Nearly two-thirds of firms intend to stick with their current outsourcing partner, despite the economic downturn, because changing supplier is viewed as both too time consuming and costly.

Law firm Pinsent Masons interviewed 200 business leaders about their outsourcing plans and found the majority (64 per cent) have no plans to look for lower-cost outsourcing partners.

Nevertheless, one in four businesses leaders said they would be renegotiating the terms of existing deals.

And one in ten of those questioned said they were looking at bringing outsourced services back in house.

"Our survey indicates that sourcing has not yet been given the priority that it merits; businesses are concentrating on more traditional measures to save costs. This may impact the ability of business to respond when there is an upturn," said Garfield Smith, partner at Pinsent Masons.