Recent Release | 01 Dec 2022

The State of the Nation: The UK Family Business Sector 2021–22

Economic Consulting Team

Oxford Economics

During the pandemic and in its aftermath, the UK family business sector has remained a core part of the UK economy. In this report, we present new insights about the sector and highlight its economic contribution.

The 4.8 million family firms in the UK made up 85.9% of all private sector businesses in 2020. Through their daily operations, they employed 13.9 million workers—51.5% of private sector employment. They also contributed £575 billion in GVA.

This latest report also presents new evidence on the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on family businesses, and how it impacted their operations and performance. It also looks to the future, outlining how family firms are feeling about the post-pandemic economy, and how they are considering issues such as Brexit, energy usage, and technology adoption.

About the team

Our Economic Consulting team are world leaders in quantitative economic analysis, working with clients around the globe and across sectors to build models, forecast markets and evaluate interventions using state-of-the art techniques. Lead consultants on this project were:

Ian Saxon

Associate Director, Economic Impact

Ankur Desai

Economist, Economic Impact

You might be interested in

Little by little—Manchester is closing the output gap

Greater Manchester has led the UK economy since 2008, driven by knowledge jobs, transport upgrades, and housing growth—but can prosperity reach its outer districts?

Find Out More
nuclear and data centre
Powering the UK Data Boom: The Nuclear Solution to the UK’s Data Centre Energy Crunch

The UK’s data centre sector is expanding rapidly as digitalisation, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI) drive surging demand for high-performance computing infrastructure.

Find Out More
UK Budget papers over the cracks but can’t hide the fiscal risks

The UK Budget featured a backloaded tightening of fiscal policy via a series of tax rises. Given most of the tightening is pencilled in for 2029, which is an election year, we're sceptical it will be fully implemented when the time comes.

Find Out More
How can tax and finance leaders build agile functions that thrive?

Building continuous transformation into tax and finance functions can equip them to use AI, adding rich, deep insight and value to businesses.

Find Out More
[autopilot_shortcode]