Approximately 20 per cent of the UK’s annual £10 billion management consulting spend goes towards hiring freelancers and contractors to carry out independent consultancy work, a new report has revealed.

According to research carried out by consultant network Odgers Connect in collaboration with Source Global Research, freelance workers are all set to ‘shape the future’ of the industry, having become more and more popular in recent years, not just in the UK, but also in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, too.

Odgers’ report reveals that 40 per cent of companies in the above four countries rely on an ‘even split’ of traditional consultancy firms and specialist freelancers, the latter of whom deliver £2 billion worth of skilled work every single year.

When asked why they have a growing tendency to turn to freelancers to carry out such work, almost half (48 per cent) of top executives quizzed as part of the survey said that ‘flexibility’ was the most attractive aspect of appointing contractors as opposed to companies.

This was followed by ‘price’ (38 per cent), ‘higher quality work’ (23 per cent) and ‘speed and ease of assistance’ (20 per cent), the report reveals.