MCA Annual Industry Report 2026

Oxford Economics cooperated with the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) to estimate their contribution to the UK economy and society. The results are published in the MCA’s Annual Industry Report 2026. It is the most detailed study of the consulting profession in the UK and provides and unrivalled assessment of the performance of the leading consulting firms.

Some of the standout results are that MCA member firms generated £10.9bn in fee income in 2025. As MCA membership represents around half of the UK consulting industry, this suggests that the total size of the market is approximately £21.8bn. In 2025, average fee income across MCA member firms who reported both last year and this year increased by an average of 3%. This overall figure masks a mixed performance across the sector: 52% of members reported growth; 1% remained unchanged; and 46% recorded a decline.

Among MCA member firms providing comparable data for both 2024 and 2025, export earnings increased by 9%, exceeding the growth in domestic fee income and outpacing the wider UK business services sector, which recorded growth of 6% over the same period. Exports accounted for 31% of total fee income in 2025, a modest increase on the previous year. However, export activity remains uneven across the membership base. In 2025, 61% of firms reported generating income from overseas markets with an average total share income of 28%.