Management Consultancies Association data shows the UK consulting sector is strengthening its international footprint, with export earnings rising by 9% as demand grows for digital transformation, AI, and cyber security advice.
The MCA’s Annual Industry Report 2026, published with Oxford Economics, shows consulting companies expect revenue growth of 6% in 2026 and 8% in 2027. The forecasts point to a sector returning to growth after a more subdued period for client spending and delayed transformation work.
Exports are becoming a larger part of that recovery. The MCA said UK consulting is strengthening its position as a global hub for advisory work, with international demand supporting growth as companies and public sector organisations navigate technology change, geopolitical disruption, cost pressure, and operational resilience.
The sector is also continuing to hire early-stage talent. Graduate recruitment rose by 10%, while apprentice hiring increased by 31%. Experienced hires accounted for 37% of new recruits among MCA member companies, suggesting that consulting businesses are balancing entry-level investment with demand for specialist capability.
The growth expectations sit against a more fragile UK services backdrop. Recent purchasing managers’ data showed the UK services sector contracting in June, with weak demand, geopolitical uncertainty, and cost pressure weighing on activity. Business confidence surveys have also pointed to a difficult second half of the year, particularly as the effects of the Iran conflict feed through energy, supply chain, and customer demand assumptions.
Consulting demand often behaves differently from the wider economy. In stronger conditions, clients spend on expansion, deals, customer programmes, market entry, and large-scale transformation. During periods of volatility, advisory budgets often concentrate around cost reduction, resilience, technology control, restructuring, cyber protection, regulatory change, and operating model redesign. The current market contains elements of both.
Digital transformation remains a core demand line, although the phrase now covers a narrower and more demanding set of expectations than it did during earlier waves of corporate modernisation. Clients are looking for measurable productivity gains, simpler operations, better data infrastructure, AI deployment, customer service redesign, and stronger controls over technology risk. Consulting companies that can connect strategy to implementation are likely to be better placed than those selling high-level advice alone.
AI is one of the clearest drivers of that change. Many organisations are experimenting with generative AI, automation, and agentic systems, but adoption remains uneven. Boards want productivity gains, while management teams have to manage data quality, model risk, workforce effects, procurement, cyber exposure, customer trust, and governance. That creates demand for advisory work that sits between technology, operations, HR, finance, legal, and risk.
Cyber security has become similarly central. Large cyber incidents across major UK organisations have pushed resilience higher up board agendas, while supply chains, legacy systems, third-party access, and AI-enabled threats are making risk harder to contain. Consulting companies with cyber, data, and operational recovery capability are benefiting from a market where resilience is increasingly treated as a core business function rather than a technical add-on.
The rise in exports also reflects the UK’s position in professional services. British consultancies can draw on deep financial services, infrastructure, public sector, technology, and regulatory expertise, and many have relationships with multinational clients. International demand from North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe gives the sector a route to growth even when domestic demand is cautious.
International exposure carries its own risk. Export demand can be affected by geopolitical instability, currency movements, trade restrictions, changes in public sector spending, and the investment cycles of global clients. Consulting growth built on cross-border demand needs delivery capacity, local market knowledge, and the ability to compete with global advisory groups that already have scale in target regions.
The recruitment data is notable because the sector has been debating how AI will change junior consulting work. Analysts and consultants have traditionally learned through research, modelling, slide preparation, benchmarking, and project support. AI can automate parts of that work, but the MCA’s figures suggest companies are still investing in early-stage talent. Training will need to place greater weight on judgement, client handling, industry understanding, and implementation skills rather than only on producing materials that software can now accelerate.
The expected recovery does not signal a simple return to the post-pandemic surge years. Clients are more disciplined, budgets are tighter, and procurement teams are scrutinising outcomes more closely. Projects are likely to be judged on delivery, savings, revenue impact, risk reduction, and adoption rather than ambition alone.
The MCA figures show a sector adapting to a more demanding market. Growth is returning, but it is being shaped by international work, technology, resilience, and more selective client spending. Consulting companies that can prove measurable change will have an advantage. Those still reliant on large, discretionary transformation programmes may find the recovery more uneven.
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