G&G verified business evidence
An estimated 15.9% of UK businesses with 10 or more employees reported recruitment difficulties in August 2026.
The estimate covers businesses with 10 or more employees that had not permanently stopped trading. It combines the ONS size bands 10 to 49, 50 to 99, 100 to 249 and 250 or more employees. The voluntary survey is not limited to SMEs.
BICS official statistics in development; weighted by business count.
Office for National Statistics
Business insights and impact on the UK economy: BICS Wave 164 dataset
Recruitment TS (WTD), Wave 164, row "All size bands excluding 0 - 9", column "Yes": 0.159 (15.9%). Reference period: 1 August 2026 to 31 August 2026.
Office for National Statistics. Business insights and impact on the UK economy: BICS Wave 164 dataset. 24th of September, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/datasets/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy
Recruitment difficulties affected 15.9% of UK businesses with at least 10 employees in August 2026. The published size-band results show that the issue was present across small and medium-sized employer groups, making the evidence relevant to SMEs planning recruitment and workforce capacity.
10 to 49 employees: 15.8% reported recruitment difficulties. 50 to 99 employees: 17.8%. 100 to 249 employees: 16.2%. 250 or more employees: 10.7%.
The three SME-sized bands were relatively close, ranging from 15.8% to 17.8%. This indicates that reported recruitment difficulty was not confined to one SME size band during the survey period. The figures describe the share reporting difficulty; they do not measure vacancy numbers, recruitment costs or the causes of the difficulty.
The 15.9% headline combines all businesses with 10 or more employees, including those with 250 or more employees, so it is not an exclusively SME statistic. The Business Insights and Conditions Survey is voluntary, covers businesses that had not permanently stopped trading and weights results by business count. Wave 164 received 10,256 responses from a sample of 38,579 businesses, a 26.6% response rate.
For SME planning, useful internal comparisons include time to hire, the number and suitability of applicants, offer acceptance and the roles that remain open longest. These are practical considerations for applying the evidence; they are not findings reported by the ONS dataset.
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