INSIGHTS - APRIL 2024

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

25,574

Annual Sales

£21bn +

Employees

471,117

Economic Contribution 

£11bn

Tags

Location of Social Work Companies

Social Work Companies by Size

74% Micro

23% Small

2% Mid

1% Large

0% Mega

Largest Social Work Companies
Turnover
Barnardo's
£315.3m
Social Work Companies by Age

28% Young

27% Established

27% Startup

17% Mature

0% New

Fastest Growing Social Work Companies

36% Declining

21% Healthy

19% Rapid

13% High

11% Low

Social Work Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers

Social Work Industry Valuation

EBITDA Multiple

Social Work Industry Valuation

Turnover Multiple

Social Work Industry Valuation

Net Asset Multiple

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 25,574 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £21 billion .

The Industry employs around 471,116 people and contributes £11 billion to the economy.

The most popular location for Social Work companies is London with 6,862 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 446.

The largest Social Work company is Save The Children International with a turnover of £1.3bn. 74% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 2% Mid companies.

17% of the Social Work Industry is made up of 17% Mature but the majority are Young businesses (28%) the oldest company is Guild Of St.george(the) founded in 1878.

Social Work industry has a number of high growth companies (13%), the fastest growing company is Barking And Dagenham Giving with a 3 year growth rate of 195%. Other fast growing companies include Fedcap Employment Limited (125%), Uk Curriculum And Accreditation Body (Ukcab) (111%) and Balmoral Homecare Ltd (102%).

The UK Social Work Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 14.26x, Turnover multiple of 1.60x and a Net Asset multiple of 4.00x.