Share
26 March 2012
- Edinburgh beats London to become most productive UK city
- Scottish cities storm ahead – with three of top five most productive UK cities based north of the border
Aberdeen has overtaken London to become the only major city in the UK that managed to grow its economy during the recession, reveals our research.
Our analysis of official calculations of ‘Gross Value Added’ – the measure of a region’s contribution to the UK economy according to the value of the goods and services it produces – shows that Aberdeen become the fastest growing UK city in the year to January 1 2010.
Aberdeen is the only Top Ten UK city where GVA per resident grew, rising 1.1% from £28,442 to £28,731 in the year to January 1 2010.
Our findings explain that as the centre for the UK’s oil & gas industry, Aberdeen benefitted from a booming energy sector as global demand for oil continued to power away.
Marc Waterman, partner at our London office, says: “The situation in Aberdeen is unique within the UK. It’s the only major city in the UK that has an economy based almost entirely around the oil and gas industry. Not only is it benefitting from a revival in North Sea exploration but Aberdeen is now a global leader in oil services companies.”
“Many Aberdeen headquartered oil & gas exploration companies and oil services companies operate on a global basis. Aberdeen has become a global centre of excellence for oil services companies so it directly benefits from the exploration boom in emerging markets.”
“While the economies of all other major UK cities suffered as a result of the financial crisis, Aberdeen was able to remain largely unaffected.”
Residents of Edinburgh are the biggest per capita contributors to the UK economy, generating £34,950 per head in the year to 1st January 2010, down 0.52% on the previous year. Londoners came second, with an average contribution of £34,779 per head, down 0.53% year on year. Belfast takes third place with £29,816 per head per year, down by 3.25% compared to the previous year. (See table below for the UK’s Top 40 towns and cities)
According to our findings, GVA for the British economy as a whole contracted by -2.7% in the year to January 1 2010 and the average Briton generates £20,341 per year.
London economy loses economic edge to Scottish cities
Scottish cities as whole performed well, with three places in the top five towns & cities going to Scotland– Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Our research explains that this is the first time that London has lost its economic edge both in terms of productivity per person and economic growth.
Marc comments: “For years London easily outpaced other UK towns and cities in its economic contribution, driven by its huge wholesale financial services industry. But the credit crunch hit this sector hard and has damaged London’s ability to generate wealth for the economy.”
“Although Edinburgh also boasts a large financial services sector, it was never as dominant as London’s and so the downturn did not have the same devastating result.”
“Thousands of high paying banking jobs, along with advisers, such as lawyers, have been shed in London. The capital also has significant areas of poverty and high unemployment.”
According to Government figures, in 2010 unemployment in London stood at 9.1% while in Edinburgh it was only 6.3%. The figure for the UK as a whole was 7.7%.
Marc comments: “It might sound obvious, but people who are out of work do not contribute to the economic wealth of the country. London’s comparatively high unemployment rate will have had a sharp impact on its wealth creating potential.”
UK’s Top 40 towns and cities by growth in gross value added (GVA)
(Latest figures available are for the year to 1st January 2010)
|
Rank |
Town/City |
GVA 2008 |
GVA 2009 |
Change |
|
1 |
Aberdeen |
28,422 |
28,731 |
1.09% |
|
2 |
Edinburgh |
35,134 |
34,950 |
-0.52% |
|
3 |
London |
34,964 |
34,779 |
-0.53% |
|
4 |
Liverpool |
19,956 |
19,821 |
-0.68% |
|
5 |
Bournemouth |
21,293 |
21,142 |
-0.71% |
|
6 |
Glasgow |
29,897 |
29,472 |
-1.42% |
|
7 |
Swindon |
28,036 |
27,616 |
-1.50% |
|
8 |
Stoke-on-Trent |
15,067 |
14,808 |
-1.72% |
|
9 |
Leicester |
19,987 |
19,620 |
-1.84% |
|
10 |
Blackpool |
12,036 |
11,809 |
-1.89% |
|
11 |
Nottingham |
25,795 |
25,277 |
-2.01% |
|
12 |
Derby |
22,878 |
22,413 |
-2.03% |
|
13 |
Northampton |
20,242 |
19,812 |
-2.12% |
|
14 |
Bradford |
15,289 |
14,958 |
-2.16% |
|
15 |
Dundee |
17,393 |
17,011 |
-2.20% |
|
16 |
Preston |
16,071 |
15,714 |
-2.22% |
|
|
Chester |
20,860 |
20,371 |
-2.34% |
|
|
Top 40 average |
21,195 |
20,694 |
-2.36% |
|
17 |
Milton Keynes |
29,361 |
28,668 |
-2.36% |
|
|
Sittingbourne |
17,625 |
17,185 |
-2.50% |
|
18 |
Bristol |
25,872 |
25,216 |
-2.54% |
|
19 |
Birmingham |
19,584 |
19,074 |
-2.60% |
|
20 |
Brighton |
21,169 |
20,611 |
-2.64% |
|
21 |
Hull |
15,977 |
15,546 |
-2.70% |
|
|
UK Average |
20,911 |
20,341 |
-2.73% |
|
22 |
Southampton |
20,538 |
19,972 |
-2.76% |
|
23 |
Sheffield |
18,011 |
17,510 |
-2.78% |
|
24 |
Plymouth |
16,669 |
16,197 |
-2.83% |
|
25 |
Swansea |
15,412 |
14,974 |
-2.84% |
|
|
Wrexham |
16,531 |
16,061 |
-2.84% |
|
26 |
Sunderland |
16,953 |
16,469 |
-2.85% |
|
27 |
Portsmouth |
21,003 |
20,390 |
-2.92% |
|
28 |
Coventry |
18,595 |
18,032 |
-3.03% |
|
29 |
Newcastle |
18,267 |
17,697 |
-3.12% |
|
30 |
Southend-on-Sea |
15,965 |
15,449 |
-3.23% |
|
31 |
Belfast |
30,819 |
29,816 |
-3.25% |
|
32 |
Manchester |
18,177 |
17,567 |
-3.36% |
|
33 |
Cardiff |
21,599 |
20,864 |
-3.40% |
|
34 |
Leeds |
23,487 |
22,671 |
-3.47% |
|
35 |
Telford |
18,996 |
18,336 |
-3.47% |
|
36 |
Peterborough |
24,238 |
23,394 |
-3.48% |
|
37 |
Wolverhampton |
15,653 |
15,072 |
-3.71% |
|
38 |
Dudley |
15,210 |
14,622 |
-3.87% |
|
39 |
York |
21,111 |
20,221 |
-4.22% |
|
40 |
Luton |
22,941 |
21,829 |
-4.85% |
We produce a range of informative publications focusing on the latest accounting issues. Click to add yourself to our mailing list.
The amount of money put into ISAs has fallen for the first time ever. The total amount of new subscriptions into ISAs in 2011-12 dropped to £53.5billion, down from £53.
The number of businesses that have requested a National Insurance Contribution holiday plummeted to a new low of 400 in December 2012, down 44% from the 710 applications made in the same month the year before. This is the lowest take up of the scheme since January 2011 – just after the scheme launched – and less than a fifth of the 2,235 applications received at the scheme’s peak in October 2011.
The value of mergers and acquisitions targeting private companies has increased 50% in one year, up by £6.1 billion to £18.2 billion.
Businesses are losing out as HMRC’s internal VAT decision review process appears to be making decisions increasingly in HMRC’s favour,
George Osborne presented his Budget on Wednesday 20 March 2013 and there were few surprises. Amongst the detail there were some announcements which affect the charity and not-for-profit sector, and these have generally been warmly received by sector leaders.
Our Sittingbourne rural and agriculture specialists will be exhibiting at Kent AgriExpo on Wednesday 6 March.
Dundee and Aberdeen saw the UK’s biggest booms in household disposable income – the money a household has left to spend or save after taxes and mortgages or rent – over the last five years, according to our latest research.
The biggest increases in tax have fallen very clearly on higher earners. They will face more than £5.5billion in extra taxes over the next five years as a result of the Autumn Statement 2012.
Following the October 2011 Swiss-UK tax agreement, which enters force on 1 January 2013, Swiss banks have begun to send thousands of letters to UK account holders requesting permission to send their account details to HMRC via the Swiss government. UK taxpayers will face huge financial penalties however, if they refuse their bank permission.
This week HMRC will start writing to people who it believes will have income in excess of £50,000 in the current tax year and who may be liable to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
All academies that were unable to include their FRS 17 LGPS valuation as at 31 August 2012 in their WGA returns because the information was not available in time before 28 September should ensure that they complete and file the LGPS Valuation Statement by 31 October.
Academy schools are being ordered to provide extra sets of accounts to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) – the Government’s financial regulator for the academy sector – on top of those already being prepared.
HMRC has cut the interest rate paid on all SAYE employee share schemes to zero per cent, which UHY Hacker Young, the accountancy group, says will discourage employees from investing in the companies they work for.
Our analysis of the recently issued EFA 2011/12 Accounts Direction.
The department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) is now inviting applications for grants of up to £25,000 to enable businesses to buy new machinery and develop green projects.
Andrew Andronikou and Peter Kubik were appointed as Joint Administrators to Convers Sport Initiative plc (CSI).
The YPLA have issued updated guidance on the requirement to complete an Abbreviated Accounts Return (AAR) for 2010/ 11.
HMRC has cut interest rates for employees share saver accounts to zero percent, undermining efforts to encourage employee share ownership, our research warns.
With an agreement between the UK and Swiss tax authorities as to the treatment of undisclosed bank accounts now imminent, there is speculation that this will follow the format of a deal between the Swiss and the Germans announced last week.
Employers have cut job perks, like company cars and fuel, for the fifth consecutive year, according to our data.
The recovery of the AIM market has been knocked off course for a second quarter in a row as the number of companies delisting jumped 50% in Q2 2011 and the money raised in AIM IPOs fell, reveals our latest research.
George Osborne presented his second Budget on Wednesday 23 March 2011. In his statement he said that the “Budget is about reforming the nation’s economy, so that we have enduring growth and jobs in the future”. Our summary of the Budget focuses on the issues likely to affect you, your family and your business.
Calls for the introduction of iXBRL filing to be delayed were recently rejected and HMRC are ready for submissions in the new format from 1 April 2011. Colin Jones, our London partner and specialist in iXBRL filing, breaks down what is required, what you should do and the penalty regime.
