Reference Case Number: FOI2025/00440
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
- Please provide the number of firms that have ‘credit broking’ permissions broken down by quarter since 2020.
- Please provide the numbers of sole traders approved for these activities and the age groups.
FCA response:
We can confirm that we hold information that falls within the scope of your request, and the information we are able to provide to you is set out in the below table.
When reviewing the table, please note the following:
- the table contains data for partnerships and sole traders, with all other types of incorporated or unincorporated bodies grouped together as ‘other’.
- while most partnerships are made up of individual partners, they may include partners who are body corporates and not natural persons.
We are unable to provide you with the information relating to sole traders broken down by age group. This is because this information is not recorded in a centralised or readily extractable format. In order to respond to this part of your request, we would need to undertake a manual reconciliation and analysis of all relevant records. The amount of work that would be needed to undertake this exercise would be tantamount to creating new information, which we are not required to do under FOIA.
Annex A
Number of firms with credit broking permission on first day of quarter (data as at 29/07/25) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal Status | Partnership | Sole Trader | Other | Total |
| 01/01/2020 | 1,946 | 4,503 | 26,461 | 32,910 |
| 01/04/2020 | 1,923 | 4,422 | 26,494 | 32,839 |
| 01/07/2020 | 1,903 | 4,346 | 26,454 | 32,703 |
| 01/10/2020 | 1,887 | 4,291 | 26,433 | 32,611 |
| 01/01/2021 | 1,861 | 4,215 | 26,402 | 32,478 |
| 01/04/2021 | 1,835 | 4,193 | 26,622 | 32,650 |
| 01/07/2021 | 1,815 | 4,139 | 26,804 | 32,758 |
| 01/10/2021 | 1,782 | 4,093 | 26,768 | 32,643 |
| 01/01/2022 | 1,754 | 3,996 | 26,609 | 32,359 |
| 01/04/2022 | 1,723 | 3,948 | 26,698 | 32,369 |
| 01/07/2022 | 1,697 | 3,853 | 26,681 | 32,231 |
| 01/10/2022 | 1,645 | 3,729 | 26,527 | 31,901 |
| 01/01/2023 | 1,602 | 3,629 | 26,180 | 31,411 |
| 01/04/2023 | 1,565 | 3,519 | 25,846 | 30,930 |
| 01/07/2023 | 1,533 | 3,394 | 25,436 | 30,363 |
| 01/10/2023 | 1,486 | 3,240 | 24,829 | 29,555 |
| 01/01/2024 | 1,430 | 3,151 | 24,267 | 28,848 |
| 01/04/2024 | 1,384 | 3,048 | 23,598 | 28,030 |
| 01/07/2024 | 1,355 | 2,906 | 23,124 | 27,385 |
| 01/10/2024 | 1,308 | 2,751 | 22,496 | 26,555 |
| 01/01/2025 | 1,254 | 2,593 | 21,808 | 25,655 |
| 01/04/2025 | 1,185 | 2,357 | 20,925 | 24,467 |
| 01/07/2025 | 1,144 | 2,244 | 20,415 | 23,803 |