The number of inward investment projects recorded in the UK fell by more than a quarter in 2025-26, although the number of new jobs associated with those investments remained almost unchanged.
Updated Department for Business and Trade statistics show 1,020 inward investment projects during the financial year, down 25.8% from 1,375 in 2024-25.
The employment figures were considerably more resilient. Projects were estimated to have created 69,166 new jobs, a decline of just 0.3%, while the number of safeguarded jobs increased by 60.9% to 16,407.
The difference indicates that fewer recorded projects did not result in a comparable decline in associated employment. Project counts and job numbers alone, however, do not establish whether the total monetary value of investment increased or decreased.
Of the 1,020 projects, 453 came from investors new to the UK and 567 from existing overseas investors expanding or making additional investments.
London recorded the largest regional total, with 326 projects and 14,261 associated new jobs. The East of England recorded the fastest percentage increase in new jobs, rising 211.2% from the previous year to 5,216.
Projects spanning multiple UK locations accounted for 23,816 new jobs, highlighting the limits of assessing inward investment solely through individual regional totals.
Software and computer services attracted the largest number of projects by sector, while environment, infrastructure, and transportation generated the highest number of new jobs.
Foreign investment decisions are influenced by market access, skills, regulation, taxation, energy costs, infrastructure, planning, political stability, and the availability of suitable sites. Changes in project volumes can therefore reflect several domestic and international factors at once.
The DBT measure is different from foreign direct investment expressed in pounds. Its statistics count qualifying projects rather than adding together the total financial value of international capital flows.
A very large factory or data-centre development can therefore count as one project in the same headline figure as a much smaller qualifying expansion.
That methodological distinction is important when interpreting a 25.8% fall. The relatively stable new-job total suggests the average employment effect of the projects recorded during the year was higher than in the previous period.
The increase in safeguarded jobs adds another dimension. Those positions represent existing employment retained as a result of investment rather than entirely new roles, suggesting more activity may have involved maintaining or expanding established UK operations.
Existing overseas investors accounted for a majority of projects. Reinvestment is important because companies already operating in Britain repeatedly decide where to place their next office, production line, laboratory, warehouse, data centre, or regional function.
Those decisions can have effects comparable with attracting a new entrant. A country can continue winning initial investments while losing subsequent expansions to other locations, limiting the longer-term economic value of its existing international business base.
The sector breakdown reflects the changing composition of inward investment. Software and computer services continue to generate substantial numbers of projects, while infrastructure-related developments can create larger direct workforces and longer supply chains.
Regional effects also vary considerably. London attracts high volumes of financial, technology, professional, and headquarters activity. Manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and logistics investments can have a larger relative impact elsewhere because individual projects represent a greater share of local employment and capital spending.
The latest figures therefore present a mixed picture. The UK attracted substantially fewer recorded projects, but new jobs were broadly stable and safeguarded employment increased sharply.
That resilience does not make the decline in project numbers irrelevant. A smaller pipeline reduces the number of investments from which future expansions, supplier activity, productivity gains, and additional employment may emerge.
The next annual releases will show whether 2025-26 marked a temporary reduction or the beginning of a sustained decline in project volumes. Maintaining employment from fewer investments supports the near-term picture, while the strength of the future pipeline will determine whether those gains can continue.
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