Statistics
UK trade and local service marketing statistics
Every figure on this page names its publisher, the years the data actually covers, the country it applies to, the sample it rests on and what is wrong with it. Where a famous statistic turned out to be unsupportable, it is in the rejected list at the bottom rather than quietly omitted.
In short
UK trade and local service marketing statistics, each one carrying its publisher, the year the data covers, the geography and the sample size, with the stated limits of the figure given alongside it. Where a commonly quoted statistic cannot be supported by a primary source, the page says so rather than repeating it.
How big the UK trades sector actually is
Two official counts exist and they differ by half a million. They are measuring different things, and putting them in the same sentence is the commonest mistake in this subject.
SMEs operating in construction — the largest number of any UK industry sector, at 16% of all SMEs
Source: Department for Business and Trade, Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions 2025
Data year: Start of 2025 · Geography: UK
Method: Official National Statistic. Modelled estimate combining the Inter-Departmental Business Register with Labour Force Survey estimates of unregistered businesses
Limitation: Unregistered businesses below the VAT and PAYE threshold are estimated rather than counted. “Construction” is SIC section F, which leaves out trades many people would include and takes in non-domestic contractors.
VAT or PAYE registered construction firms operating in Great Britain
Source: ONS, Construction statistics, Great Britain: 2024, published 19 February 2026
Data year: 2024 · Geography: Great Britain
Method: Administrative register (IDBR), not a survey
Limitation: Not comparable with the 885,000 figure. It counts only registered firms and excludes Northern Ireland. Most sole-trader tradespeople sit below the registration threshold and are absent entirely.
Construction businesses with no employees, of which 73% were unregistered
Source: Department for Business and Trade, Longitudinal Small Business Survey 2024: businesses with no employees
Data year: 2024 · Geography: UK
Method: Population figure derived from the Business Population Estimates frame; survey of 2,192 non-employing businesses within a 10,611 total sample, fieldwork October 2024 to May 2025
Limitation: The population count comes from the estimates frame rather than from the survey itself.
The fall in construction business numbers between 2020 and 2025 — the largest decrease of any sector
Source: Department for Business and Trade, Business Population Estimates 2025
Data year: 2020 to 2025 · Geography: UK
Method: As above
Limitation: The release does not separate genuine business closures from reclassification and registration effects, so this is not purely an exit figure.
Search behaviour in the UK
Google Search's share of all general search queries in the UK
Source: Competition and Markets Authority, Final decision: strategic market status investigation into Google's general search services, 10 October 2025
Data year: Stated as current at the decision date · Geography: UK
Method: Regulatory investigation using data compelled from Google and third parties, not a panel estimate
Limitation: The summary paragraph gives no precise measurement window or query-counting definition. It is nonetheless the strongest source available on this question.
Share of UK online adults using Google Search in May 2025 — down from 83% in 2024 and 86% in 2023
Source: Ofcom, Online Nation 2025, from Ipsos iris
Data year: May 2025 · Geography: UK adults 18+
Method: Ipsos iris metered panel measuring actual device usage
Limitation: Metered panels under-represent work-device and some in-app activity. Worth noting this runs against the usual claim that Google is more dominant than ever: measured reach has fallen three years running.
Spent on Google search advertising in the UK by more than 200,000 firms
Source: Competition and Markets Authority, strategic market status decision
Data year: 2024 · Geography: UK
Method: Compelled data
Limitation: A total market figure. It says nothing about what any individual advertiser pays, and the CMA redacted the cost-per-click data itself.
Searches made per day by the average person in the UK
Source: Competition and Markets Authority press release, 24 June 2025
Data year: Not stated · Geography: UK
Method: Not stated in the release
Limitation: Given as a range with no source or method. Treat it as a regulator's order-of-magnitude estimate rather than a measurement.
There is no published UK statistic for the share of searches with local intent. The figures circulating on this point trace back to US studies, several of them a decade old. See the rejected list below.
AI search, without the hype
This is the area where the gap between the marketing narrative and the measured evidence is widest in both directions. AI use is genuinely high. AI use for finding a local trade is not measured at all in the UK.
Of UK adults say they use AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini — rising to 79% of 16 to 24 year olds
Source: Ofcom, Adults' Media Use and Attitudes 2026, published 2 April 2026
Data year: Fieldwork 29 September to 28 November 2025 · Geography: UK adults 16+
Method: 7,533 UK adults, mixed online panel and face-to-face fieldwork
Limitation: Self-reported, and “use” is not frequency-qualified, so it includes people who have tried it once.
Of UK online adults read AI search summaries at least some of the time; 42% read them often or always
Source: Ofcom, Adults' Media Use and Attitudes 2026
Data year: Fieldwork late 2025 · Geography: UK adults 16+
Method: As above
Limitation: Reading a summary is not the same as acting on it, and the question does not distinguish between noticing one and relying on one.
Of UK adults use AI chatbots for news weekly — the lowest of all 48 markets surveyed, against a 10% average
Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News Report 2026
Data year: Fieldwork early 2026 · Geography: 48 markets with a UK cut
Method: Online survey, approximately 2,000 respondents per market
Limitation: This measures AI chatbots used for news, which is narrower than using AI to find a local service. It is not evidence that only 4% of Britons use AI for recommendations — Ofcom's 54% shows otherwise. Quoted here because it is the strongest available corrective to the claim that AI has already displaced search in Britain.
Of UK construction businesses report using any AI technology — among the lowest of any sector, against 35% for businesses with 10 or more employees
Source: ONS, Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026, published 20 July 2026
Data year: Latest wave 15 to 28 June 2026 · Geography: UK
Method: Business Insights and Conditions Survey, 38,637 responding businesses, 26.7% response rate
Limitation: Self-reported and sensitive to how the list of named technologies is worded. A 26.7% response rate carries likely non-response bias toward more engaged firms.
The honest summary. Over half of UK adults use AI tools and three-quarters read AI summaries in search results. Nobody has published a UK measurement of how many use AI to choose a tradesperson, and the 45% figure circulating for that behaviour is American, from a 1,002-person panel, and rose from 6% in a single year. If someone quotes it at you as a British statistic, they have not read the source. More on what this means practically on the AI search page.
What consumers do about tradespeople
Net monetised consumer detriment in services for home and garden maintenance — the highest of any sector measured
Source: Competition and Markets Authority, Consumer Detriment Survey 2024, published March 2025
Data year: 12 months to April/May 2024 · Geography: UK
Method: 6,371 respondents, fieldwork 18 April to 2 June 2024, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research on a probability-based panel
Limitation: Self-reported with 12-month recall. “Net monetised detriment” is a specific post-redress construct and should not be loosely described as money lost to tradespeople. The category includes garden maintenance and other services. This is the highest-quality consumer survey on this page.
Of UK adults say they have been blanked by a tradesperson; of those, 38% never heard back despite chasing
Source: HomeServe, fieldwork by Opinium Research
Data year: Fieldwork 3 to 7 March 2023 · Geography: UK
Method: Opinium online panel, 2,000 UK adults, nationally representative quota sample
Limitation: Commissioned by a home services company, and three years old. “Blanked” is not defined in the release, so it covers everything from an unanswered quote request to a no-show. It measures consumer perception rather than measured response times. It is still the best UK figure available on this.
Of UK homeowners wrongly believe builders are licensed; 81% support introducing a mandatory licensing scheme
Source: Federation of Master Builders with HomeOwners Alliance, fieldwork by Opinium
Data year: Fieldwork 1 to 5 April 2025 · Geography: UK
Method: 2,000 UK adults of whom 1,269 were homeowners, nationally representative quota sample
Limitation: The FMB is actively campaigning for licensing, so question framing may push the 81% support figure upward. These are beliefs about regulation, not search or discovery behaviour.
Of UK consumer spending potentially influenced by online reviews, of which £3.93bn in home improvements
Source: Competition and Markets Authority, Online reviews and endorsements
Data year: 2014 consumer behaviour, report published 19 June 2015 · Geography: UK
Method: Consumer survey by GfK plus qualitative work from Ipsos MORI, multiplied against estimated market spend per sector
Limitation: A decade old. The CMA re-used this figure in a January 2025 press release, which is why it circulates as though current. “Potentially influenced” is a weak causal claim and the report itself notes it relies on simplifying assumptions.
Digital maturity, where trades come last
Of construction sole traders use technologies or web-based software to sell or manage the business — the lowest of any sector, against 53% across all non-employing businesses
Source: Department for Business and Trade, Longitudinal Small Business Survey 2024: businesses with no employees
Data year: 2024 · Geography: UK
Method: 2,192 non-employing businesses within a 10,611 total sample, fieldwork October 2024 to May 2025, BMG Research for DBT
Limitation: This is not a website statistic. The question asks about software used to sell or to manage the business. Do not paraphrase it as “29% of sole-trader builders have a website”, which is a different and unmeasured thing.
Of construction SME employers use digital technologies, up nine points on 2023, against 69% across all SME employers
Source: Department for Business and Trade, Longitudinal Small Business Survey 2024: SME employers
Data year: 2024 · Geography: UK
Method: 8,396 SME employers, fieldwork October 2024 to May 2025
Limitation: Same caveat: not a website measure. The survey also notes that businesses trading only through platforms such as Facebook or Instagram are unlikely to appear in its sampling frame, which biases toward more formalised firms.
There is no current official UK statistic for the share of small businesses with a website. It is one of the most frequently cited figures in this industry and we could not find a supportable source for it. If you see one quoted, ask where it came from.
The advertising market
Total UK digital advertising spend, up 10% year on year. Paid search was £17.9bn of it, 44% of all digital spend
Source: IAB UK with Oliver Wyman, Digital Adspend 2025, published 3 March 2026
Data year: Calendar 2025 · Geography: UK
Method: Member submissions and public-domain data, enriched with statistical modelling to fill gaps
Limitation: An industry body measuring its own members' reported revenue, with modelling rather than an audited census. Category definitions change between editions, so year-on-year comparisons are not always clean. As at September 2026 no H1 2026 data has been published.
Total UK advertising investment across all media, up 6.4%. Search was £17.876bn, a 38.3% share of all UK advertising
Source: Advertising Association and WARC, Expenditure Report
Data year: Calendar 2025 · Geography: UK
Method: Industry expenditure tracking across all media, a broader denominator than the IAB figure
Limitation: The search totals in the two studies agree closely; the share differs because the denominator does. Quote the share alongside which total it is a share of, or it is misleading.
Statistics we looked for and would not publish
These are widely repeated in UK trade marketing content. Each was tested and rejected, with the reason.
- Any UK cost per click or cost per lead by industry. Does not exist. The CMA compelled the real figures from Google for its 2020 market study and redacted them. Every UK table in circulation is an agency's own client data or American figures relabelled. Covered in full on the benchmarks page.
- “X% of searches have local intent.” No UK source. The figures traced back to American studies, the most quoted of which is from 2016 and based on 634 people.
- “X% of UK small businesses have a website.” No current official source. The government survey that would carry it does not ask the question.
- “45% of consumers use AI for local business recommendations.” United States only, panel of 1,002, and it rose from 6% in one year. Not a UK figure and probably not a stable one.
- Google Business Profile action benchmarks. Google publishes no aggregate data on calls or direction requests by industry. Any “average profile gets X calls” figure comes from a third-party aggregator's own client base.
- Published UK tradesperson lead response times. No study exists. The closest is consumer perception of being ignored, above, which is a different measurement.
- The Checkatrade UK Trade Skills Index projection of 1.3 million workers needed. Commercially sponsored, method not disclosed publicly, and roughly five times the CITB's independent estimate over a comparable horizon. The two cannot both be right and we would not present them as agreeing.
If you want to use any figure from this page, the source is named in full so you can check it rather than take our word for it. That is the entire point.
Questions
How many trade businesses are there in the UK?
It depends which count you mean, and the two common answers are not comparable. The Department for Business and Trade estimated 885,000 SMEs operating in construction at the start of 2025, the largest number of any sector. The ONS counted 370,770 VAT or PAYE registered construction firms in Great Britain in 2024. The gap is mostly sole traders below the registration threshold, plus Northern Ireland. Quoting them side by side as if they measure the same thing is a common error.
What share of UK searches go through Google?
The Competition and Markets Authority stated in October 2025 that Google Search accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the UK, in its decision granting Google strategic market status. That is a regulator using data compelled from Google, so it is considerably stronger than the panel estimates usually quoted. Worth noting separately that Ofcom's measured reach figure has been falling: 86% of UK online adults used Google Search in May 2023, 83% in 2024, 82% in 2025.
Do British people actually use AI to find local businesses?
There is no published UK statistic for that specific behaviour. What exists: Ofcom found 54% of UK adults use AI chatbots at all, and that 75% of online adults read AI search summaries at least sometimes. The widely quoted 45% figure for using AI to get local business recommendations is BrightLocal, United States only, from a 1,002-person panel, and it rose from 6% in a single year, which is implausibly fast for a real behavioural shift. Do not treat it as a UK number.
Is there a UK cost per click benchmark by industry?
No. This is the single most requested figure in UK marketing and it does not exist in published form. The CMA obtained the real UK numbers from Google under statutory information notices for its 2020 market study and redacted them from the public version. Every UK agency table you will find is either that agency's own client data presented as a market average, or American figures with the currency symbol changed.
Why does this page list its own weak sources?
Because a statistics page that does not is not worth citing. Several of the figures here come from surveys commissioned by companies with a commercial interest in the answer, and several of the most repeated numbers in this field turn out to be a decade old. Saying which is which is the only thing that makes the rest of it trustworthy.
Related
Also worth reading
- Which sources AI assistants actually citeWhat an assistant reaches for when it answers a question about your trade.
- Marketing claims checked against their sourceWidely repeated figures traced back to whatever is at the end of the citation trail.
Talk to a human
Want these numbers applied to your business?
Market statistics decide nothing on their own. Tell us your trade, your area and what a job is worth, and we will tell you what actually follows from it.