PEST CONTROL
Pest control is ‘No Small Matter’
A new independent report sets out the scale and impact of professional pest control, and the key role it plays in allied sectors writes Rosina Robson, Chief Executive of the British Pest Control Association (BPCA).
Commissioned by BPCA and published on World Pest Day in June, the No Small Matter report by Pragmatix Advisory found that professional pest management firms attended over 4.4m client jobs in 2025 – more than 12,000 every day, across homes, high streets, warehouses, farms and industry in every region of the United Kingdom.
Pest management touches almost every part of everyday life. It helps ensure food purchased on the high street is safe to eat, hospital wards promote recovery rather than illness, and workplaces and public services operate in hygienic and compliant conditions.
A key part of pest management is cleaning and hygiene. By ensuring environments are kept clean and waste appropriately disposed of, cleaners remove resources that can attract pests, alongside being the ‘first line of defence’ against infestation, as they’re often best placed to spot initial indicators of pest activity.
The work of cleaners and hygiene professionals blends with the role of pest professionals to support food safety, public health and operational resilience, as well as contributing to economic output and wider national priorities around growth, safe public services and community wellbeing.
54 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING Professional pest management
Despite being a small sector pest control has a significant footprint, and the work of a pest management professional can take many forms, from protecting food supply and maintaining housing standards to supporting business continuity.
In 2025, there were around 2,040 companies within the pest management industry, with 47% sitting within the Standard Industrial Classification code of ‘disinfecting and exterminating services’. However, the report also found that the sector as a whole extends well beyond this single category, encompassing a wide range of related business activities including cleaning, facilities support, environmental consulting and forestry and trapping.
As much of the preventative work in the sector is invisible because its value lies in avoiding disruption before it occurs, the report also found that, despite its importance, pest management remains widely perceived as a reactive and problem-focused service, rather than a role that requires technical skill and environmental judgement.
On average, 64% of client jobs are reactive, meaning they involve responding to an identified pest issue or infestation, although a substantial share of activity, around 36% of
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