Guides / Data from Companies House, updated
How many recruitment agencies are there in the UK?
32,846. And for every 10 that opened this year, 11 closed.
From January to September 2026, 3,673 new agencies registered and 4,066 were dissolved: the first year since our count began in 2023 that closures have overtaken new agencies.
CandidatesRising for three and a half years. Recruiters we spoke to raised clients’ time more often than finding people.
Roles from clientsPermanent placements fell for 45 months in a row.
Are UK recruitment agencies closing?
−27%New agencies, January to September 2026, compared with the same months of 2023.
+38%Agencies closed over the same months, compared with 2023.
2.5 yearsThe median age of the agencies that closed this year. 36% were under two.
Why are recruitment agencies closing?
Agencies aren’t short of candidates. They’re short of clients.
Candidates risingPlacements fallingPlacements risingFlat or falling
Permanent fees are most of a small agency’s income, and there were fewer placements to earn them. KPMG and REC
Employer National Insurance rose from 13.8% to 15% in April 2025, and the threshold fell from £9,100 to £5,000. Staffing Industry Analysts
With candidate supply rising and graduate vacancies at a record low, clients with hundreds of applicants per ad fill roles themselves. HRD Connect
Each square is one month, showing direction of change only, from the KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs. Permanent placements have now risen for two months running.
What are the biggest challenges for recruiters?
We asked agency recruiters on LinkedIn and on calls what slows their desk down. Share of the problems they raised:
A placement died on time: the client’s head of talent went away for two weeks at final stage, came back with a lower offer, and the candidate took another job.
Recruiter at a global IT recruitment firm
Hundreds of people apply to each ad. The hard part is replying to all of them without ghosting anyone.
Agency recruiter who advertises roles
We rarely advertise now. Ads bring so many irrelevant applications that we headhunt on LinkedIn instead.
Talent acquisition lead at a growing firm
Hamrr’s own research with agency recruiters, September to October 2026. Quotes are paraphrased and anonymised. Themes partly reflect the questions we asked: one of our opening questions was about handing candidates to hiring managers.
Recruitment industry statistics, UK
| Year | Opened | Closed | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6,665 | 3,909 | +2,756 |
| 2024 | 5,981 | 4,571 | +1,410 |
| 2025 | 5,393 | 5,174 | +219 |
| January to September 2026 | 3,673 | 4,066 | -393 |
Fewer opening and more closing every year since 2023.
How many recruitment agencies are in London?
8,873 active agencies have a London registered office, 27% of the UK total. That’s where agencies register, not always where they work.
| City in the registered office address | Active agencies |
|---|---|
| London | 8,873 |
| Birmingham | 880 |
| Manchester | 792 |
| Leeds | 513 |
| Bristol | 474 |
| Glasgow | 304 |
| Liverpool | 240 |
| Edinburgh | 221 |
What is the success rate of a new recruitment agency?
Of every 100 agencies registered in 2023, 58 have already closed.
Of 2024’s new agencies, 45 in 100 have gone. The second year is the one to plan for.
Is agency recruitment a dying industry?
No, but it is getting harder at the edges. There are still 32,846 active agencies and new ones register every month. What has changed is the balance: fewer are starting, more are closing.
Our view: the desks that last treat every candidate they’ve worked with as a way into a new client.
It pitches the candidates you’ve already worked with to past clients, firms you name, and firms with fresh ads, news or funding. Nothing goes out until you press Send.
See how Hunt worksStarting a recruitment agency in the UK?
The numbers say plan for year two, not year one. Your first clients usually follow you from your last job; the agencies that survive build a second wave before the first runs out. Our guide to recruitment business development without a BD team sets out a weekly plan, and how to send a spec CV covers the first step.
How we count, and using these figures
We count companies on the Companies House register whose nature of business includes SIC 78109, “other activities of employment placement agencies”, the code most permanent recruitment agencies choose. A company counts as opened in the month it was incorporated and closed in the month it was dissolved. We leave out SIC 78200, temporary employment agencies, because it also covers umbrella and payroll companies. Not every registered company trades, so read these as the shape of the market rather than an exact census.
Quote the figures, chart them or download them. Please credit “Hamrr analysis of Companies House data” and link to this page. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Download the CSVQuestions
How many recruitment agencies are there in the UK?
32,846 active companies on the Companies House register list SIC 78109, the code for recruitment (employment placement) agencies, as of 24 October 2026. Not every one trades, and some agencies use other codes, so treat it as the size of the register rather than an exact count.
How many recruitment agencies are in London?
8,873 active recruitment agencies have a London registered office, about 27% of the UK total.
How many recruitment agencies closed in 2026?
4,066 were dissolved from January to September 2026, 38% more than in the same months of 2023. Over the same months 3,673 new agencies registered.
What is the success rate of a new recruitment agency?
42% of the recruitment agencies registered in 2023 are still on the register; 58% have been dissolved. Agencies that closed in 2026 were a median of 2.5 years old.
Is agency recruitment a dying industry?
No, but it is shrinking at the edges. There are still 32,846 active agencies, and new ones open every month. Fewer are starting than in 2023 and more are closing, so the agencies that keep winning clients face fewer new competitors.