Family Business UK

Family Business UK describes itself as the country's largest organisation dedicated to representing, supporting and championing family businesses. It traces back to 2001, when it began life as the Institute for Family Business, and members who joined at that inception are still with it.

Who joins

Membership is at organisation level and aimed at UK family-owned businesses, their owners and leaders, and the next generation coming through. The badge on this listing marks it as a business families body, which is what it is: the subject is the operating company and the family that owns it, not a portfolio.

The organisation does not publish eligibility criteria or membership tiers, so the size and type of qualifying business is a question for the membership team.

How membership works

Membership is paid and dues are not displayed publicly. Terms come on enquiry.

What members get

Four strands, and they cover more ground than most national associations manage.

Advocacy comes first and is the reason many members join. Family Business UK argues for what it calls a family-first approach with policymakers, and maintains planning resources on inheritance tax and Business Property Relief. That second subject has become the central political question for British family firms: BPR determines whether a business can pass to the next generation without being broken up to pay the tax, and any change to it lands directly on succession plans. A body that follows this closely and speaks for owners collectively is worth more to most members than another networking evening.

Communities and events form the second strand, run as FBUK Communities alongside partner events, webinars and visits to member businesses. Seeing how another family actually runs its factory is the format that members of these organisations consistently rate highest.

Third is education, delivered through a masterclass series and an annual conference.

Fourth is publishing, including research reports and FBUK Magazine, plus a member directory.

For a UK family business, this is the obvious national membership. Families whose wealth has largely left the operating company and now sits in a portfolio will find the family office networks in this directory a closer fit, but for anyone still running the business, the policy work alone makes the case.