BSA report targets policy makers and press

19 November 2008

A new report tracing the economic and social impact outsourcing and the business services industry has on the UK, has been launched by the BSA. Called Outsourced and Business Services – A UK Success Story, it assesses how the industry operates across the private and public sectors.

Styled as a glossy corporate report, the publication brings together the disparate statistics on the size and benefit of the industry to the national economy with real case study examples and images of the sector at work. It highlights how outsoruced and business services make arguably the largest contribution to the economy of any sector, contributing nearly 10 per cent of total UK Gross Value Added, and employing 1 in 7 workers. It contributed £18bn in surplus to the UK’s trade balance in 2005. The support services sector was estimated to be worth more than £303bn in 2007, with growth of 8 per cent from 2002 - 2006.

The report is intended to help promote a better understanding about the scope and scale of the industry – both to the industry itself but also to the wider audience of politicians, policy makers and journalists. The UK is a world leader in outsourcing, home to almost a fifth of all outsourcing contracts and the contribution of the outsourced and business services industry to the UK economy as a whole taken across the private and public sectors, is greater than all other industry sectors in terms of output and number of people employed.

BSA Chief Executive Mark Fox said: “The industry drives choice, innovation and diversity. It is an industry of high professional standards with a strong ethic of service and delivery. This report will help promote greater understanding of the scope and scale of one of the UK’s most successful and dynamic industries. At this moment of economic and political uncertainty the UK outsource and business service industry has a significant role to play in helping sustain investment, generate employment and raising standards.”

Copies can be obtained from BSA