1,712	5.9%
Newport	22,646	1,332	5.9%
Falkirk	11,258	662	5.9%
Darlington	17,548	1,031	5.9%
Medway	46,954	2,741	5.8%
Bournemouth	43,966	2,553	5.8%
Milton Keynes	51,778	3,004	5.8%
Portsmouth	51,894	2,982	5.7%
Peterborough	57,500	3,304	5.7%
Carlisle	14,664	841	5.7%
Hull	23,649	1,354	5.7%
Leeds	60,260	3,434	5.7%
Preston	37,533	2,125	5.7%
West London	120,396	6,807	5.7%
Stoke-on-Trent	33,277	1,881	5.7%
Sheffield	71,467	3,986	5.6%
Nottingham	69,115	3,842	5.6%
Slough	45,354	2,494	5.5%
Derby	46,830	2,563	5.5%
Sutton	20,215	1,106	5.5%
Chelmsford	61,103	3,339	5.5%
Swansea	33,628	1,836	5.5%
Warrington	44,207	2,381	5.4%
Edinburgh	51,269	2,731	5.3%
Lancaster	16,671	885	5.3%
Southampton	47,040	2,493	5.3%
Leicester	77,080	4,073	5.3%
Aberdeen	26,554	1,400	5.3%
Crewe	21,006	1,090	5.2%
Bromley	29,094	1,502	5.2%
Colchester	27,356	1,411	5.2%
Swindon	28,847	1,481	5.1%
Brighton	62,348	3,183	5.1%
Watford	33,828	1,680	5.0%
Northern Ireland	86,478	4,292	5.0%
Inverness	10,597	525	5.0%
Dumfries	4,403	217	4.9%
Torquay	16,659	817	4.9%
Llandudno	23,609	1,148	4.9%
Bristol	68,334	3,320	4.9%
Halifax	11,551	561	4.9%
Lincoln	15,774	764	4.8%
Stockport	52,896	2,522	4.8%
Huddersfield	18,817	893	4.7%
Taunton	18,215	862	4.7%
Stevenage	32,628	1,533	4.7%
Tonbridge	57,645	2,708	4.7%
St Albans	23,351	1,095	4.7%
Redhill	45,212	2,105	4.7%
Worcester	19,754	912	4.6%
Kingston upon Thames	53,279	2,455	4.6%
Perth	7,683	354	4.6%
Ipswich	35,409	1,608	4.5%
Reading	62,376	2,831	4.5%
Norwich	40,687	1,810	4.4%
Hemel Hempstead	48,150	2,137	4.4%
Central London (EC)	72,331	3,210	4.4%
Salisbury	15,175	653	4.3%
Exeter	32,822	1,408	4.3%
Bath	28,055	1,202	4.3%
Central London (WC)	27,502	1,174	4.3%
Dorchester	12,924	544	4.2%
Guildford	59,610	2,508	4.2%
Truro	16,803	689	4.1%
Galashiels	4,991	204	4.1%
Oxford	46,203	1,862	4.0%
Gloucester	45,108	1,811	4.0%
York	32,518	1,248	3.8%
Cambridge	32,172	1,227	3.8%
Shrewsbury	19,255	727	3.8%
Harrogate	11,361	408	3.6%
Hereford	10,781	334	3.1%

By industry

Each company is counted in the industry of the first activity code it gives Companies House. Transport and storage (11.2%) and hotels, restaurants and catering (11.0%) had the highest shares.

Industry	Companies	Past the deadline	Share
Transport and storage	154,105	17,212	11.2%
Hotels, restaurants and catering	287,354	31,577	11.0%
Construction	556,149	44,080	7.9%
Water, sewerage and waste	17,708	1,381	7.8%
Other services, such as hairdressing and repairs	227,103	17,653	7.8%
Administrative and support services	380,985	27,934	7.3%
Mining and quarrying	8,074	583	7.2%
Public administration	9,323	630	6.8%
Wholesale, retail and motor trade	732,169	49,338	6.7%
Manufacturing	227,984	13,962	6.1%
Arts, entertainment and recreation	123,298	6,263	5.1%
Electricity and gas supply	17,364	880	5.1%
Information and communication	469,233	23,125	4.9%
Health and social care	220,633	10,139	4.6%
Professional, scientific and technical	662,819	29,752	4.5%
Education	99,130	4,003	4.0%
Farming, forestry and fishing	42,359	1,462	3.5%
Finance and insurance	227,258	7,801	3.4%
Property	630,111	17,916	2.8%
Residents' property management and households	127,937	1,977	1.5%

Late filing penalties

Companies House charges a penalty that rises with how late the accounts are filed.

Filed after the deadline by	Private company or LLP	Public company
Up to 1 month	£150	£750
1 to 3 months	£375	£1,500
3 to 6 months	£750	£3,000
More than 6 months	£1,500	£7,500

Source: GOV.UK, late filing penalties.

The penalty doubles when accounts are filed late two years in a row. Not filing accounts is a criminal offence, directors can be fined personally, and Companies House can strike the company off the register.

Filing on time

A private company's first accounts are due 21 months after it registered with Companies House. After that, they are due 9 months after the end of each financial year (GOV.UK).

With the bookkeeping kept up each month, the year-end figures are ready soon after the year ends. The finance team does the bookkeeping, VAT and payroll every month, and Business Pulse adds monthly or quarterly management accounts.

How the figures were worked out

• Source: the Companies House company data product dated 1 November 2026, which lists every live company on the register.
• Included: limited companies, LLPs, guarantee companies and unlimited companies with an accounts due date, listed as active or as active with a proposal to strike off. Companies in liquidation, administration or receivership are left out.
• Past the deadline: the next accounts due date on the register was before 1 November 2026.
• Area: the postcode area of the registered office. 142 postcodes are each the registered office of 1,000 or more companies, mostly the addresses of company formation agents. The 604,762 companies at them are left out of the area figures, because they can trade anywhere, and are counted in the UK totals. Llandrindod Wells, Kirkwall, Outer Hebrides and Shetland have fewer than 3,000 companies each and are not ranked.
• Industry: the first activity (SIC) code. 102,652 dormant companies and 53,014 with no code are left out of the industry table.
• Checked: 50 companies past the deadline, 25 active and 25 under a proposal to strike off, were looked up on the live register. None of the 50 had filed by 1 November 2026.

Using these figures

Quote them with a link to this page. The area and industry tables are in a spreadsheet (CSV). Questions about the figures go to hello@buzzaccounting.co.uk.