Each year as part of the Influence 100 List of the largest and most influential membership bodies in the UK we publish a list of the 10 largest and most influential professional bodies in the UK.
The list can be found below with comparative figures from the previous year.
Notable changes: The ICAEW ranked 1 place higher, whilst the Law Society ranked 1 place lower than the previous year.
Data is taken from primary contacts and/or published annual reports. If you believe figure requires updating for next year’s list please ‘Contact Us‘.
The 10 Largest UK Professional Bodies
| Rank | Professional Body | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal College of Nursing (RCN) | 500,000 | 500,000 |
| 2 | Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) | 241,000 | 247,000 |
| 3 | Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) | 198,500 | 202,450 |
| 4 | The Law Society | 209,000 | 200,000 |
| 5 | British Medical Association (BMA) | 184,000 | 190,000 |
| 6 | Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) | 158,000 | 160,000 |
| 7 | Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) | 154,000 | 157,000 |
| 8 | Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) | 124,000 | 150,000* |
| 9 | Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) | 128,000 | 130,000 |
| 10 | Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) | 122,000 | 122,000 |
(Updated 06/07/2024)
*Subject to confirmation
Professional Body Staff Networking & Learning Opportunity
Professional bodies form a quarter of the MemberWise Network. Professional bodies are aimed at individuals who work in a particular profession or job role and their fundamental aim is to support, up-skill and promote that profession. Most are registered charities but have multiple income streams and require a commercial strategy to operate effectively.
Professional bodies face many challenges. If the profession in question is one that people tend to do for a lifetime, such as a Doctor, then there is a challenge in supporting members throughout their career, tailoring the offer to meet their needs at each stage. Most professional bodies struggle to recruit younger members, hence the creation of student membership, but there are still issues with retaining them in the long term.
Many professions are in long term decline or face substantial threats such as globalisation and technology; professional bodies need to support their members in the face of unpalatable truths. Yet, they rely on their membership fees to operate and so cannot risk alienating its membership with unpopular campaigns or views. Many see it as a key responsibility to lobby Government but this can be a difficult membership benefit to articulate value.
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Join the MemberWise Network today and find out how we can support you throughout your membership career.
Two relevant resources to help you get started:
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Commentary
Here is our list of the ten largest professional bodies in the UK. The list was first published in 2019 and updated in 2023.
The largest professional body is the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) which also has trade union status. This organisation represents one of the largest workforces in the UK is is followed by bodies that support/represent long standing professions including accountancy, law and medicine.
With a requirement that every legal entity (that is a Limited Company) to have an accountant, this is not surprising. Every business in the UK that wants to adhere to HMRC rules has an accountant (either external or internal to the organisation). It will be interesting to see however, if increased automation with accountancy technology packages takes this market over in time.
Comprehensive/provessional legal representation and a solid healthcare system are both expected and required in the UK so it comes as no suprises that these professions are represented/ feature high on the list.
Those who work in human resources (HR, formerly personnel) appear at number 6 on the list and have a similar story to the accountants/solicitors as most businesses will have at least one person responsible for HR however it is not a legal or business requirement unlike accountants so it will be interesting to see how the world of HR develops over time. Many HR tasks such as recruitment and appraisals have been delegated to line managers rather than through a traditional HR role for example. However HR legislation is still an area where HR professionals add value to the organisation.
We then come to the surveyors at Number 8. Construction and property are key in a country that is forever running low on housing but seeing a relatively mobile population. Britian has a large number of historic buildings which also require surveys and evaluation. As yet, there are no plans to replace a trained surveyors eye with a computer programme!
A new entry at Number 10 is the Chartered Insurance Institute (replacing the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). This perhaps is linked to a growing population (individuals and companies) requiring insurance services as well as a more tightly regulated market.
Seven of the ten professional bodies have seen solid increases in membership over the past 5 years and this can be linked to a range of internal/external factors (including good membership focused best practice adherence), however The Law Society, The IET and the AAT have seen declines. This is likely to be due to international and domestic competition, changing regulatory requirements, automation and changing workforce demographics.
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As the Law Society has been added into the top 50 list, shouldn’t it also make the top 10 list of professional bodies, as it has 139,000 members?
Will add it to my to-do list Ben 🙂
Can you issue a chartered qualification to ‘Corporate Practicing Attorney’ ? I would like some information.
If you are a member and eligible for Chartered Status with the respective Chartered bodies that would be a matter to take up with them directly.
CMI should be number #4 or thereabouts in this list?
The figure of 182,000 was submitted by CMI on 23/2/23. To be 4th CMI would need membership in excess of 1.2m.
I have done my Masters in Biotechnology, What are the proffessional bodies I can register in UK?
The Bioindustry Association might be a great place to start Sandali – https://www.bioindustry.org/membership.html – The Royal Society of Chemistry also has a biotechnology group. See here – https://www.rsc.org/membership-and-community/connect-with-others/through-interests/interest-groups/biotechnology/
There is also a government listing of all the UK life sciences trade associations here – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-life-sciences-support/uk-life-sciences-membership-associations
I hope this response is helpful.
Rich.