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
UK: Key themes 2026 – Sluggish growth and fiscal worries
We think 2026 will be another challenging year for the UK economy – our GDP growth forecast of 1% is at the bottom of the consensus. Four themes will be key to the outlook, in our view.
Find Out More
Nordics: Key themes 2026 – Bright spots emerging
We forecast growth across the Nordic economies to diverge somewhat next year but share the same underlying drivers.
Find Out More
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
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