Small Business Survey Scotland: 2022-2023

Introduction

This report sets out selected findings from the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) 2022 for Scotland. It focusses on small and medium-sized enterprises with at least one employee (SME employers). It outlines the key characteristics of SME employers in Scotland and provides an overview of their perceptions on a range of themes including innovation, fair work and access to finance. In addition, the report provides an insight into business performance and outlook.

As of March 2023, there were an estimated 338,385 SMEs operating in Scotland, of which those with employees represented around 32 per cent (106,650 enterprises). In the Scottish private sector, SMEs with employees accounted for 43 per cent of employment and 38 per cent of turnover.

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.