The UK consulting market – which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern-Ireland – is worth around £10 billion, making it Europe’s second largest consultancy base. Growth has been strong in recent years, ranging between 6% and 10%. According to data from the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) the consulting market of the UK ranks among the fastest growing advisory markets in Europe. In 2012, total fee income of the sector was estimated at £7.4 billion, and on the back of solid years on year growth, the consulting industry is currently worth circa £10 billion, including all consultancies (also unregistered with the MCA).
The UK employs around 63,000 professionals within the consulting industry, of which around 94% of are actually consultants, and the other remaining 6% are supporting staff according to the Management Consultancies Association. The Management Consultancies Association is the representative body for the management consulting industry. Their 56 members represent around 60% of the consulting industry in the UK, as measured by fee income. The MCA work right across the public sector and work closely alongside a lot of the highly-capped FTSE 100 companies. They monitor and review the performance and operations of UK consultancies through various methods, such as the undertaking of surveys focused upon consultancies within the UK.
The results of this survey suggest that the UK’s economy is growing and performing relatively steadily since the crash in 2007-2008, growing at an average of around 1% per annum as shown in the graph below. But this improvement steady growth and performance must be sustained and developed within a rapidly changing environment. However, huge issues surrounding the public-sector deficits, the future of the European Union and the UK’s relationship with the EU, after the leave Brexit vote, still loom over us. The UK’s consulting industry is rising to these challenges by helping and encouraging clients to grow their businesses and innovate, by helping government reform and the cutting of costs.
The pie chart above demonstrates the weighting towards the consultation within the top ranked industry sectors. Making up 33% of the consulting distribution, it is clear to see that the financial services sector receives the highest volume of consulting, though this is not based on service line and is based on consultancy overall. It can clearly be seen that both financial services and Government and public sector consulting make up the majority of 55% of the consulting sector overall.
