British Professions Today – The State of the Sector


The UK professions are miscategorised, understudied and their contribution comprehensively undervalued despite comprising the country’s single most important know how industry, employing 3.5 million people, with huge importance for its international standing, domestic economy, social fabric and legal system. 

That fundamental misappreciation risks damaging a key strategic asset, which accounts for nearly +£16bn (more than half of Britain’s trade in services), 8% of GDP and 11.5% of employment, as well as undermining some of the goals of a fair economy and civil society.  

Professions are also not showing up strongly in official debate, losing out to groups such as the CBI: they must collaborate to develop a unified voice on many policy areas and engage more effectively with Government, business, organised labour and consumer interests.

The traditional public interest ethic of the professions combined with more accountable forms of governance known as ‘regulated self-regulation’ offer practical safeguards of the public good and enable the professions to act as a check and balance on Government.

These are some of the conclusions from academic research released today by independent consultancy, Spada, in a launch sponsored by three of the country’s largest chartered professional bodies, RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), the Law Society and CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants).

In what is believed to be the first ever research of its kind into the professional sector’s overall importance and national public contribution, Spada’s analysis of various official datasets established that roughly 8% of UK GDP and 11.5% of employment emanate directly from the professions. It also accounts for roughly half of Britain’s balance of trade in services. The UK makes by far the biggest contribution to the EU 27’s professional economy too.

The true significance of the sector has been previously missed by successive indices, professional bodies, regulators and policy formulators.  Sir Michael Snyder recently deemed the Spada data, passed to him in advance by the research’s sponsors, so important he adopted them as a central section of HM Treasury’s recent Professional Services Global Competitiveness paper. 

With ancient roots, Britain’s chartered professions mainly blossomed in the nineteenth century, emerging from guild, club and association antecedents.  They have spawned some of the UK’s largest service businesses and today earn vast amounts of foreign currency for the UK.  Professionals work at every level in society; for the public sector, inside private practices, within corporations and as self-employed experts.

Other findings include:

Professions are making strides in facilitating social progress 

Often stigmatised as bastions of privilege and officially sanctioned monopolies, Spada’s research reveals that, contrary to that image, the chartered professions have recently been surprisingly progressive in areas such as diversity and social mobility – albeit with much further work to be done.

Regulated self regulation model shows promise…

The research also indicates that the UK’s chartered professions, many of whom have moved to a ‘regulated self-regulated’ regime, have taken the public interest duties enshrined in their Royal Charters to heart by opening up their governance and regulatory structures to lay members, commissioning independent reviews, and actively seeking out ways of collaborating with the Government, the Third Sector and other stakeholders to set and secure diversity and access goals as well ensuring that law and regulation is feasible and fair. 

Degree of unpaid consultation to Government is not understood or acknowledged 

Despite swathes of unpaid consultation to Government and stakeholder groups on key aspects of individual human life, the economy and society, the research also reveals some lingering mutual misunderstanding between Government and the sector when it comes to introducing legislation. Dialogue occasionally fails in this respect.    

Professions are failing to make their mark at official level, in contrast to some individual commercial firms and big business

While individual commercial professional firms, notably the Big 4 accountancy practices, register strongly in parliamentary debates and official proceedings their professional bodies appear to be far less influential at official level.  This can also be contrasted with business groups such as the CBI which notched up over 160 Hansard mentions during the study period.

Comment from the researchers and sponsors: 

Head of Spada, Gavin Ingham Brooke said:

“We believe that this research, originally inspired by Louis Armstrong and sponsored by RICS, Law Society and CIMA marks both a landmark contribution to the understanding of the sector and an important demonstration of high-level inter-professional collaboration. 

“The research indicates that the world of practices must carry more weight in shaping the world of policies and ideas.  Indeed, in a world of burgeoning complexity and information overload, the professions have never seemed more vital to society.

“The professions do need to engage in more effective inter-body collaboration to share ideas, best practices and form an open, collective voice to government in preserving the public interest. 

“Despite some historic anomalies and some notorious individual failures, professional ethics are far from dead and together with a more accountable, tempered form of ‘private government’ offer one of the more attractive combinations for safeguarding the public interest and preventing destructive or wrongful behaviour both within or outside the professional sector.

“Indeed while there has been considerable emphasis of late on commercialising the professions – the Legal Services Act is one example – the recent financial market failures and the expenses scandals at Westminster means that it may be equally important to the long-term good of our society that we ‘professionalise’ commerce and public life through principle- and value-based commitments such as the Hippocratic oath rather than a proliferation of rules which can then be ‘gamed’.We trust and hope that this research will spur further initiatives and a wider public debate about the professions and the central but imperfectly understood role they play in our national life.”

RICS Chief Executive Louis Armstrong, who initiated the report, said:

“Paradoxically UK professionals have traditionally been undervalued in their own country, while consistently being regarded as the “gold standard” around the world. As we rebuild our services-based economy after the credit crunch, the expertise and ethical values of Britain’s professionals will be in the vanguard.”   

Charles Tilley, Chief Executive, CIMA, said:

“Our professional bodies are world class, self-funding and therefore focused on delivering the skills and professional competence required in each sector. Care must be taken to ensure that tax payers’ money is not spent on duplicating their efforts through Sector Skills Councils.”

Paul Marsh, Law Society President said:

“This survey highlights the need for the professional bodies in England and Wales to unite in order to promote our contribution to society and the professional economy. The legal sector already plays a key role in supporting UK plc, employing nearly 300,000 people and generating 1.5% of the total wealth of the economy, and Solicitors play a pivotal role in society. After all there can be no access to justice without access to a lawyer and the contribution solicitors make to the social fabric of the nation must always be recognised.  

“England and Wales is arguably the most open, and therefore most important global legal market and London today holds the unofficial status as the legal capital of the world.  A large part of this success can be attributed to the innovative and dynamic solicitors’ firms and their experience and expertise. However you cannot have a stable economy without having effective rule of law. Upholding the rule of law remains central to the work of every solicitor and value-based commitments remain key to the work of the legal profession.

“It goes without saying that considerable achievements can be made through inter-profession collaboration. We look forward to engaging with Spada and our fellow professional bodies on further initiatives and a wider public debate about the role we can develop to promote the valuable work we do.” 

ENDS

Download a full copy of the report at: www.spada.co.uk/british-professions-today