Monday 23rd June 2025
How UK businesses are outsourcing their way through tough economic times
Let’s face it: with inflation constantly in the news, National Insurance rates rising and wage costs going up, UK small businesses are feeling the squeeze. In 2023, 48% of UK companies outsourced at least one business function – which is roughly a third higher than pre pandemic (from insights.tailintpartners.com). Among B2B firms, a whopping 70% outsourced their core operations – including HR, IT and finance (from bachasoftware.com).
Forecasts for 2025 show that Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the UK will generate around £3 billion more than previous years, with 57% of organisations planning to increase what they spend on outsourcing (from news.outsourcingaccelerator.com).
There are a few reasons why business are making the decision to outsource their core operations and it’s not just about the money they can save. Keeping control of costs, during a time when the pressure on UK business increases outsourcing key back office functions cuts down on overheads, which is a priority for many business owners. But outsourcing also allows businesses to tap into specialist skills that they don’t currently have in-house. Niche freelance experts, offer businesses the chance to take advantage of working with someone with specialist knowledge and expertise, who can come straight in and get the job done, with little to no input required. All whilst offering flexibility and excellent value for money.
Another reason businesses find outsourcing to be so beneficial to them, is that outsourcing core admin tasks allows them to free up more of their time. Thus giving themselves the opportunity to focus on innovation and growth, or on the tasks they actually went into business to do in the first place! When tasks are outsourced they are completed more efficiently – hundreds of emails can be responded to or deleted in just a few hours, when they are the sole focus of a freelance virtual assistant, as opposed to a busy business owner, who may take weeks to complete the same task (in the meantime hundreds more emails come in and are demanding their attention).
Choosing to outsource, allows business to be flexible and adapt to changing markets – it allows them to grow without committing to hiring full time staff. It also gets rid of the need to spend money they can’t afford, on the recruitment or the hiring process, and there is no lengthy induction or training period to get through, before work is being completed. Help is just a short meeting and a contract away.
When the boring bits, admin, IT, HR etc, are taken care of, business owners can focus on their customers, on their work output and all the other essential factors that drive growth and profit for their business. As outsourcing continues to grow in the UK, and working with freelance professionals becomes the new normal, more businesses see the potential that outsourcing offers them. Agile, efficient, cost effective and with specialist knowledge, freelancers offer a flexible, cost effective and expert solution to admin overload, for businesses of any size.
