Salary Survey
UK Recruitment Market Update
Welcome to our annual Market Insights of 2026/27, where we share our perspective on the evolving recruitment landscape within our sector. Our analysis draws on both professional bodies and our own extensive research, including a targeted survey of over 6,000 candidates working in business support roles. This edition includes a detailed salary survey, with particular focus on temporary recruitment trends and bonus structures. Beyond compensation, we explore the broader employee experience - covering company culture, benefits, flexible working, EDIB, and wider candidate sentiment. We hope you enjoy the read.
In summary, the recruitment market is showing signs of cautious momentum. Employers remain measured in their hiring decisions, but business-critical appointments are continuing, particularly where organisations need experienced support around senior leaders, stronger operational capability or flexible resource ahead of year-end. The latest UK data reflects a more selective market, with permanent placements stabilising, while temporary placements continued to grow. This points to a market in which businesses are prioritising considered, high-value hiring alongside agile interim and temporary solutions.
Explore further in depth:
Company Culture
Retained Partnership
SALARIES
Our figures show across all sectors that salaries have largely remained steady, with no significant shifts. This chimes with industry stats across the Recruitment and Employment Confederation research and the ONS. A now well reported reason is the increase in hiring costs with the rise in Employers NI, additionally the Employment Rights Bill brings some changes which create a more considered and risk averse approach to hiring as a whole.
Our client base is a cross section of industry sectors, however, a significant proportion of it is the Financial and Professional service industries, and it should be noted that the numbers reflected are dependent on the overall package, such as bonus schemes, employer pension and other benefits, these have an impact on the salary offering as a whole.
With 27% of our candidates coming from the financial sector, this is a key industry we use to benchmark salary movement. Our stand out observation in comparison to last year is the demand for senior level talent, particularly Chief of Staff candidates, with there being a 30%+ increase in average salaries for both executive assistants and private personal assistants, this goes to show the demand for top-tier experienced EA/PAs.
Key highlights include:
1. Salaries have largely remained steady
2. Key driver of attrition is candidates seeking increased remuneration
3. Demand for Chief of Staff candidates significantly increased since 2025
4. Candidates are increasingly open to a temp-to-perm arrangements
Additionally noted in our survey was that 21% of candidates still seek hybrid working or a work/life balance as a relatively high priority in their job search. But, with that said, 36% of our candidates surveyed, still sighted salary as the single biggest factor in their reason seeking a new job.
In addition to this 52% do not anticipate getting a pay rise in the next 6 months and 66% have not had a pay rise in the last 6 months, which will in itself continue to drive movement in the candidate market and competition if companies sense they will lose talent in their businesses to higher salaries offered elsewhere.
BONUSES
This year’s bonus expectations reveal a subtle but notable shift: 37% of candidates now anticipate receiving no bonus at all, a 6% increase on last year, while the remainder remain largely unchanged. Among those expecting a bonus, 7% expect to receive a bonus of 20% or more, 19% in the 5-10% mark, 12% under 5%, and the rest remain uncertain. Key drivers for candidates seeking a new role are salary, career progression and company culture continue to top the list, overtaking last year’s focus on work/life balance as a secondary motivator. This suggests that financial reward remains important, but long-term growth and the right cultural fit are increasingly shaping career decisions.
Temporary Recruitment
The demand for temporary business support has not only remained relatively resilient, despite wider economic uncertainty, but uplifting slightly.
Many organisations have reduced permanent hiring due to cost pressures, instead relying on temporary staff to maintain operations and support key projects. Employers also continue to utilise temporary workers to manage short-term workload increases, as well as to cover maternity leave, sickness absence and hiring freezes.
Candidate availability has increased over the past year due to redundancies and reduced workplace flexibility, resulting in a larger pool of candidates available for immediate start. As a result, temporary-to-permanent hiring has become increasingly popular, allowing both clients and candidates to assess suitability in practice before committing to a permanent role.
In fact, 31% of candidates said they would consider temp-to-perm should they be seeking a new role. This approach often leads to stronger long-term retention, as both parties can establish a successful working relationship without the constraints of an initial job description.
RETAINED SEARCH
As clients focus on long-term growth and strategic hires, retained search has become a critical tool for identifying top-tier talent in the most competitive segments of the market.
Bain and Gray’s Retained Search Service is designed for senior or business-critical roles, where discretion, speed, and deep market mapping are essential. Our team provides targeted shortlists built through research-led search, tapping into passive talent networks that traditional recruitment rarely reaches.
Why clients choose retained search:
- Exclusive access to talent not visible through open market channels.
- Market insight reports and salary benchmarking included as standard.
- Dedicated project timelines and guaranteed shortlist delivery.
BENEFITS AND FLEXIBLE WORKING
There has been a modest shift back towards being full time in the office (+3% year-on-year) with only 11% of our candidate pool now fully remote and close to 30% working a three-day office model, that said, flexibility remains firmly embedded in candidate expectations. Traditional benefits such as enhanced maternity pay, wellbeing perks, gym membership, private healthcare and pensions continue to lead the way as priorities. However, interestingly, company culture follows after that, showing a wider shift of individuals prioritising a good work environment over flexible/hybrid working.
Although EDIB engagement remains relatively high at 74%, the drop from 82% last year may suggest a shift in focus towards more immediate, tangible aspects of the employee experience. This is echoed in perceptions of company culture, which remain strongly linked to flexible working structures, personal development and ongoing training. Notably, charity involvement has declined by 10%, indicating that candidates may be placing greater value on day-to-day flexibility and support, rather than broader, outward-facing initiatives.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
The fundamentals of a successful hiring process remain consistent, but candidate frustrations persist. Lengthy timelines and a lack of feedback continue to undermine the experience, with a clear preference for honest, constructive communication over silence or ambiguity. Transparency is no longer a ‘nice to have', it is expected. We see the strongest outcomes where clients move efficiently, remain open to guidance, and treat recruitment as a collaborative process from brief to offer.
AI and the evolving recruitment process:
AI adoption is beginning to shape both recruitment and the day-to-day work of business support professionals. Within our candidate network, Microsoft Copilot is currently the most commonly used tool for privacy-conscious administrative and organisational support, with ChatGPT increasingly used as a secondary tool.
The opportunity is not simply to work faster. Used responsibly, AI can help with tasks such as drafting communications, structuring information, preparing research, summarising notes and reducing repetitive administration. This can create more time for the work that requires human judgement, discretion, relationship-building and strategic thinking.
For employers, the focus should be on practical up-skilling rather than expecting every employee to become a technical expert. Candidates increasingly value workplaces that invest in development and provide clear guidance on how AI tools can be used safely, ethically and effectively. As our Managing Director Tray Durrant has explored, the key question is not whether AI will continue to reshape work, but whether organisations are equipping their people to remain confident, relevant and competitive as it does. The strongest outcomes are likely to come from combining technology with the qualities that remain uniquely human: trust, communication, judgement and care. Read our guide to AI upskilling and the recruitment advantage.
For clients, this should now form part of the wider hiring conversation. Clear expectations around AI use, access to appropriate tools and opportunities for development can strengthen an employer proposition — while helping teams work more effectively as responsibilities evolve.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The UK recruitment market is no longer about “more hiring” it’s about smarter hiring. For clients, that means combining salary benchmarking, cultural fit, and speed of process to secure the right talent.
At Bain and Gray, we’re here to help clients navigate these shifts with insight and clarity. If you’d like a bespoke salary snapshot or market insight for your business, get in touch with our team.
