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Research15 June 202610 min readBy David Bevan

The honest numbers

UK small business AI and admin-time statistics (2026)

A sourced reference of how many UK small businesses use AI, how much time owners lose to admin, and what the time savings really look like. Every figure is named, dated and linked.

Most “AI statistics” pages are a wall of numbers with no source you can check. Every figure below comes from a named report, with a link and a date so you can read the original.

Last updated: June 2026
AHow many UK small businesses use AI

More than half of UK SMEs are now using AI

Adoption is climbing fast. The picture varies by source, sector and firm size, but the direction of travel is clear.

54%of UK SMEs
Nearly a quarter of UK businesses now use AI

Nearly a quarter of UK businesses were using some form of AI by late September 2025, up from 9% two years earlier.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Business Insights and Conditions Survey, 2025. View source
54%

Up from 35% a year earlier

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit with the University of Essex, 2026. View source
35%

Just over a third of UK SMEs were actively using AI in 2025, up from 25% in 2024 and 23% in 2023.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit with Intuit, 2025. View source
23%

Around 23% of UK SMEs were using AI back in 2023 - the baseline the recent surge has built on.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit with the University of Essex, 2026. View source
16%

16% of UK businesses with five or more employees had deliberately deployed at least one AI technology, and 5% had concrete plans to.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source

AI adoption climbs steeply with size: from 14% of the smallest firms to 36% of large ones. Smaller businesses are furthest behind.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source

Adoption varies hugely by sector - 43% in information and communication, around 12% in construction, 14% in retail and 10% in transport.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source

Almost half of business-to-business service firms use AI - nearly double the rate of consumer-facing firms and manufacturers.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit with Intuit, 2025. View source
BThe admin and time burden on owners

The hidden admin tax on small businesses

Before any AI conversation, this is the size of the problem. Owners are losing weeks of the year to paperwork.

24working days a year
The average UK small business loses around 24 working days a year to financial admin - Sage calls it "13 months of work for 12 months of pay".
Source: Sage, UK research, 2025. View source Vendor figure

Roughly half of UK small business CEOs and COOs spend four hours every week dealing with payment problems alone.

Source: Sage, UK research, 2025. View source Vendor figure

One in three UK small business owners work more than 46 hours a week - about ten hours more than the average UK employee.

Source: Simply Business, 2023. View source

A third of UK small business owners say they have suffered burnout, and 56% report poor mental health in the past year.

Source: Simply Business, 2023. View source

UK businesses hit by late payment spend an average of 86 hours a year chasing it - 133 million hours across the whole economy.

Source: London Economics for the Department for Business and Trade / Small Business Commissioner, 2025. View source

Over 1.5 million UK businesses - 28% of them - are affected by late payments every year.

Source: London Economics for the Department for Business and Trade / Small Business Commissioner, 2025. View source

UK small businesses with unpaid invoices are owed £21,400 each on average at any one time, and three in five are chasing unpaid invoices.

Source: Intuit QuickBooks UK, Small Business Late Payments Report, 2025. View source Vendor figure
CWhat the time savings actually look like

AI gives owners back half a working day a week

The headline question every owner asks: is the time saving real, or just a vendor pitch? Here is the independent answer.

Without AI
0
hours saved
With AI
5.2
hours saved a week

UK SME decision-makers who use AI estimate it saves them 5.2 hours a week on average - more than half a working day.

Source: Opinium for OpenAI with Enterprise Nation, 2026 (reported by TechRadar). View source

Generative AI could save the average UK worker over 100 hours a year, and add more than £400 billion to the UK economy by 2030.

Source: Public First, commissioned by Google, 2023. View source
75%

Three-quarters of UK firms using AI report better workforce productivity.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source

Among UK firms already using AI, the net balance expecting a productivity improvement is 71 percentage points higher than among firms that have not started.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit with the University of Essex, 2026. View source

Global figure: people using generative AI save an average of 5.4% of their weekly work hours - roughly 2.2 hours in a 40-hour week.

Source: OECD, Generative AI and the SME Workforce, 2025. View source - global figure, not UK-specific. Global

Global figure: generative AI could add $2.6 to $4.4 trillion a year to the world economy across 63 business uses.

Source: McKinsey and Company, The economic potential of generative AI, 2023. View source - global figure, not UK-specific. Global
DWhy owners hold back

The two biggest reasons firms haven't started

The barriers are rarely the technology itself. Most owners simply haven't found the need, or feel they lack the skills.

Haven't identified a need for AI71%
Limited AI skills or expertise60%
Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source
60%

Limited AI skills or expertise is a barrier for 60% of UK businesses - the second most common obstacle.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source

Other top barriers: not finding the right tools (48%), the complexity of fitting AI into existing systems (29%) and cost (23%).

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source
51%

Just over half of UK businesses do not yet see AI as relevant to what they do.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source
67%

Two-thirds of UK firms using AI keep a human checking the output - AI is being used with oversight, not blindly.

Source: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI Adoption Research, 2026 (fieldwork 2025). View source

The share of UK SMEs with no plans to use AI fell from 43% in 2024 to 33% in 2025.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit, 2025. View source
EThe bigger productivity and economic picture

A 1% productivity gain is worth billions

Small improvements, repeated across millions of firms, add up to economy-shaping numbers.

£94bn

A sustained 1% a year improvement in UK SME productivity over five years would grow the economy by £94 billion.

More than half of NHS England's annual budget
Source: Be the Business, G7 Productive Business Index, 2023. View source

The UK has over 5.5 million SMEs, making up 99.8% of all UK businesses.

Source: GOV.UK Business Population Estimates, cited in the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce final report, 2025. View source

That same 1% productivity gain would mean around £65,000 more annual profit for the average UK small business.

Source: Be the Business, G7 Productive Business Index, 2023. View source

Adopting a single digital technology lifts a firm's productivity by between 7% and 18%, depending on the tool.

Source: Enterprise Research Centre, cited in the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce final report, 2025. View source
14.8%

Innovative UK SMEs recorded 14.8% revenue growth, outperforming firms that did not innovate.

Source: Federation of Small Businesses, cited in the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce final report, 2025. View source

The UK ranks 25th globally for future digital readiness, and UK SMEs invest less in technology than their G7 peers.

Source: IMD World Digital Competitiveness Index, via Be the Business, cited in the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce final report, 2024. View source
95%

95% of UK SMEs using AI report no change in headcount over the past year, and 86% say job roles stayed the same - so far AI is adding to teams, not replacing them.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit with the University of Essex, 2026. View source
FAccountants

Most accountants haven't automated yetGlobal

A profession built on repeatable, rules-based work - and most of the time-saving is still on the table.

37%automate
Only 37% currently automate their processes

92% of accountants and bookkeepers say they spend too much time on manual tasks - yet fewer than four in ten automate any of it.

Source: Sage, The Practice of Now 2024-2025. View source - global figure, not UK-only. Vendor figure
92%
Global figure: 92% of accountants and bookkeepers say they spend too much time on manual tasks, and 89% say automating it would free up time.
Source: Sage, The Practice of Now 2024-2025, surveying six countries. View source - global figure, surveying six countries, not UK-only. Vendor figure
GLetting and estate agents

Lettings agencies are experimenting, but few have changed how they work

Plenty of curiosity at the top of the funnel. Far fewer have embedded AI into day-to-day operations.

47%
Experimenting with AI
22%
Use it day to day
7%
Say it has changed how they work
Source: Goodlord, State of the Lettings Industry Report 2025 (reported by Landlord Today). View source
27%nationallyLondon37%
On average 27% of a UK letting agent's revenue comes from renewals, rising to 37% in London - a large, admin-heavy recurring workload.
Source: Goodlord, State of the Lettings Industry Report 2025 (reported by Landlord Today). View source
HRecruiters

More than two working days of admin per hire

Reviewing applications, scheduling interviews, writing up notes - it adds up to over two days for every vacancy filled.

17.7hours per hire
3.6h reviewing applications
3.0h writing up post-interview notes
2.5h scheduling interviews
Source: Totaljobs, 2025 (reported by People Management). View source

That admin costs the average UK recruiter nearly £17,000 a year in lost productivity.

Source: Totaljobs, 2025 (reported by People Management). View source

Per vacancy, UK recruiters spend 3.6 hours reviewing applications, 2.5 hours scheduling interviews and 3 hours writing up post-interview notes.

Source: Totaljobs, 2025 (reported by People Management). View source
61%

61% of UK recruiters say manual tasks such as data entry are a top reason hiring slows down.

Source: Totaljobs, 2025 (reported by People Management). View source
ITrades

Two and a half hours a week, just on quoting

For tradespeople, the admin is squeezed into evenings and weekends. Quoting and invoicing alone eats a sizeable chunk.

Quoting and invoicing alone

UK tradespeople spend an average of this much every week just preparing quotes and invoices.

2h 24m a week
Source: Checkatrade, 2024. View source Vendor figure

How to cite this page

Journalists, bloggers and editors are welcome to quote any figure here. Cite the original source named next to each statistic - that is where the number comes from. A credit to HoursBack with a link back to this page is appreciated.

HoursBack, "UK small business AI and admin-time statistics (2026)", hoursback.co.uk. Last updated June 2026.

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