Interim managers in the private sector earned an average of £1,004 a day in the year to March 2026, up 3.5 per cent on the previous year and the first time the figure has passed £1,000, according to the Institute of Interim Management Survey 2026. The survey described the wider market as fairly flat. For the first time, the survey also asked how interim managers delivered their most recent assignment. Nearly a quarter said they worked on a fractional basis.
The rise in private sector interim day rates above £1,000 is sometimes read as a sign that UK boards are hiring leaders on contract instead of appointing them. According to Mark Geraghty, Partner at Executive Recruit, this is not always what he has seen in his searches this year. Of the interim leaders the executive search firm placed in the past eight months, 22 per cent were brought in after a sudden departure or took charge of a specific project. A further 46 per cent filled a role while the board put its permanent search on hold.
For comparison, Executive Recruit’s salary data puts the average base salary for a permanent Finance Director in the UK between £115,000 and £155,000, excluding bonus and benefits, depending on location and the size of the business. At the private sector day rate of £1,004, an interim Finance Director working the survey average of 148 days a year would cost around £149,000 in fees.
The Treasury’s Budget document, published in October, describes hiring in 2026 as subdued. The Office for National Statistics estimated that the UK had 702,000 vacancies between June and August 2026. This was the lowest level outside the pandemic since 2014.
“From what I have seen this year, and from conversations with peers and clients across the search market, boards have been slow to commit to senior appointments,” said Mark Geraghty. “In some cases, they involved a departure that needed covering or a problem that had to be fixed before anyone could take on the permanent role. Most boards I spoke to, and most colleagues I compared notes with, were not seeing a choice between interim and permanent hires. Boards were holding back on both. The interim appointments they did make were for situations where they could not afford to wait.”
There are early signs of a recovery in hiring. The KPMG and Recruitment and Employment Confederation Report on Jobs, which tracks recruitment activity at all levels, recorded a second consecutive monthly rise in permanent placements in September, the strongest increase in four years. It also recorded the first rise in demand for permanent private sector staff in more than two years. This recent Budget made no increase to the headline rate of National Insurance.
“Some boards told me over the summer that they would review their leadership structure after the Budget,” Geraghty said. “The Budget did not change the cost of a senior appointment, so that reason is gone. The conversations I am having now are more about whether to make an appointment at all, and more boards are saying yes.”
Fractional roles come up in the same conversations, said Geraghty. They suit businesses that need senior expertise for part of the week, and boards at smaller businesses and private equity-backed companies now ask about them by name. His test is the same for every option. If a board knows what the role must deliver and by when, an interim, fractional or permanent appointment can work.
“Permanent placements have increased for the past two months and the employer cost position for next year is now known,” said Geraghty. “Boards that use the rest of the year to settle what their leadership team should look like will be better placed when candidates begin to move again in the new year.”
