Providing professional services to the world

Exports from UK professional services amounted to £39.1bn in 2020 and generated £25.5bn of trade surplus. This marked an increase of £3bn from 2019 – up from £22.5bn – despite the backdrop of a challenging year.

Professional services continues to be a key contributor to the UK economy, exporting over 3 times the worth of professional services than it imported, and accounting for nearly one-fifth of the entire UK services trade surplus. Combined with financial services, UK financial and professional services generated a joint surplus of £89.2bn in 2020 – just over two-thirds of the entire UK services surplus.

At the end of 2020, foreign direct investment (FDI) stock held in UK professional services was valued at £65.1bn – a 49% increase since 2017. Through sharing and developing our professional services expertise, the UK can continue to build and strengthen trade and investment links across the world.

£25.5bn trade surplus in 2020