80% Micro
15% Small
4% Mid
2% Large
0% Mega
INSIGHTS - APRIL 2025
UK Education Industry
UK Education Industry Information
The education industry provides academic courses, instruction and support for pre-primary, primary, secondary technical and vocational, and higher education levels but also includes sports and cultural education and driving schools.
Active Businesses
96,109
Annual Sales
£138bn +
Employees
1,545,640
Economic Contribution
£127bn
Tags
Location of Education Companies
Education Companies by Size
Education Companies by Age
32% Young
28% Startup
27% Established
12% Mature
0% New
Oldest Education Companies
Established
Brighton College
1873
Fastest Growing Education Companies
36% Declining
22% Healthy
19% Rapid
14% High
10% Low
Fastest Growing Education Companies
3yr CAGR
Day One Trust
1653%
Education Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers
Education Industry Valuation
EBITDA Multiple
Education Industry Valuation
Turnover Multiple
Education Industry Valuation
Net Asset Multiple
Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Education Industry Insights
There are 96,109 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £138 billion .
The Industry employs around 1,545,640 people and contributes £127 billion to the economy.
The most popular location for Education companies is London with 29,247 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 1,108.
The largest Education company is Day One Trust with a turnover of £33.2bn. 80% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 4% Mid companies.
12% of the Education Industry is made up of 12% Mature but the majority are Young businesses (32%) the oldest company is The Liverpool College Foundation founded in 1869.
Education industry has a number of high growth companies (14%), the fastest growing company is Day One Trust with a 3 year growth rate of 1653%. Other fast growing companies include Ditchley Foundation(the) (297%), Human Capability Foundation (162%) and Northern Lights Learning Trust (153%).
The UK Education Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 10.18x, Turnover multiple of 1.78x and a Net Asset multiple of 2.83x.
