The United Kingdom’s management consulting industry has grown by 8.3% last year, its second fastest rate of growth since the financial crisis. Although less optimistic than a year ago, three out of four UK consulting firms expect demand for management consulting services to increase in the next 12-24 months.


Most consulting firms in the UK (86%) said that consultancy activity had met or exceeded expectations in the past 12 months, according to data release by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA). The association for the UK’s consulting industry surveyed some 500 consultants for its analysis, including managing directors, partners and heads of consulting at generalist companies.


Over a third of consultancies (34%) ended the year exceeding their initial growth expectations, despite the political and economic turmoil of last year felt by the Brits. Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of the MCA, said on the development; “The consulting industry continued to experience strong growth and meet the increasing demands from public and private sector clients.”
With 8% growth, the UK’s consulting market roughly matches the growth of Germany’s consulting industry in 2019, but sees the French outpace its performance by nearly 3%. According to Syntec Conseil – the MCA’s counterpart for France – the French consulting market enjoyed a 11% boom in revenue to reach a total market value of just over €8 billion.

https://www.consultancy.eu/news/3714/uk-management-consulting-industry-grows-by-8

  • The Management Consultants industry covers a broad range of consulting services, including strategic and organisational planning, marketing, IT and human resource consulting and business process management. Industry revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 2.4% over the five years through 2018-19.
  • Most consulting firms in the UK (86%) said that consultancy activity had met or exceeded expectations in the past 12 months, according to data release by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA). The association for the UK’s consulting industry surveyed some 500 consultants for its analysis, including managing directors, partners and heads of consulting at generalist companies.
  • Over a third of consultancies (34%) ended the year exceeding their initial growth expectations, despite the political and economic turmoil of last year felt by the Brits. Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of the MCA, said on the development; “The consulting industry continued to experience strong growth and meet the increasing demands from public and private sector clients.”
  • With 8% growth, the UK’s consulting market roughly matches the growth of Germany’s consulting industry in 2019, but sees the French outpace its performance by nearly 3%. According to Syntec Conseil – the MCA’s counterpart for France – the French consulting market enjoyed a 11% boom in revenue to reach a total market value of just over €8 billion.
  • The UK’s comparatively strong recent economic performance might be about to stall, even though the UK’s performance is still continuing the positive growth of recent times. In August this year, the Bank of England reduced its forecast for 2017 growth to 1.7%. Whether this cooling foreshadows a recession is contentious. The range of commentary on the UK’s prospects varies enormously.
  • The MCA estimates that this is perhaps 50-55% of the total market, then the total value of the UK consulting market is likely to be in the £8-10 Billion range. The British MC turnover has increased on average by more than 8.0% per year since 2013, with a growth rate of 4.8% in 2016, making it one of the fastest growing markets in Europe. MCA member rms are employing roughly 32,000 employees, approximately 92% of them are professionals and 8% are supporting staff.
  • The net rate of return for private non-financial corporations’ (PNFCs) was 12.3% in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2019, slightly up from the estimate of 12.2% for Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2018.
  • The net rate of return for manufacturing companies fell to 12.2% in Quarter 1 2019, down 2.1 percentage points from the previous quarter’s net rate of return of 14.3%.

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