More UK businesses plan to outsource to get around rising costs
Despite rising wages in finance in recent years, skills gaps persist across many organisations, helping fuel interest in outsourcing. New data from S&W’s latest Business Owners Sentiment Survey (The BOSS) shows strong interest in farming out internal functions.
In total, the survey of owners running businesses with at least £5 million revenue found more than six in ten seeking to outsource functions. About one in six (16%) planned to do so within a year. Moreover, one in five already said they were already outsourcing internal functions.
In part, that’s likely to be driven by rising wages. Finance is a good example. Accounting jobs site GAAPweb’s 2025 Salary Survey found significant rises in average salaries, with senior roles such as chief finance officers, particularly, reporting substantial hikes. Others suggest a more mixed picture, but few doubt that some experts are commanding high salaries.
Costs, constraints and skills shortages
While costs can make a compelling case for outsourcing, it’s far from the only driver. Just as often, the issue is not cost, but availability. Widespread reports of skills shortages persist in areas like finance.
Research commissioned by the Association of Accounting Technicians earlier this year found 34% of employers struggled to recruit these positions. The BOSS, more generally, found labour and skills shortages just as much of an issue as rising staff costs among British business owners.
The findings also show widespread concern for staffing issues going forward. Significant numbers of business owners fear both skills shortages generally and the loss of critical employees specifically over the coming year.
For these reasons, interest in outsourcing is likely to persist even if salary pressures ease. In fact, it’s more likely, if anything, to grow – a prediction based on three other, related issues: Continuity, complexity and value, S&W said.
