Other personal service activities (SIC division 96)
Division 96 of the UK SIC 2007 list. It holds 5 codes, listed in full below with the number of active UK companies filed under each.
What sits in division 96
This division puts one of the public record's biggest real trades next to one of its noisiest codes. Hairdressing and beauty treatment under 96020 is a huge, genuine population of salons, barbers and mobile beauticians. Physical well-being businesses such as massage and spa services use 96040. Laundries and dry cleaners use 96010. Funeral directors use 96030. Then there is 96090, other service activities n.e.c. It is a catch-all, picked when nothing else fits. It mixes unrelated businesses together and swells the division without describing it.
Salon and clinic owners buy booking and deposit software, card payment services, insurance, wholesale stock and fit-out finance. Franchise brands recruit from the ambitious end of 96020. A new incorporation often means a stylist or therapist has left employment to rent a chair or open a room. Accountants and insurers convert best at that moment. Funeral businesses attract acquirers looking at succession, and regulated funeral plan partnerships. Handle 96090 on its own. Filter it hard with other signals, or leave it out, because it does not work as a single audience.
How to read a division 96 code
A UK SIC code is five digits and division 96 is the first two of them. Everything filed under 96 shares those digits: all 5 codes below begin 96, then the third digit narrows to a group, the fourth to a class and the fifth to the subclass a company actually picks. Division 96 sits inside section S, other service activities, which is the broadest tier of the classification. So a code is read left to right, from an industry down to a specific activity.
More on how division 96 codes are built
Companies choose their own codes at incorporation and can change them on any confirmation statement, and Companies House does not check the answer. A company may list up to four. That is worth knowing before you treat any division total as a headcount: the numbers here are what companies said about themselves, on the August 2026 register, and the largest single code in this division is 96090, other service activities n.e.c..
Working division 96 as a list
Division 96 holds 5 codes and 236,698 active companies between them. One code carries most of it: 96090 accounts for 59 per cent on its own, and the top three take 97 per cent, with the rest spread across the remaining 2 codes. Filtering by the whole division is therefore close to filtering by 96090 with a tail attached, so start from the code and widen only if the list runs dry.
More on working division 96
A caveat that matters more in some divisions than others: a company may register up to four SIC codes, and the figures below count every position, not just the first. A business filed under two codes in this division appears under both. Treat the totals as reach rather than a headcount, and if you need a clean list, filter to companies whose FIRST code sits in the division. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Every SIC code in division 96
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Division 96 questions
What SIC code should a mobile beautician or barber use?
Use 96020. It covers hairdressing and other beauty treatment, whether you work from a salon, a rented chair or clients' homes. So it suits mobile operators as well as premises-based ones. Registration is self-declared with no approval process, and you can change the code later on a confirmation statement (CS01). Therapists focused on massage or wellness sometimes choose 96040 instead, or hold both within the 4-code limit.
Why is 96090 attached to so many unrelated companies?
Code 96090 is the n.e.c. catch-all for services. Founders who cannot find a matching code, or who do not look hard, settle on it. Companies House accepts any declared code without checking. That is how dog walkers, celebrants and consultants end up sharing a classification. If your company sits there by accident, swap in a more specific code at your next confirmation statement.
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