Seven things that change how UK intelligence is built
These are the variables that make a centrally-built European model wrong in Britain.
Base salary is not the cost of the hire
Employer National Insurance and auto-enrolment pension sit on top of every UK salary, and the employer NIC rate and secondary threshold were both changed in the 2024 Budget with effect from April 2025. A pay benchmark that quotes base salary alone understates the real cost of a UK team by a double-digit percentage. Every figure we hand over states whether it is base, total cash or fully loaded cost.
ASHE is the anchor, not a salary survey
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings is a compulsory survey of about one per cent of PAYE employee jobs, published by the Office for National Statistics. It is the only UK earnings source with that kind of statistical base. We anchor benchmarks to ASHE and to observed offers, then explain the gap, instead of circulating the aggregated self-reported numbers that most “market rate” decks are built from.
Notice periods decide the real timeline
Statutory minimum notice is one week per year of service up to twelve weeks, but contractual notice for UK senior and regulated staff routinely runs three to six months, and garden leave extends it further. Intelligence that reports availability without reporting notice gives a plan that slips by a quarter.
Regulated populations behave differently
In financial services the FCA and PRA Senior Managers and Certification Regime adds regulatory references and handover obligations that lengthen senior moves. In health and social care, DBS checks and professional registration do the same. We record the regulatory layer against the population rather than treating all UK talent as equally mobile.
The UK is twelve labour markets, not one
London and the South East behave nothing like the North East or Wales on pay, supply or attrition, and the gap is widest in exactly the functions clients most often map — technology, data, quantitative finance and life sciences. We report by ITL region and travel-to-work area, not by a single national average.
Company data is unusually open, and unusually stale
Companies House filings, published gender pay gap reports and FCA registers give the UK one of the best public corporate datasets in Europe. They are also lagged, and small-company accounts are abbreviated. We use them to frame a population and then verify the current picture by primary research rather than publishing a filing as fact.
What you may record is governed by UK GDPR
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 continue to apply post-Brexit, with the ICO as regulator. Research of this kind runs on a legitimate-interests basis with a documented balancing test. Special-category data — health, ethnicity, trade union membership — is not collected for individuals, and diversity work is reported at aggregate level only.
What we deliver in United Kingdom
Seven modules, scoped to the decision rather than sold as a package.
Labour market sizing
How many people in the UK can genuinely do the work — not how many hold a similar job title. We define the population on capability, size it against official statistics, then verify the current picture by primary research.
Reported with the definition visible, so you can see exactly what was counted and challenge it.
Competitor workforce analysis
A named competitor’s function reconstructed layer by layer: approximate headcount, reporting structure, where it sits in the UK, what is held in-house versus outsourced, tenure, attrition and where leavers go.
Built from lawful sources and primary research. We do not approach a competitor’s staff under a pretext.
Compensation intelligence
Pay reconstructed into its uk components rather than quoted as one number, so an offer can be built to land correctly rather than to match a headline.
Every figure is labelled with its basis, its source and the date it was collected.
Location and footprint analysis
Candidate locations compared on qualified supply, competitor saturation, fully-loaded cost, attrition pressure and the real commuting or relocation catchment — not the administrative boundary.
The output ranks the options on evidence and states the risks in each, including the ones that argue against the option you were leaning towards.
Skills and capability supply
Where a specific capability actually exists in the UK, how fast the pool is growing or shrinking, which employers are building it, and what the realistic lead time is to acquire or develop it.
This is the module that most often changes a build-versus-buy decision.
Organisation design evidence
Comparator structures for the function you are designing: spans, layers, where capability is centralised and where it sits in the business, with named comparators rather than a generic benchmark.
Diversity and representation benchmarking
Aggregate representation across the uk population you are hiring from, so a target can be set against the market that exists rather than an aspiration.
Reported at population level only. We do not flag characteristics against named individuals, and we do not infer them.
Most engagements use three or four of these modules rather than all seven. The scoping call establishes which questions you actually need answered, and the written scope says what is in and what is deliberately out.
Pay and labour cost in United Kingdom
A benchmark that does not state its basis is not a benchmark.
| Component | Why it changes the answer | How we report it |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | The only figure most surveys publish, and the least comparable across regions and sectors | Median, lower and upper quartile, by ITL region and level |
| Employer National Insurance | A statutory on-cost that changed in April 2025; it is not part of the candidate's package but is part of yours | Modelled into fully-loaded cost at the prevailing rate, stated and dated |
| Pension | Auto-enrolment sets a minimum employer contribution; competitive employers pay well above it | Reported as a percentage of pensionable pay, with the employer floor shown |
| Bonus and LTIP | In financial and professional services the variable element can exceed base; in the public sector it is near zero | Target and actual where evidenced, separated from guaranteed cash |
| Benefits and flexible allowance | Private medical, car allowance and flexible pots are quoted inconsistently and inflate apparent packages | Valued separately and never folded into a salary figure |
| Working pattern | Hybrid, four-day and compressed arrangements are a live part of UK competitiveness | Recorded per employer where observable, because it changes who will move |
Regional and city markets in United Kingdom
We report by market, not by national average.
| Market | What concentrates there | Intelligence note |
|---|---|---|
| London & South East | Financial services, professional services, media, headquarters functions, the largest technology pool in Europe outside a handful of cities | Highest pay and highest attrition; the benchmark that distorts a national average |
| Manchester & the North West | Technology, digital, media, BPO, advanced manufacturing, a large legal and finance shared-service base | The most common UK answer to a London cost problem; supply is real but thinner at principal level |
| Birmingham & the Midlands | Automotive and advanced manufacturing, engineering, professional services, logistics | Engineering depth that does not show up in digital-only sourcing |
| Leeds, Sheffield & Yorkshire | Financial services operations, health technology, data and analytics, public sector | Strong mid-level supply at materially lower loaded cost than London |
| Edinburgh & Glasgow | Asset management, insurance, fintech, informatics, energy transition | A separate legal jurisdiction; Scottish income tax bands differ and affect net pay |
| Bristol, Bath & the South West | Aerospace and defence, semiconductors, creative industries, net-zero engineering | Small, deep and highly networked; discretion matters |
| Cambridge & the East | Life sciences, genomics, deep tech, semiconductor design | Globally competitive and globally recruited; local supply is not the whole pool |
| Cardiff, Belfast & the nations | Public sector, cyber security, fintech, compliance and regulated operations | Devolved policy and separate incentive regimes change the employer set |
Sectors we cover in United Kingdom
Deepest where the research is hardest and the stakes are highest.
- Financial services and insurance — banking, asset and wealth management, insurance, fintech, risk, quant and regulated control functions.
- Technology and data — software engineering, platform, cloud, cyber security, machine learning, data engineering and product.
- Life sciences and healthcare — pharma, biotech, medical devices, CRO, clinical and regulatory affairs, NHS and independent providers.
- Energy, utilities and net zero — renewables, grid, nuclear, hydrogen, and the engineering populations behind them.
- Advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defence — including security-cleared populations where availability is the binding constraint.
- Consumer, retail and FMCG — commercial, supply chain, digital trading and brand functions.
- Professional and business services — consulting, legal, accountancy, and the shared-service and BPO estate behind them.
UK GDPR and what may be recorded
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 govern this work, with the Information Commissioner’s Office as regulator. Professional research of this kind is normally run on a legitimate-interests basis, which requires a documented balancing test rather than consent from every individual researched.
In practice that sets hard limits on a deliverable. We record professional information — employer, role, level, tenure, location, publicly evidenced career history and professional qualifications. We do not compile special-category data on named individuals, we source every field, and we hand the dataset over with its provenance so your privacy team can audit it.
Diversity work is reported at aggregate population level, never as an individual characteristic flag. That is both the lawful position and the methodologically defensible one — inference from a name or a photograph is not evidence.
How a uk project actually runs
Seven stages, with a written scope before any fieldwork begins.
Define the decision, not just the role
- What we establish
- The decision the research has to support, who will take it, what evidence would change it, and what is already believed but unverified.
- Why it matters
- A study scoped to a job title answers a smaller question than the one you are actually facing, and usually the wrong one.
Agree the market definition in writing
- What we establish
- Geography, employer set, levels, capability definition, language requirement where relevant, and the explicit exclusions.
- Why it matters
- Every number in the final report depends on this definition. It is written down and signed off before fieldwork starts, so no figure is later contested on scope.
Frame the population from official sources
- What we establish
- The statistical frame for the UK — official labour market data, company registers and published filings.
- Why it matters
- Public data gives a defensible frame and shows where the gaps are. It does not give a current picture, which is what the next stage is for.
Research the market directly
- What we establish
- Named employers, structures, populations and movement, built by analysts researching the uk market itself rather than querying a database.
- Why it matters
- This is where the value is. Filings lag, profiles go stale and aggregated products inherit both.
Verify, cross-check and remove noise
- What we establish
- Each material data point corroborated against a second source, with confidence recorded where corroboration was not possible.
- Why it matters
- An unverified dataset is a liability dressed as an asset. We would rather hand over a smaller population we can stand behind.
Analyse into a decision
- What we establish
- What the pattern means for your decision, what it rules out, what it cannot tell you, and what we would do next in your position.
- Why it matters
- Data is not intelligence until someone has interpreted it against the question. That interpretation is the deliverable.
Deliver, walk through and hand over
- What we establish
- A written analysis, the structured dataset behind it and a working session with the analyst who built it.
- Why it matters
- You own all of it permanently — including the right to re-use it, load it into your own systems and refresh it with anyone you choose.
Talent intelligence, talent mapping and intelligence software
The three are routinely confused, and they are bought for different reasons.
| Talent intelligence (this page) | Talent mapping | Intelligence software | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starts from | A business decision | A role or a population | A standing data model |
| Answers | Should we, where, at what cost, against whom | Who could do this, and are they reachable | What do aggregate trends look like |
| Data origin | Primary research, verified per field | Primary research, verified per field | Modelled from profiles and postings |
| Freshness | Collected for your question on a stated date | Collected for your question on a stated date | As fresh as the underlying sources, which varies |
| Depth on a named competitor | High — structure reconstructed and corroborated | High, for the population in scope | Low to moderate; inferred rather than verified |
| Breadth | Scoped deliberately | Scoped deliberately | Very broad |
| Output | Written analysis plus dataset | Named population plus analysis | Dashboard and exports |
| Commercial model | Fixed project fee | Fixed project fee | Annual licence per seat |
| Best for | Decisions that have to be right | Hiring and succession against a defined population | Continuous monitoring and first-pass sizing |
These are complements, not substitutes, and the honest answer is that most mature talent functions run more than one. A platform licence gives you breadth and a trend line all year round. Commissioned research gives you a verified answer on the specific question that a board, an investment committee or a remuneration committee will interrogate.
Where we are unambiguously the wrong purchase: if you need continuous monitoring of a hundred markets at low cost, buy software. We will say so. Our full comparison is on the platforms and providers page, and the mapping side is covered on talent mapping in the UK.
What talent intelligence costs in United Kingdom
Fixed project fees, scoped on the research rather than on the salary of a role.
| Engagement | What it covers | Typical fee | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-decision intelligence brief | One question, one UK market — for example “can we staff a 30-person data function in Manchester, and what would it cost?” | £5,000–£12,000 | 3–4 weeks |
| Function or multi-region study | A whole function or several UK regions, with competitor structure, pay and supply modelled side by side | £15,000–£36,000 | 5–8 weeks |
| Retained intelligence programme | A standing UK picture refreshed quarterly, with analyst access between refreshes | £48,000–£95,000 per year | Ongoing |
Fees are fixed in writing before work starts and are driven by scope — population size, number of regions, depth of pay reconstruction and refresh cadence — never by the salary of a role or by an outcome. There is no commission and no success fee. For a full breakdown of what moves the number, see what talent intelligence costs.
Every engagement is a fixed fee agreed in writing before work begins. There is no commission, no percentage of salary and no success fee on any service we sell, and the dataset is handed over permanently. The fee comparison calculator shows what that difference comes to against a contingency or retained search model.
UK talent intelligence FAQs
What is talent intelligence in the UK?
Talent intelligence in the UK is structured primary research into the British labour market, analysed into evidence for a specific business decision. It answers how large a qualified population really is, which employers hold it, what a competitive package costs once employer National Insurance and pension are included, which UK region offers the best supply-to-cost position, and how a named competitor’s function is structured.
The deliverable is a written analysis plus the dataset behind it, produced for your question. It is not a dashboard subscription and it is not a shortlist.
How is talent intelligence different from talent mapping?
A talent map identifies and profiles the individuals who could do a defined role. Talent intelligence sits a level above it and informs the decision about whether, where and on what terms to hire at all — or whether to build the capability instead.
Most UK engagements use both: the map supplies the named population, and the intelligence layer interprets what that population means for headcount planning, pay strategy or a location decision. Our UK talent mapping page covers the mapping side in full.
Which UK data sources do you use for pay benchmarking?
We anchor to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the ONS compulsory survey of roughly one per cent of PAYE employee jobs, because it has a statistical base that vendor salary surveys do not. Around that anchor we layer evidenced offers, published pay scales, gender pay gap filings, Companies House data and primary research into the specific employers in scope.
Every figure in a benchmark is labelled with its source and the date it was collected, and we state clearly whether it is base, total cash or fully-loaded employer cost.
Do your UK pay figures include employer National Insurance and pension?
They do when you ask for fully-loaded cost, and we always say which basis a number is on. Employer National Insurance and auto-enrolment pension are a significant addition to every UK salary, and the employer NIC rate and secondary threshold both changed with effect from April 2025.
Because those rates move with fiscal events, we model them at the prevailing rate, state the rate used and date it, so a budget built on our figures can be re-run when the rate changes rather than quietly going out of date.
Can you compare UK regions for a location decision?
Yes — it is one of the most common UK briefs. We size the qualified population in each candidate location, measure how much of it is already employed by direct competitors, benchmark loaded cost, assess attrition and salary inflation pressure, and test the travel-to-work catchment rather than the city boundary.
The output ranks the locations on evidence and states the risks in each, including the ones that argue against the option you were leaning towards. Because we are paid a fixed research fee rather than a placement fee, we have no interest in which location wins.
How long does a UK talent intelligence project take?
A single-decision brief covering one question in one UK market typically runs three to four weeks. A function-wide or multi-region study usually runs five to eight weeks. A retained programme runs continuously with a quarterly refresh cycle.
Timelines are agreed in writing before work begins, and the scope document states what will be delivered at each stage so you are not waiting until the end to see anything.
What does talent intelligence cost in the UK?
A single-decision intelligence brief typically costs between £5,000 and £12,000. A function-wide or multi-region study typically costs between £15,000 and £36,000. A retained programme with quarterly refreshes typically runs between £48,000 and £95,000 a year.
The fee is fixed in writing before the work starts and is driven by scope — population size, number of regions, depth of compensation reconstruction and refresh cadence. It is never a percentage of salary, and there is no success fee.
Is talent intelligence software not cheaper than a research firm?
A platform licence can be cheaper per seat and is genuinely useful for breadth, trend lines and a first pass at market size. What it cannot do is verify that a named competitor’s UK engineering function has four layers rather than six, or establish what three specific employers actually paid for a principal-level hire last quarter.
Platform data is modelled from profiles and postings, which means it inherits whatever is stale, absent or self-reported in those sources. Most of our UK clients run both: a platform for continuous breadth, commissioned research for the decisions that have to be right. We set out the trade-off in full on our platforms compared page.
How do you handle UK GDPR when researching named individuals?
Research of this kind runs on a legitimate-interests basis under UK GDPR, supported by a documented balancing test rather than individual consent. We limit collection to professional information relevant to the agreed scope, record the source of every data point, and transfer the deliverable securely.
We do not compile special-category data — health, ethnicity, trade union membership, religious or political belief — against named individuals. Diversity analysis is produced at aggregate population level only. Where your privacy or legal function wants to review the methodology before work starts, our compliance team will take them through it.
Can you analyse a competitor's UK workforce?
Yes. Competitor workforce analysis is one of the three things UK clients commission most often. We reconstruct the function layer by layer — approximate headcount, reporting structure, where it is located, which capabilities are held in-house versus outsourced, how long people stay, where they go when they leave and where the recent hires came from.
All of it is built from lawful sources and primary research into publicly observable professional information. We do not approach a competitor’s staff under a pretext, and we will say so in writing to your legal team.
Do you cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Yes, and we treat them as distinct markets rather than appendices to an English average. Scotland has its own legal system and its own income tax bands, which changes net pay and therefore what an offer has to be. Wales and Northern Ireland have separate devolved skills policy, incentive regimes and employer bases.
For regulated and public-sector populations in particular, the devolved picture is different enough that a UK-wide figure would be misleading.
Who buys UK talent intelligence?
Talent acquisition and HR leaders building a headcount plan they have to defend; executive and remuneration committees testing pay positioning; private equity teams diligencing the management and engineering bench inside a target; scale-ups choosing a second UK site; and in-house recruitment teams who need an independent read before committing to an external search.
Can we buy UK intelligence without a placement fee?
Yes — that is the entire model. Every service is priced as a fixed project fee or an agreed day rate. There is no commission, no percentage of salary and no placement fee on any of it, and the dataset is handed to you permanently.
Do you work with in-house teams or replace them?
We work behind them. Most of our UK clients have capable talent acquisition functions and commission us for the research capacity, the independence or the specialist market knowledge they do not want to carry as permanent headcount. The output is written so your team can present it as their own analysis, because they own it.
Primary sources and how we check
- Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)Office for National Statistics
- Labour market overview, UKOffice for National Statistics
- Nomis — official labour market statisticsOffice for National Statistics
- Companies House registerCompanies House
- Gender pay gap serviceGovernment Equalities Office
- Guide to UK GDPR — legitimate interestsInformation Commissioner’s Office
- Financial Services RegisterFinancial Conduct Authority
Figures quoted on this page were checked against the sources above on 20 October 2026. Statutory rates, thresholds and quotas change: where a number drives a budget or a legal obligation, confirm it against the primary source before you rely on it.