Growth is back, with a condition attached
UK consulting reached 21.8 billion pounds in 2025, up 3%, with firms forecasting 6% growth in 2026 and 8% in 2027 (MCA). The growth has a name: 78% of consultants identify digital technology and AI as the driver. The same survey names the rapid rise of AI as the industry's leading challenge, cited by 52% of firms. When the same technology tops both lists, the market is not rewarding AI opinions. It is rewarding AI capability.
The buyers moved first
86% of consulting buyers actively look for advisers who incorporate AI, 89% expect AI in the delivery of any consulting service, and 73% want new pricing models to go with it. Asked what would convince them a firm has real AI expertise, the top answer is not a slide: 45% say "show how you use the technology yourselves." For a smaller consultancy, a genuinely AI-run delivery operation is a demonstration a larger rival's brochure cannot match.
The utilisation scissor
Across professional services, billable utilisation fell to 66.4% in 2025, the lowest in the SPI benchmark's history, at the very moment generative AI use in projects jumped 40% to 27.1%. Project margins rose to 37.7% even as utilisation fell: value is migrating from hours sold to outcomes delivered, and the firms repricing accordingly keep the difference.
The cautionary tale
In October 2025, Deloitte Australia agreed to a partial refund on a AUD $440,000 government report containing nonexistent references and a fabricated court citation, produced with a generative AI toolchain. The incident settled two questions: clients treat AI-hallucinated content as a quality failure of the firm, and the liability lands on the firm that signed the deliverable, not the model vendor.
What's inside the full report
Across 12 pages, the report covers:
- Growth is back, with a condition attached: the market, exports, and the 77/20/3 fee-income split by firm size
- Adoption inside the firms: 77% integration, the 75% vs 53% Big Four gap, and the thin foundations underneath
- The utilisation scissor and the pricing squeeze
- The buyers moved first: demand, satisfaction and the proof standard clients apply
- The quality line: the Deloitte Australia refund and the professional indemnity angle
- The talent paradox: highest employer-provided AI usage of any UK sector, highest replacement anxiety
- A widening gap, an open window: why three-quarters of the sector lacks the data and process foundations, and what that means for smaller firms
Every figure is drawn from published third-party research (MCA, GOV.UK, SPI Research, IBM, Source Global Research, among others), with samples and dates stated in the appendix.
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