Which routine jobs are most exposed to automation in the UK?

Key takeaways

The Office for National Statistics estimated in 2019 that 1.5 million jobs in England, 7.4% of the 19.9 million analysed, were at high risk of some of their tasks being automated, and that high-risk roles were those built on routine tasks. For small businesses the lesson is about tasks, not jobs: routine tasks move first, to software or to dedicated teams.

• 1.5 million jobs in England were at high risk of automation (ONS, 2017 data).
• 7.4% of the 19.9 million jobs analysed were in the high-risk group.
• Low-risk employment rose to 27.7% of employees between 2011 and 2017.
• Risk sits in routine tasks inside roles, not whole roles.

What did the ONS find?

The ONS analysis, published in March 2019, estimated the probability that the tasks within each job could be automated. It found 1.5 million jobs in England at high risk in 2017. High-risk employment fell by 46,000 from 2011, while low-risk employment rose to 5.5 million, 27.7% of employees. The analysis looked at tasks within roles, not at whole occupations disappearing.

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• What are repetitive tasks? Examples from UK small firms

Which tasks are most exposed?

The tasks most exposed are routine, rule-based and done in one system: copying data between fields, matching records, sending standard messages and producing fixed-format reports. Tasks involving judgement, relationships, physical variety or messy inputs are less exposed, because rules and software handle them poorly.

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What does this mean for a small business?

It means planning roles around the tasks least likely to stay manual. Routine tasks inside small-business roles are moving to software, to managed teams or to both. Owners who separate those tasks early can redesign roles on their own timetable, rather than when a tool or a resignation forces the change.

• Job enrichment: better roles once routine work moves
• AI versus BPO: what to automate and what to staff

How do you assess your own exposure?

List your recurring tasks and mark which are routine, rule-based and done inside one system. In an illustrative 10-person firm, 12 of 30 tasks might meet all three. These are example figures. Those 12 are candidates for automation or a dedicated team; the rest need people who know your customers.

• Repetitive task inventory: list every recurring job once
• The repetitive task fit score: ready to hand over?

Where should you be cautious with this data?

The ONS figures are a modelled estimate from 2017 data and describe risk, not a forecast of job losses. AI tools have moved quickly since, so treat the numbers as a picture of which kinds of task are exposed rather than a precise count. Check the ONS for newer analysis before quoting figures in your own planning.

• Human in the loop: pairing AI tools with an outsourced team

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: owners worry about automation replacing whole roles, but the practical change is smaller and faster. A handful of routine tasks move to a tool or a managed team, and the people in those roles spend more time on customers and decisions.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Automation exposure checklist

Use this to review your own tasks.

• List your recurring tasks.
• Mark each routine, rule-based and single-system.
• Separate tasks for a tool from tasks for a team.
• Plan the roles that remain.
• Review the list each year.

• Workflow automation for small businesses: where to start

Next step

Send us your list of recurring tasks. We will help you separate what software should do, what a managed team should do and what your people should keep.