About the Business Services Industry
The business services market is inherently difficult to define although one of the best ways to define this sector is to look at outsourced services. Services range from facilities management, contract catering services, contract cleaning services, advertising, market research and many more services which are provided by companies and outsourced.
For the information provided on the UK outsourcing market in this abstract, let's take the definition of outsourcing to be defined as two different criteria:
An "outsourced" service is an activity governed by an on-going or time-specific agreement involving a degree of delegation of management responsibility. It would also have to be a service more typically provided by an in-house team of the customer themselves or expected to have been more typically provided in that way in the past.
The UK business services market or outsourced service market is estimated to be valued at £115 million with the business services or outsourced services sector in the UK employing a total of 3.1 million people. The business services sector accounts for approximately 10% of all people employed in the United Kingdom.
The following table lists the individual business services and outsourced sectors in their respective market value in the United Kingdom.
Table 1: Outsourced Business Services Market Value in the UK, 2009| £ Bn per annum, 2009 (excl imports and net of product taxes) | Turnover |
|---|
| Public Sector Work | Private Sector Work | Total |
|---|
| IT and data-related services | 6.7 | 35.0 | 41.7 |
| Catering (food services management) | 1.6 | 1.5 | 3.1 |
| Combined facilities management | 1.1 | 6.2 | 7.3 |
| Property services / maintenance / cleaning | 17.3 | 21.7 | 39.0 |
| Property portfolio / real estate management | 0.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Security services | 4.6 | 2.7 | 7.3 |
| Warehousing / storage | 0.2 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Employment placement / agency activities | 3.4 | 19.2 | 22.6 |
| Call centre operations / customer care | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Other office / administrative support services | 3.8 | 21.4 | 25.1 |
| Business consultancy / advisory services | 0.6 | 5.7 | 6.2 |
| Technical / engineering / scientific services | 3.0 | 5.7 | 8.7 |
| Waste Management | 6.3 | - | 6.3 |
| Services related to public transport | 4.3 | - | 4.3 |
| Educational services | 1.5 | - | 1.5 |
| Health-related services | 11.9 | - | 11.9 |
| Residential care and social work | 15.4 | - | 15.4 |
| Total | 82.0 | 125.0 | |
| As % economy-wide output | | | 8.0 |
IT and Data-related Services in the UK
The combined value of computer programming, IT consulting and data processing, hosting and related activities including webportals totalled £67 billion in 2009 and it is known from taking the latest 2008 figures from the National Accounts that 62% of total sales by the broader "computer services" sector went to intermediate users rather than final consumers. A total of 10% of total sales within this sector are accounted for by public sector-type industries.
Based on the above figures, it is therefore estimated that the total outsourced IT services market was worth about £41.7 billion in 2009, with approximately £6.7 billion of this total being associated with the public sector.
Catering Services in the UK
The total catering services market in the UK is estimated to be worth an estimated £48.3 billion with the total outsourced in the catering services market totalling £5.6 billion. By taking information from the British Hospitality Association the total food and service management sector was valued at approximately £4.2 billion in 2009. Out of this figure, you can exclude £0.75 billion of non-catering services within this overall total. In terms of meals served, 9.5% were non-outsourced, 47.5% were public sector outsourced, with the private sector outsourced services accounting for the remaining 43%.
Facilities Managment in the UK
In 2009, the turnover of facilities management services in the UK totalled £7.3 billion and on the basis that all of this should be counted as "outsourced", this figure remains the same for the market size of outsourced facilities management services. Out of this figure, it is estimated that £1.1 billion sales is sourced from the public sector with the remaining sales being taken up by the private sector in the UK.
Property Services including Maintenance and Cleaning in the UK
In 2009, total turnover of the management of real estate totalled £8.3 billion with the outsourced element of this market sector totalling £2.2 billion of which £2.1 billion is in the private sector and £0.1 billion in the public sector.
Business Consultancy and Advisory Services
In 2009, the total turnover of firms classified as providing management consultancy services totalled £40.5 billion of which £1.8 billion is estimated to have been earned from public relations and communications activities. Information sourced from national accounts in 2008 split the market as follows with 5% of the sales sourced from intermediate demand by public secotr-type industries, 87% from intermediate demand by other industries and 8% sourced from final demand.
As a result, it can be determined that approximately £6.2 billion can be attributed to outsourced business consultancy services. Out of this outsourced estimate, £5.7 billion of revenue is estimated to be sourced from the private sector and £0.8 billion from the publi sector in 2009.
Educational Services in the UK
The total expenditure on educational services in the UK is estimated to total £110.4 billion in 2009 with approximately 50% or £53.0 billion being spent on final government consumption or state schooling etc. The final consumption of non-profit institutions is estimated to total £20.8 billion. The following table provides a breakdown of educational services expenditure in the UK by user category and type of provider.
Table 2: Educational Services Market Expenditure by User and Provider in the UK, 2009| User Category | Value, 2009 (£Bn) | Provider | Value, 2009 (£Bn) |
|---|
| Exported services | 2.2 | Imported Services | 0.6 |
| Final household consumption (private schooling etc) | 11.3 | Private commercial providers | 15.3 |
| Intermediate consumption (job training etc): private sector | 8.9 |
| Final consumption: non-profit (university study etc) | 20.8 | Not-for-profit providers (universities etc) | 13.9 |
| Final government consumption (state schooling etc) | 53.0 | Bodies classified to the public sector (local authorities etc) | 80.6 |
| Intermediate consumption (job training etc): public sector | 14.1 |
| Total | 110.4 | Total | 110.4 |