UK ranking on quality of entrepreneurship has fallen seven places, according to new report

The UK’s score is below that of other comparable economies such as the USA (5.2), France (5.1), and Germany (5.1).

Professor Mark Hart, lead of the GEM UK team and professor of Small Business & Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School in Birmingham said: “It is not surprising that framework scores worsened over the year given chaotic trading conditions and supply chain blockages, as the implications of Brexit continued to be multiplied by the aftermath of the pandemic and compounded by rising energy prices.

“An economy once lauded for its world-leading financial markets was assessed as insufficient in both the level of, and access to, entrepreneurial finance, alongside insufficient entrepreneurial education at all levels, and diminishing government policy support.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor defines the entrepreneurial context of a particular economy in terms of 13 different characteristics, labelled the Entrepreneurship Framework Conditions (EFCs).

The results are based on the scores of the Framework Conditions for each of the participating 51 economies, with at least 36 experts selected to assess statements that make up the scores that can be compared across economies.

In the period 2021 to 2022, nine EFC scores worsened, led by Physical Infrastructure and Ease of Entry: Burdens and Regulation. The report states that both scores are directly related to the post-Brexit, post-pandemic turmoil.

However, experts saw an improvement in Government entrepreneurship programmes, which could be partially driven by the deployment of Help to Grow programmes, launched by then Chancellor Rishi Sunak in 2021.

Similarly, on the degree of recovery towards pre-pandemic levels of activity in companies, the UK’s score suggests sufficiency. It is, however, still considerably lower than in benchmark countries such as the USA, France and Germany.