How many recruitment agencies are there in the UK?
There are 63,964 active recruitment agencies with a registered office in the UK, according to Companies House records. 24,278 of them are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months (data to 31 Jan 2026).
These figures last changed on and were last checked against the data on .
- Active companies
- 63,964
- With recent accounts, not dormant
- 24,278
- Employees reported in accounts
- 162,386
- Median net assets
- £7,570
- Data as of
Summary
Of the 63,964 active recruitment agencies registered in the UK, 5,992 are dormant and 24,278 are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months. The figures below describe those 24,278 companies, unless a table says otherwise.
Together, the 17,633 companies that reported at least one employee reported 162,386 employees in their latest accounts. The median among them is 2.
By size of accounts
| Accounts category | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-entity accounts | 12,014 | 49.5% |
| Small company accounts | 12,048 | 49.6% |
| Medium company accounts | 53 | 0.2% |
| Medium or large company accounts | 4 | 0.0% |
| Category not known | 159 | 0.7% |
The category is the type of accounts a company filed, which follows its size. Micro-entities are the smallest.
By number of employees
| Average employees | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| None or not reported | 6,645 | 27.4% |
| 1 to 4 | 13,115 | 54.0% |
| 5 to 9 | 1,821 | 7.5% |
| 10 to 49 | 2,103 | 8.7% |
| 50 to 249 | 559 | 2.3% |
| 250 or more | 35 | 0.1% |
Average employees in the latest accounts. Many small companies have no employees other than their directors, or do not state a number.
By age
| Years since incorporation | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 years | 21,053 | 32.9% |
| 2 to 4 years | 13,957 | 21.8% |
| 5 to 9 years | 14,843 | 23.2% |
| 10 to 19 years | 10,399 | 16.3% |
| 20 years or more | 3,712 | 5.8% |
All active companies, dormant ones included.
By year of incorporation
| Incorporated in | Companies |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,528 |
| 2022 | 4,236 |
| 2023 | 5,890 |
| 2024 | 6,260 |
| 2025 | 8,607 |
Companies incorporated in each year that are still active. Companies that have since closed are not counted, so these are not the numbers formed in each year.
Typical figures
| Figure | Median | Companies reporting it |
|---|---|---|
| Net assets | £7,570 | 19,776 |
| Employees (companies with one or more) | 2 | 17,633 |
| Cash at bank | £24,014 | 10,417 |
| Cash at bank per employee | £6,985 | 8,539 |
| Fixed assets per employee | £1,114 | 8,456 |
The median is the middle company: half report more and half report less. Each median covers only the companies that reported that figure, so it describes those companies and not every company in the industry. A median is shown only when at least 30 companies reported the figure.
8,314 of the 17,277 companies with net assets for two consecutive years (48.1%) reported higher net assets than the year before.
How these figures were produced
- Industry
-
Companies with any of these SIC codes on their Companies House record:
- 78100 – Activities of employment placement agencies
- 78109 – Other activities of employment placement agencies
- 78200 – Temporary employment agency activities
- 78300 – Human resources provision and management of human resources functions
- Location
- Every company on the UK register, wherever its registered office is.
- Active companies
- Companies whose status at Companies House is active. Dissolved companies are not in the data.
- Recent accounts
- Accounts made up to a date in the 21 months before 31 Jan 2026, the newest accounts date in the data.
- Registered addresses
- 7,001 of the 24,278 companies with recent accounts (28.8%) are registered at an address shared by 50 or more companies, such as an accountant's office. Those companies may trade somewhere else.