DBA In Focus Survey 2025

DBA In Focus [formerly the DBA Annual Survey Report] is your most powerful tool for benchmarking your business performance against the wider design industry. Released each October it covers fees, salaries, utilisation, income, recovery rates, benefits and trends within DBA member companies. Data is segmented by geography and size of agency to make comparisons more relevant.

The survey is currently open for responses, closing on 6 June. Every member will have received their unique and secure link via email.

When you contribute your data, confidentially and securely, you are contributing to and strengthening the design industry’s most trusted and comprehensive business tool. No business is ever identifiable, and completing the survey is an opportunity to reflect on your business. When your data is part of the picture, the results become even more valuable to you.

If you have any questions about completing the survey or to gain access to this invaluable business tool, please contact Christina Warren. 

Need a clearer view?

As the most comprehensive analysis of industry fees, salaries, utilisation, income, recovery rates, benefits and trends in the UK design sector, DBA In Focus, enables you to benchmark your financial performance against businesses just like yours.

In addition to the PDF report, those members who participate in the survey gain access to dynamic, searchable data tables across key metrics for over 50 job roles, segmented by agency size and region.

If you are not a DBA Member, but you would like to clear the fog around the numbers in your business speak to Adam Fennelow about becoming a member to access the data we collect on the sector.

What DBA In Focus means to our business. Voices from the DBA community

“The DBA’s annual benchmarking report is an invaluable resource, providing crucial data and trends that keep us informed and competitive in the design industry.”

Khadija Kapacee, Co-founder and MD, EDIT

“The DBA’s annual report provides the most comprehensive, reliable and relevant contextual data available in the industry. We find ourselves dipping into the report frequently throughout the year for all sorts of peer-set validation to benchmark our profitability, fee structures, salary mapping and even growth planning. We’re duty-bound as agency leaders to contribute to studies like this that return so much value at so many junctions!”

Andy Sexton, Creative Director, 2LK

“We make time to submit our data each year because we believe you get out of the report what you put in. It’s important for us all to take part because a report like this only becomes truly valuable with broad participation – the more contributors, the more meaningful the insights. It also prompts us to gather valuable business insights for our own use, helping us better understand our operations.

The report has had a real impact on our business decisions and planning by giving us credible benchmarks for salaries, fees, and productivity. It provides an externally validated source we can refer to in key discussions with clients and employees.”

Nicola Tiffany, Managing Director, HMA

“The DBA provides many essential tools and resources for the fast-changing British design community. This report is one of those valuable resources that Pearlfisher both supports and greatly benefits from, as it allows us to gauge our progress and relatively unique position in the market and the forces that affect it. Never has there been such multifaceted shifts affecting our industry, and so accurate information to hand helps keep us focused on our north star of creative excellence and business performance.”

Jonathan Ford, Group Creative Director and Founding Partner, Pearlfisher

“The DBA In Focus report is the only unbiased way to understand how we stack up against the industry. Without it, we’re just throwing darts in the dark. Reliable data is key for benchmarking salaries and fees—and for backing up the decisions we make.”

Andy West, Co-founder and Strategy Director, Multiadapter

“We find the DBA In Focus report to be really insightful and helps us to benchmark various facets of the agency against relevant performance measurements.”

Tim Howitt, Co-Founder & Director, Design4Retail

“In Focus has become one of our key business management tools. It offers valuable industry insights that enable us to identify and define the key performance indicators that are essential for monitoring our performance and guiding informed decision-making.”

Louise French, Director Global Operations, forpeople

“Submitting our data each year helps us benchmark with confidence and stay aligned with industry best practices. The report has become a trusted reference point in shaping AD&CO’s strategy and future planning. It’s also reassuring to see that the challenges we face are shared by other DBA members – it gives us greater clarity and confidence when making critical decisions about the direction of the business.”

Andrew Shields, Creative Director, AD&CO Media

DBA Report 2024

The 2024 DBA Survey took place from May to June 2024 with the Report launched in October 2024. 

The Report comes in two formats – a PDF  summary report and our micro-site with report, full data and dynamic tables enabling users to benchmark across a range of variables including upper/lower quartiles as well as averages.

Read – To receive a copy of the 2024 PDF Report email Christina Warren. Read a summary of the Members’ Forum exploring the report.

Additional mini reports are available giving data on specific issues or for particular types of business. In addition to the main report members can also access:
– Data on staff benefits (pensions, parental leave & pay, bonuses etc)
– Data on staff turnover figures for the last three years
– Benchmarking for micro-agencies – based purely on data from micro-agencies (under 5 people) giving the benchmarks that matter to smaller businesses.

Watch – The recording of the webinar launching the 2024 report is available for members to watch on demand.

Interact – All members who participate in the survey automatically receive access to the Report website. Contact Christina Warren if you need a reminder if your login details.

The Survey and the Report are supported by Paprika and VisionFR, and produced in association with Moore Kingston Smith.