THE number of businesses in Worcestershire being created is falling, according to new figures.

Figures from the Inform Direct Review of UK Company Formations show a fall in the number of new company formations in Worcestershire during 2018, compared to the previous 12 months.

In terms of new companies, 6,889 were registered in the county compared to 7,804 in 2017, which represents a decrease of 11.7 per cent.

This brings the total number of registered companies in Worcestershire to 37,800, down from 38,764 at the end of 2017, which equates to a decline of 2.5 per cent.

The study uses data from Companies House and the Office for National Statistics to come up with its findings.

In terms of new company formations, Worcester was third in the county for new business formations with 624.

Wychavon (942) and Bromsgrove (3,626) both had more new businesses formed in 2018.

John Korchak, director of operations at Inform Direct said: "These figures demonstrate a fall both in the number of new company formations and also in existing businesses in Worcestershire during 2018.

"This may be the result of a number of different factors, including a background of political and economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

"There were also particular local factors, with a high proportion of those companies formed by a few agents in 2016 and 2017 seemingly now dissolved in 2018."

Across the UK as a whole, a record number of new companies were formed, 669,855 compared with 634,116 in 2017.

This means Worcestershire is against the national average, with the number of registered companies in the UK continuing to grow, finishing the year with a total of 4,308,022.

Of the 598,323 formations in England, 217,617 were in London. 33,333 companies were formed in Scotland, 18,079 in Wales and 8,173 in Northern Ireland.