North East England has an unrivalled investment offer for financial, professional and business services companies.
Our highly skilled workforce, low cost base, top-quality office space, growing cluster strength, academic collaboration and extensive financial support make the region one of the best locations in the UK for business services.
This exceptional package has driven a trend of northshoring, with businesses in the public and private sectors moving operations out of expensive parts of the South to more cost-effective locations in the North East with far lower levels of staff turnover.
15,000 financial, professional and business services companies employing 134,000 already call the North East home. That is a huge and invaluable peer network and supply chain. Our strengths lie in business process outsourcing (BPO), back and middle offices, financial, tax and advisory services, financial technology (fintech), legal services and contact centres.
Customer contact centres and business process outsourcing is a leading strength in the region, which has seen the highest growth in number of companies of any UK region since 2010. Contact centres in the region provide direct, third-party BPO and shared services for global companies such as Barclays, British Airways, Xplor, Just Eat and Verisure.
Top 10 global law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, chose Newcastle as the location for its Legal Process Innovation Hub and its only UK site outside of London. It joins other successful legal firms like Ward Hadaway, Womble Bond Dickinson and Sintons in the region.
All ‘Big Four’ have offices in the North East, including EY’s Centre’s of Excellence in Managed Services and Data Analytics and Deloitte’s Centre of Excellence in Auditing
The region’s superb digital infrastructure, connectivity and support ecosystem has led to a boom in fintech services in recent years. Innovators like Atom Bank, Newcastle Strategic Solutions, and Kani Payments are all headquartered in the North East.
Companies moving to the North East can access one of the UK’s most skilled and cost-effective workforces. There are 134,000 people employed in the business services sector and over 124,000 students in our five universities, providing a constant flow of staff with financial, technical and administrative skills. Our flexible and multi-skilled talent pool is also incredibly loyal. The North East has one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the UK for contact centre employees at just 12% in 2020, with many companies enjoying rates far lower than this.
The choice of office accommodation in the North East is exceptional. Companies can enjoy a wide range of small co-working and managed workspaces as well as Grade A office accommodation in out-of-town business hubs such as Quorum Park, Cobalt Park, NETPark, Doxford International Business Park, AirView Park and Spectrum Business Park. There are many new office schemes under construction in our region’s city centres too, providing a superb portfolio of modern Grade A space. These include Pilgrim Place, and Riverside Sunderland.
Many sites are linked to the Tyne and Wear Metro, the UK’s largest rapid transit system outside of London, so staff have easy access to their workplace. With some of the lowest commute times and distances in the UK, workers here travel less and have more time for leisure and family life. Our business hubs have superb infrastructure links to the main A1 and A19 roads, major train stations and Newcastle International Airport, making North East England an ideal base for companies operating on a global basis.
Business services companies choosing to locate in North East England will benefit from a wide range of business support and cluster networks primed to offer guidance and advice across a range of topics. To support a smooth transition to the region, Invest North East England can provide a range of services, including property searches, data on skills and guidance on incentives, as well as making introductions to specialist networks that can offer guidance and links to potential customers, opportunities and research and development support.
