Are your NED fees in line with the market?

A Non-Executive Director or NED is a member of the board of directors but not a part of the executive team. NEDs are external or independent directors who help the company to achieve its full potential through guidance and governance.

It is essential that these key members of the management team are remunerated in a competitive and appropriate manner. Our 2025 Life in the Boardroom Report (2025 LIB) focuses on the most recent trends in Chair and NEDs remuneration.

The 2025 Life in the Boardroom Survey is unique in the way that we collect the data from directors themselves, and not from annual reports. This year, we collected data from 168 participants representing a total of 435 board appointments.

Findings from our 2025 LIB report show that the median number of executive directors on company boards is typically between one and three, depending on turnover. The median number of NEDs starts at two for companies with turnover below £10m and increases to eight for those with turnover above £3bn.

Non-executive directors’ fees have been increasing. FTSE 25 companies recorded the highest increases, with Chair fees up 5% and NED fees up 8%, regardless of whether the individual incumbents remained the same.

2025 LIB offers detailed insights into Chair and NED fee levels and on the issues individual directors across 14 business sectors see as being the most important, with the companies broken down into seven different turnover categories (from under £10m to over £3bn). The pie chart below shows the distribution of board appointments held by Chairs and NEDs. Among participants in 2025 LIB, nearly half hold four to five Chair/NED appointments.

If you would like to purchase the 2023/2024 report, or pre-order the upcoming 2025/2026 report, click here or contact Margarita Skripina.

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