Non-executive director pay: what UK boards pay, and what the seat costs you in time and tax

Non-executive director pay at the UK's 150 largest listed companies averaged a base fee of £80,888 in 2025, according to the 2025 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index, with extra fees for chairing a committee or serving as senior independent director. Non-executive director pay falls fast below that tier: one UK public body seat advertised in October 2026 paid £12,000 to £17,000 a year, and charity trustees are generally unpaid. For an executive weighing a first seat, the fee matters less than the time it takes, the tax treatment and whether your own employer will let you do it.

1. A FTSE 150 seat pays about £80,000 before committee fees

Spencer Stuart's index covers the top 150 companies with a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange by market value, using each company's annual report published before 30 April 2025 (Spencer Stuart). The average base fee of £80,888 was 3% higher than in 2024. BP paid the highest base fee, £174,500, and Big Yellow Group the lowest, £48,118.

Most of the extra money comes from committee work:

All figures are from the same index. Chairs are paid far more: the average chair fee ran from £807,388 in the top 10 companies to £339,573 in companies ranked 101 to 150.

One real letter of appointment shows how the pieces add up. Barratt Redrow's July 2025 letter to one of its non-executive directors sets a base fee of £74,437 a year, plus £18,211 for being senior independent director, £18,211 for chairing the audit and risk committee and £3,214 for each other committee membership, paid monthly in arrears "less any statutory deductions."

2. Below the FTSE 150, fees drop and published data thins out

Deloitte's November 2023 report on non-executive fees put the 2023 median base fee at £58,000 for FTSE 250 companies outside financial services, against £75,000 for their FTSE 100 equivalents. It also found that historically about 60% of companies made no increase to non-executive fees in any given year. These are 2023 figures, so check any offer against the fees in the company's latest annual report.

For AIM companies and private companies there is no recent public fee survey to rely on, so judge each offer on its own terms and work out the day rate yourself (section 5).

Public bodies publish their pay. The government's public appointments guidance says these roles are typically chair or non-executive director seats, that any pay is treated as employment income, and that commitments range from two or three days a week to a few days a year. Each vacancy on the Public Appointments service shows its pay and time commitment. As one dated example, on 25 October 2026 it listed a Student Loans Company non-executive director seat at £12,000 to £17,000 a year for two days a month; vacancies close, so check the current list.

3. Charity trustee seats are usually unpaid, by design

The Charity Commission's guidance on paying trustees opens with "Being a trustee is generally a voluntary role." A charity can pay a trustee for trustee duties only with a clear power in its governing document or the Commission's authority, and the guidance says this should only be considered "in exceptional circumstances and for a temporary period of time." Charities can still reimburse reasonable expenses, which the Commission says are not a trustee payment.

Take a trustee seat for the board experience, not the money. It is a common first rung, and how to become a board member explains how to turn it into a paid seat later.

4. UK listed companies will not pay you in share options

Provision 34 of the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 says non-executive pay should "reflect the time commitment and responsibilities of the role" and "should not include share options or other performance-related elements." The Financial Reporting Council's November 2025 guidance update lets boards pay part of the fee in shares, as long as they explain why, and repeats that "performance-related remuneration remains inappropriate for independent non-executive directors." Spencer Stuart counted five FTSE 150 companies using shares as part of their fees (Spencer Stuart).

That is the opposite of a startup advisory seat, where a small equity grant is usually the whole payment. If that is the kind of board you are weighing, read startup advisor compensation instead.

5. Budget three days a month, then divide the fee by it

Deloitte's 2023 poll estimated that a listed non-executive role takes about 35 to 45 days a year, up from about 22 to 36 days in 2013. Spencer Stuart found FTSE 150 boards held an average of 8.2 meetings in its latest review period (Spencer Stuart). Barratt Redrow's letter gives "an average time commitment of 2 days per month" as a guide, around 7 board meetings a year, and an expectation to attend more if circumstances require.

Here is a made-up example. Priya is a finance director offered a public body seat at £14,500 a year for two days a month. That is 24 days and about £604 a day. The average FTSE 150 base fee of £80,888 spread over 40 days, the midpoint of Deloitte's estimate, is about £2,022 a day before committee fees. (Both day rates are our arithmetic.) They are different jobs, and the second is much harder to get.

Add a margin for the bad year. Spencer Stuart counted 24 companies that disclosed unscheduled board meetings, and a letter of appointment will say you are expected to attend those too.

6. Your own board may have to approve it

If you are an executive director of a UK listed company, provision 15 of the Code says additional external appointments should not be taken on without your board's prior approval, and that a full-time executive director should not take on more than one non-executive directorship in a FTSE 100 company or other significant appointment. Anyone else should still read their employment contract and ask in writing before accepting.

7. HMRC taxes UK fees as employment income through PAYE

HMRC's Employment Income Manual says director's fees are "in strictness assessable on the director as employment income," so the company deducts tax under PAYE. So expect the fee to go through the company's payroll with tax taken off, as Barratt Redrow's letter ("less any statutory deductions") shows. The exception the manual describes covers fees you hand over to a company that has the right to appoint you to the board, such as an investor placing you on a portfolio company's board, provided you do not control that company; since 6 April 2018 that exception has been in legislation. If you hoped to bill the fee through your own consulting company, check with the company and your accountant before you accept. The public appointments guidance gives the same treatment for public bodies: pay is treated as employment income.

Ask the company's payroll team how your fee will be processed before your first month, and tell your accountant. If you also do separate consulting work for the same company, get advice on keeping the two apart.

8. In the US, the same seat pays more and mostly in stock

The US term is independent or outside director, and the money is different. Spencer Stuart's 2025 US Board Index puts average S&P 500 director pay at $336,352, with 59% paid in stock and 36% in cash, and an average extra $172,867 for an independent board chair.

The tax is different too. The IRS instructions for Schedule SE list "fees and other payments received by you for services as a director of a corporation" among income included in net earnings from self-employment, so a US director generally owes self-employment tax on board fees.

9. Get the first seat by being easy to approve

First seats are getting harder to win. Spencer Stuart found that first-time directors made up 21% of FTSE 150 non-executive appointments in 2025, down from 44% in 2022, and that only 24% of first-time directors were serving executives of another company, against 48% in 2024 (Spencer Stuart). The first-timers averaged 56.3 years old.

Do these in order:

1. Get written approval from your employer or your own board before you apply anywhere.
2. Take a trustee seat or a public appointment first. The Public Appointments service lists open seats with pay and time commitment.
3. Learn committee work, especially audit or remuneration. Chairing the audit committee earns the largest extra fee in the table above.
4. Tell chairs and search firms the one problem you are the answer to, in one sentence.

If you want board-style work without a directorship, an advisory seat moves faster; how to become a board advisor covers that route. While you build the record, you can also earn from what you know one question at a time: on Instant Expert, a buyer invites you to a specific paid call or a written or voice answer and sets the amount up front, and you receive the full amount offered. You can claim your profile to set the rate buyers start from, and browse non-executive directors to see how others describe their experience.

Start with the employer approval. Every other step depends on it.