EY UK partner pay rises as firm protects profits amid consulting slowdown

Highlights

EY UK average partner pay rises £83,000 (almost 11%) to steepest increase in five years, while profits grow 3.4% to £702mn on 1.4% fee income growth.
EY planning to remove about 30 partners, promote fewer new partners, and shift some to salaried roles to protect profitability amid a consulting slowdown.
Sales of AI and data projects at EY grow 46% year-on-year, while overall consulting revenues fall 3% and competitive salary pressures intensify across the sector.

Results show profit resilience

As reported by Financial Times, EY says average partner pay in the UK rises by £83,000, or almost 11 per cent, over the 12 months to June, marking the steepest increase in five years. The firm says average employee pay increases by 5.2 per cent over the same period as it publishes its latest annual results.

Fee income across the business rises 1.4 per cent to £3.86bn, while profits increase 3.4 per cent to £702mn. EY says it takes steps to protect profitability during a prolonged slowdown in consulting demand, including plans in the 12 months to June 2025 to remove about 30 partners, promote fewer new partners and move some partners from the equity partnership into salaried roles.

Consulting remains the main weak spot in the business, with revenue falling 3 per cent, although that is a slower decline than in the previous two years. By contrast, EY's deals advisory arm delivers the strongest performance, with revenue growth of 6 per cent, while tax and audit each post 3 per cent sales growth.

Competitive pressure across the sector

EY says demand for AI transformation work remains strong, with sales of AI and data projects growing 46 per cent year on year as clients move beyond experimentation to operational change. Even so, the wider accounting and consulting sector continues to face muted demand and the risk that AI automates routine consulting and audit work.

Across the market, PwC last month reports an about 10 per cent drop in consulting revenue in the UK and Middle East, pushing firmwide sales into decline for the first time in two decades. Despite the latest rise in payouts, EY's UK partners remain the lowest paid among the Big Four firms that have reported so far, behind Deloitte at £1.13mn and PwC at £935,000 for their latest financial years.

KPMG, which has yet to report for its most recent financial year, gives its equity partners an average of £880,000 in the 12 months to September 2025. Competition for senior accountants is also intensifying, with mid-tier firm RSM overtaking EY on partner pay in the year to March 2025; EY says it increases its employee bonus pool by 25 per cent last year and continues hiring at roughly the same pace as in previous years.

Our earlier report on executive pay trends at South Africa’s JSE Top 200 companies highlighted a sharp rise in CEO and CFO remuneration driven mainly by surging short- and long-term incentive payouts. It also noted growing governance pressure, as changes to the Companies Act introduce mandatory pay-ratio disclosure and binding shareholder votes that can restrict board remuneration committee roles after repeated rejections.

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