Data · Companies House
What percentage of UK companies have negative net cash?
In a random sample of companies that filed accounts at Companies House in June and July 2026, about 4 in 10 (41.2%) of the checked companies with non-micro accounts and usable cash and debtors figures had negative net cash: their cash plus debtors was less than the creditors due within a year. That is 1,227 of 2,980 trading companies (95% range 39.4% to 43.0%). Negative net cash can never be rarer than net current liabilities for the same company, and 37.1% of all 7,481 checked trading companies had net current liabilities (95% range 36.1% to 38.2%), so at least about that share have negative net cash too.
The figures
| Measure | Sample figure | 95% range | Companies in this figure | Which companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In net current liabilities (current assets less creditors due within a year, below zero) | 37.1% | 36.1% to 38.2% | 7,481 | all checked trading companies |
| With negative net cash (cash plus debtors, less creditors due within a year, below zero) | 41.2% | 39.4% to 43.0% | 2,980 | non-micro accounts with usable cash and debtors |
| Holding less cash than the creditors due within a year | 63.7% | 62.0% to 65.3% | 3,275 | non-micro accounts with usable cash |
| Median cash as a share of creditors due within a year | 45% | 39% to 50% | 3,165 | non-micro accounts with usable cash, creditors above zero |
| With £1,000 or less in the bank at the balance sheet date | 19.5% | 18.1% to 20.8% | 3,275 | non-micro accounts with usable cash |
| Median cash at the balance sheet date | £13,654 | £12,247 to £15,084 | 3,275 | non-micro accounts with usable cash |
Negative net cash, by sector
Sectors with at least 80 companies behind the figure. Each range describes one sector on its own. Comparing two sectors needs a test of the difference, which we have not run, so read the order as descriptive.
| Sector | With negative net cash (95% range) | Companies in this figure |
|---|---|---|
| Real estate | 63.8% 59.1% to 68.2% | 428 |
| Accommodation and food service (hospitality) | 58.1% 49.7% to 66.0% | 136 |
| Retail, wholesale and motor trade | 46.4% 41.1% to 51.8% | 330 |
| Manufacturing | 44.3% 36.1% to 52.8% | 131 |
| Transport and logistics | 42.4% 32.8% to 52.6% | 92 |
| Other service activities | 41.6% 32.9% to 50.8% | 113 |
| Construction | 36.8% 32.1% to 41.7% | 389 |
| Financial services | 34.9% 27.2% to 43.6% | 126 |
| Administrative and support services | 34.5% 28.7% to 40.8% | 232 |
| Health and social care | 32.7% 25.8% to 40.4% | 156 |
| Information and communication | 31.2% 25.3% to 37.9% | 205 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 24.6% 20.6% to 29.0% | 399 |
Reading these numbers
This is the version of net cash that Companies House accounts allow: cash plus debtors, less creditors due within a year. Debtors are as the company reports them, which is mostly money owed to it but can include prepaid expenses, so for some companies this flatters the position. The net cash in our product also deducts longer-term liabilities, so it is stricter, and a company can be positive here and negative there.
Negative net cash says the cash on hand plus debtors does not currently match what is due within the year. It does not say a company is insolvent, and it is not a verdict on any single business. Some healthy businesses run negative working capital by design, for example where customers pay up front, and they are in this figure too.
63.7% of the non-micro accounts showed less cash than the creditors due within a year. The median company's cash covered 45% of that figure (3,165 companies with creditors above zero). Counting the companies that held cash but had no such creditors as covered in full, it is 48% (3,245 companies; the 30 with neither cash nor such creditors are left out).
The companies we had to leave out do not look like a neutral gap: 349 trading companies left out still report a net current assets figure, and 61.3% of those report net current liabilities as printed (not verified by our check), against 37.1% of the companies kept. That suggests the net current liabilities rate is more likely a little low than high; for the cash figures we cannot tell.
Where these numbers come from. A random sample of 10,000 sets of accounts filed at Companies House in June and July 2026, from the free monthly accounts bulk product. We use only trading companies whose balance sheets add up: current assets less creditors due within a year equals the net current assets they filed. Cash figures come only from non-micro accounts, because micro-entity accounts have no cash line. Every figure carries its own count and a 95% range for sampling error.
These are balance-sheet measures. Most small-company accounts carry no profit and loss, so nothing here estimates cover over time. Every claim is cash against what is owed, at each company's balance sheet date. Full method, checks and caveats.
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