INSIGHTS - MARCH 2025

UK Social Work Industry

UK Social Work Industry Information

The social work industry provides non-residential, social assistance services to those in need such as the elderly and disabled, child day care centres and other specialist needs.

Active Businesses

26,744

Annual Sales

£23bn +

Employees

491,473

Economic Contribution 

£12bn

Tags

Location of Social Work Companies

Social Work Companies by Size

72% Micro

24% Small

2% Mid

1% Large

0% Mega

Social Work Companies by Age

28% Established

28% Young

26% Startup

18% Mature

0% New

Fastest Growing Social Work Companies

35% Declining

22% Healthy

19% Rapid

14% High

11% Low

Social Work Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers

Social Work Industry Valuation

EBITDA Multiple

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Social Work Industry Valuation

Turnover Multiple

Data only available to Pomanda Pro subscribers.

Social Work Industry Valuation

Net Asset Multiple

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Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Social work activities without accommodation Industry Insights

There are 26,744 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of  £23 billion .

The Industry employs around 491,472 people and contributes £12 billion to the economy.

The most popular location for Social Work companies is London with 7,272 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 464.

The largest Social Work company is Save The Children International with a turnover of £1.2bn. 72% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 2% Mid companies.

18% of the Social Work Industry is made up of 18% Mature but the majority are Established businesses (28%) the oldest company is Guild Of St.george(the) founded in 1878.

Social Work industry has a number of high growth companies (14%), the fastest growing company is Human Capability Foundation with a 3 year growth rate of 162%. Other fast growing companies include Barking And Dagenham Giving (116%), Fedcap Employment Limited (104%) and Uk Curriculum And Accreditation Body (Ukcab) (66%).

The UK Social Work Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 14.31x, Turnover multiple of 1.60x and a Net Asset multiple of 3.63x.