List of largest United Kingdom employers

This is a list of largest United Kingdom employers. There are four main kinds of employers,


 * public sector bodies
 * public listed companies (plc) such as those on the FTSE 100
 * private companies (ltd), partnerships (often LLP) or other traders
 * charitable sector organisations

Public sector employers
Partial statistics for public bodies are available from the Office for National Statistics. As of September 2018, public sector employees represent 16.5% of all people in paid work, with the remaining 83.5% employed in the private sector.

Public listed company employers
Statistics are available on an ad hoc basis from public company annual reports.

Currently Tesco and Compass Group are the largest plc employers.

Private company employers
Statistics on staff numbers were compiled in the Sunday Times' "Top Track 100" of private companies for 2012. The three largest private employers in that list were John Lewis Partnership, Swire Group and Alliance Boots.