What starting a business in the UK actually costs
Ask what starting a business costs and most answers focus on the Companies House filing fee, which misses almost everything that actually adds up in year one.
Registration
Small, sometimes entirely free if bundled with a business account. This genuinely isn’t where the real cost sits.
Banking and accounting
A business account can be free. Accounting software ranges from genuinely free (Wave) to a modest monthly subscription (Xero, QuickBooks). An accountant, if you use one, typically runs from a few hundred to over a thousand pounds a year depending on complexity.
Insurance
Varies enormously by industry, from not needed at all for some low-risk service work, to a meaningful annual cost if you’re handling client money, giving professional advice, or working with the public.
The cost people consistently underestimate
Your own time and living costs while the business finds its feet. Very few businesses are profitable from month one, and the real cost of starting is often less about the pounds spent on setup and more about having enough runway to survive a slow start.
What it realistically adds up to
For a straightforward service business with modest overheads, the actual cash cost of getting properly set up is often surprisingly low, low hundreds rather than thousands. Run your own numbers on our cost of a limited company calculator rather than relying on a generic figure.