Employee turnover rates by industry in the UK vary enormously, from around 8% at the low end (skilled manufacturing trades, public sector, some healthcare specialisms) to over 100% annualised at the high end (seasonal hospitality and fast-casual food). The UK national average, published at around 34% by CIPD, blends every industry together and is broadly useless as a benchmark for any business.
This guide breaks down UK employee turnover by industry: what typical rates look like in each sector for 2026, why each industry has the pattern it does, and what your rate probably means once compared against the right benchmark. We cover the ten industries that dominate UK employment, from hospitality at the top to manufacturing at the bottom, with sub-sector variations and role-specific patterns where they matter.
The UK average employee turnover rate: 34%, and why it's misleading
The CIPD reports a UK average employee turnover rate of around 34% based on Annual Population Survey analysis, of which approximately 27.4% is employees moving to another employer within the year. 6.6% is employees leaving the workforce entirely for reasons including retirement, study, long-term sickness, or caring responsibilities.
The 34% figure conceals enormous variation. A UK hospitality business might operate at 80% turnover and be running well by sector standards. A UK law firm at 25% is signalling a serious problem. Comparing either against the 34% average is not just unhelpful; it is misleading. The average is a national statistical artefact, not a business benchmark.
The useful benchmarks live at the industry level. What follows is a sector-by-sector view of typical UK employee turnover rates in 2026, ordered from highest to lowest.
The comparison table and chart
The next sections walk through each industry in detail, including the structural reasons behind the pattern and where your rate probably sits within the range.
Industry-by-industry walkthrough
Hospitality and catering
UK hospitality and catering runs the highest turnover of any sector in the economy. This sector typically runs 50% to 70% annually for hotels and full-service restaurants, and up to 100%+ annualised for seasonal or fast-casual operations. Some categories effectively replace their entire workforce once a year.
The reasons are structural. Hospitality relies on shift-based, minimum-wage-adjacent work, high student and part-time populations, and seasonal demand cycles. Progression paths are limited (from server to shift lead to manager is often the only ladder), and the sector competes with retail and gig economy work for the same workforce. Turnover is baked into the operating model rather than being a symptom of poor management.
For a UK hospitality operator, benchmarking against sub-sector matters. A 55% rate at a full-service hotel is exceptional. The same rate at a quick-service restaurant is below the norm.
A UK boutique hotel with 45 staff members loses 27 people over the year.
(27 ÷ 45) × 100 = 60% turnover
For a hospitality business, this is towards the lower end of typical, below the 50% to 70% norm for full-service hotels. It is not a crisis and may even signal above-average retention practices for the sector. The comparison that matters is against the sub-sector benchmark, not the 34% national average or the tech industry norms your board might reference. If your operations lead is being pressured to reduce turnover to "manageable" 25% levels, the pressure is misplaced. Focus instead on the composition of the 27 leavers: how many were seasonal contract endings (expected) versus mid-tenure operational staff (worth investigating).
Retail
UK retail sits second-highest across sectors, typically 35% to 55% depending on format and product category. The pattern mirrors hospitality: high volume of junior, part-time, and shift-based roles create structural churn that management can influence at the margins but not eliminate.
The retail sector has also seen structural changes since 2020 that shape the current pattern. The shift to hybrid retail (online plus physical), the pressure on high-street presence, and the growth of e-commerce fulfilment have all created churn in the operating model that plays out as workforce turnover.
Media, creative, and marketing agencies
UK creative agencies, marketing firms, PR consultancies, and media businesses typically run 25% to 40% employee turnover, higher than the pure professional services rate. The reasons are cultural as much as economic: agency work tends to attract early-career talent, up-or-out progression is common, and client wins and losses drive team restructuring that generates involuntary turnover.
The agency model concentrates turnover in the 18-24 month tenure window because up-or-out progression means people either advance to senior positions or exit to other agencies or client-side roles. Client-side account moves (an executive who leaves an agency to work at a former client) are a recurring feature of the sector.
Transport and logistics
UK transport and logistics has seen turnover pressure since 2021 due to the well-documented driver shortage. The cost-of-living pressures on lower-paid warehouse and delivery roles. Typical rates sit at 25% to 40%, with wide variation by role.
The driver shortage in particular has kept turnover high because retention pressure at one operator often means poaching from another, creating churn across the industry without changing overall workforce availability. The sector has also been shaped by post-Brexit workforce changes and the growth of ecommerce fulfilment demand.
Technology and SaaS
UK technology and SaaS businesses typically report 20% to 30% employee turnover, though this has moderated from the higher rates of 2021-2023 as the tech job market has tightened. The sector average remains higher than most professional services because:
- Engineering and product roles are portable across companies
- Competitive markets keep salaries under upward pressure
- Remote work has expanded the competitive employer pool for individual roles
For UK tech founders, benchmarking against tech matters. A 22% rate that would be concerning in professional services is normal in SaaS.
A UK B2B SaaS company with 65 employees loses 15 people over the year.
(15 ÷ 65) × 100 = 23% turnover
Compared against the technology and SaaS benchmark (20% to 30%), this sits mid-range. Compared against the 34% UK national average, it looks strong. Compared against professional services (10% to 15%), it looks concerning. Which benchmark applies determines the diagnostic, and for a UK SaaS company, 23% is normal operating churn. What matters more is which roles the 15 leavers held. If they're concentrated in engineering leadership, the diagnostic is different than if they're concentrated in SDRs (where 30% to 45% is normal for the role, and 23% might be strong retention).
Construction and skilled trades
UK construction and skilled trades typically run 15% to 25% employee turnover, lower than most knowledge-work sectors. The lower rate reflects two factors: skilled trades have shortage economics that make trained workers hard to poach, and project-based work creates natural continuity between skilled tradespeople and the companies they work for.
The construction sector has also seen changes tied to skills shortages, apprenticeship funding cycles, and post-2020 shifts in commercial and residential demand. Turnover pressure concentrates in unskilled and semi-skilled roles rather than skilled trades, which is the reverse of the pattern in knowledge-work sectors.
Healthcare
UK healthcare shows a distinctive pattern: relatively low turnover among registered clinical staff (structural constraints on career changes, professional body registration requirements) but higher turnover among support and locum roles.
The care sector has seen persistent retention pressure due to compensation, workforce demographics, and post-2020 workforce changes. This is a structural feature of the operating model rather than a management failing at any care operator.
Financial services
UK financial services runs one of the lower turnover rates across knowledge-work sectors, typically 10% to 15%. The pattern reflects high compensation, well-defined career progression paths, specialist skills that reward longer tenure, and pension arrangements that increase the cost of leaving.
For UK financial services businesses, benchmarking against sub-sector matters more than sector. Investment banking's junior turnover is expected and structural; retail banking's junior turnover at the same rate would signal a problem.
Professional services (law, accounting, consulting)
UK professional services typically run 10% to 18% employee turnover overall, though the range within the sector is wide because different professional services businesses have different economic models.
The professional services model is structured around up-or-out progression at the junior levels, which produces higher junior turnover as a design feature rather than a management failure. What matters diagnostically is what happens at the mid-level. If senior associates are leaving at higher rates than partners are being made, the progression pipeline is broken.
Manufacturing
UK manufacturing has the lowest turnover of any major UK sector, at around 10.85% total per Make UK's Labour Turnover Report, with voluntary turnover (excluding redundancies) as low as 6.24%. This is down from 16.12% the year before, reflecting a cooling labour market and an ageing workforce heading into retirement.
Manufacturing's low turnover reflects structural features that few other UK sectors share: shortage economics for trained workers, high sunk cost in training, longer-tenured workforces, and often unionised or collectively bargained arrangements that reduce workforce mobility.
For UK manufacturers, a rate above 15% typically signals either a site issue, a compensation drift versus a competing local employer, or a change in the workforce demographics.
What if your industry isn't listed?
If your business does not sit cleanly in one of the industries above, use the closest analogue and adjust based on what you know about your dynamic:
- Non-profit and charity sector: typically 15% to 25% for knowledge roles, 30%+ for programme delivery roles
- Education (state schools, further and higher education): 5% to 10% for teaching staff, 15% to 25% for support staff
- Public sector (non-NHS, non-education): 7% to 12% (structurally lower due to compensation, pension, job security)
- Real estate and property: 15% to 25% for corporate roles, higher for sales
- Legal services support (paralegals, admin): 15% to 25%
- B2B services (business intelligence, market research): 15% to 25%
When you want to compare against your competitors
The most useful benchmark is what your competitors' turnover rates are, which is almost never publicly available. UK-listed companies occasionally disclose overall workforce turnover in annual reports, but the granular sub-sector detail you would want is rarely broken out. Privately-held UK businesses generally do not publish turnover data at all.
The industry benchmarks in this guide are the workable proxy. They reflect the typical range for businesses in your sector, adjusted for your sub-sector and role mix.
For the comparison of what your roles would cost in South Africa, where turnover is typically 40-60% lower than UK equivalents for the same roles, the Legends EOR Salary Benchmarking Tool is the closest data point available. It shows current SA salaries in pounds sterling with the EOR fee included, letting you build a like-for-like total cost of workforce comparison against your UK team.
Why replacement cost varies by industry
The industry variation in turnover rates has an economic mirror: replacement cost also varies by industry, because salaries, recruitment cycles, and ramp-up times differ.
The commonly cited range for UK replacement cost is 50% to 200% of the departing employee's annual salary. Oxford Economics' Cost of Brain Drain report puts the UK average at £30,614, which adjusts to around £42,000 in 2026 pounds after inflation. Applied to industries:
What to do if you're above your industry's benchmark
If your rate sits above your industry's benchmark, the standard retention levers apply:
- Compensation review against current market
- Career progression audit
- Management capability check
- Workload sustainability diagnostic
- Cultural fit assessment
Improving any one typically moves the rate over 12 months. Our pillar guide, When Good People Leave, covers the diagnostic-to-lever framework in depth.
The structural second lever for knowledge-work industries
For UK knowledge-work industries where the cost of replacement is high because UK salaries are high (technology, financial services, professional services, media), a second lever is available: building teams in a labour market with structurally lower turnover and a lower salary base.
UK SMEs employing knowledge workers in South Africa through an Employer of Record typically report lower turnover than their UK equivalents for the same roles. Two concrete cases from Legends EOR clients:
The offshore option works well for industries where the roles can be performed remotely and where a strong offshore talent pool exists. That includes back-office roles across all sectors, engineering and product for technology and SaaS, finance and accounting support for financial services, marketing and business development for professional services and B2B, customer support and success across sectors, and HR and operations administration.
The offshore option does not work for physical retail and hospitality roles, clinical healthcare roles, on-site skilled trades, or roles that require physical presence at UK client sites. None of this suggests offshoring is the answer for every UK industry or every retention problem. But for knowledge-work industries where your cost of replacement is high because your UK salary base is high, offshore team stability is a legitimate second lever alongside the standard retention playbook.