Former Deloitte UK chief executive Richard Houston received £7.1 million in remuneration for the financial year ended 31 May 2026, a 45% increase from £4.9 million the previous year, according to the firm’s latest Pay & Inclusion Report.
The package comprised £5.8 million in allocated UK profit share and a £1.3 million one-off award under a long-term incentive plan linked to strategic and financial performance targets across Deloitte’s European operations.
Houston, who led Deloitte UK for seven years, became chief executive of the firm’s newly established Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) organisation in June 2026.
Deloitte’s disclosures reveal that his total remuneration was 93 times that of the median UK employee, compared with 65 times in 2025. As an equity partner, Houston receives a share of the firm’s profits rather than a conventional salary.
Workforce declines as profits increase
The increase comes against a backdrop of workforce reductions, restructuring and tighter cost management across the UK Big Four.
Deloitte’s FY2026 financial statements show that its consolidated group’s average monthly employee count fell from 26,978 in FY2025 to 26,030 in FY2026. Within Deloitte LLP, the average declined from 17,264 to 15,904.
The workforce adjustment has continued beyond the financial year-end. In June 2026, Deloitte introduced an enhanced voluntary redundancy programme in its UK audit business that could affect up to 175 employees, principally at manager and assistant-manager level.
The reported packages included payments of up to eight months’ full salary. Deloitte attributed the programme to unusually low staff turnover, which had left some areas of its audit practice with more employees than required.
Notably, the reductions were announced despite growth in the audit business. Deloitte reported that UK Audit & Assurance revenue increased 3% to £998 million in FY2026. The firm said the subsequent voluntary redundancy programme involved less than 3% of its Audit & Assurance workforce.
At the same time, Deloitte’s annual results showed that combined UK and Swiss revenue increased 2% to £5.81 billion, while distributable profits rose 14% to £899 million.
Average profit per equity partner increased 7% to £1.125 million, compared with £1.051 million the previous year.
Deloitte also emphasised investment in its workforce. The firm recruited 3,500 people in the UK during FY2026, including more than 1,950 graduates, apprentices and interns. It increased its UK employee bonus pool by 14%, while average salaries within grades rose by more than 4%.
The figures therefore show a business simultaneously reducing average employment, recruiting in areas of demand, increasing employee rewards and delivering higher profits to its equity partners.
A wider pattern across the Big Four
Deloitte’s results are not an isolated example of partner remuneration rising during a period of workforce restructuring.
PwC’s UK partners received record average distributable profits of £935,000, an 8% increase, despite a decline in revenue and average employment across its wider UK-led consolidated group.
More recently, Big4News examined EY’s rising UK partner profits, finding that average distributions had increased by approximately 20% over two years, considerably faster than revenue growth, alongside a reduction in partner numbers.
The circumstances differ between the firms. However, their results illustrate how cost management, workforce composition and the number of partners entitled to share in profits can influence remuneration, even when underlying revenue growth remains modest.
Partnership structure under review
Unlike some of its competitors, Deloitte has expanded rather than contracted its UK equity partnership.
Effective 1 June 2026, the firm converted 68 salaried partners into equity partners and promoted a further 48 people to partner, bringing UK equity partner numbers to a record 784.
The Financial Times reported that an internal restructuring initiative, known as Project Maple, reduced the initial allocation of equity units for newly admitted equity partners from 100 to 80.
The change means new equity partners enter the firm’s ownership structure with 20% fewer units than under the previous arrangements, even as Deloitte has expanded its equity partnership to a record 784 members.
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About the author: Claudine Cassar is the founder and editor of Big4News, covering audit, consulting, regulation and governance across Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG.