Deloitte’s UK chief, Richard Houston, received a 45% increase in remuneration to £7.1 million in the 2025-26 financial year, even as the accounting firm reduced its UK workforce and revised its profit-sharing structure for new equity partners.
According to company filings, Houston received £5.8 million as his share of profits for the 12 months ending May 2026. He also received a £1.3 million one-off award under an incentive plan linked to strategic and financial targets for his work across the firm’s wider European operations.
The higher payout followed Deloitte’s decision to cut approximately 1,000 UK jobs last year and reduce the initial equity allocation for newly appointed partners, according to people familiar with the matter.
Houston, who led Deloitte UK from 2019, moved to the top of a newly established entity overseeing the firm’s operations across 80 countries in June 2026. He had led the restructuring behind the new organisational structure.
His remuneration made him the highest-paid UK leader among the Big Four accounting firms. By comparison, PwC UK and Middle East chief Marco Amitrano received £4.8 million for the 12 months ending June 2026. Houston’s compensation was also influenced by his earlier leadership of a group of approximately 30 Deloitte national firms across Europe and the Middle East.
His pay was equivalent to 93 times Deloitte’s median UK employee remuneration, up from 65 times in the previous year and 35 times in 2021. Houston received £2.9 million in 2021 and £4.9 million in 2025. At the global level, Deloitte’s highest-paid director received just under £9 million in 2025.
The pay increase came as Deloitte’s UK and Swiss revenues rose 2% to £5.81 billion, while profits increased 14% to £899 million.
The firm also reviewed its UK partnership structure under an initiative known as Project Maple. The overhaul aimed to address the growing gap between equity partners, who own a stake in the business and share its profits, and salaried partners, who hold the title but remain employees without an ownership stake.
Previously, new equity partners received 100 units or shares, with allocations potentially increasing over time. This has been reduced to 80 units, according to people familiar with the changes. Each unit’s value fluctuates with company profits and contributes to individual remuneration alongside performance.
The restructuring also aims to move more salaried partners into equity ownership. One executive said the changes would ensure that most partners hold equity in the firm. Equity partners now account for nearly 60% of Deloitte’s wider partnership, compared with 54% in 2025.
The changes are intended to give salaried partners a clearer path to equity ownership. The distinction between the 2 groups has been a source of tension across the industry, with KPMG and EY also taking steps to remove equity status from some partners.
One former executive described salaried partners as an increasingly large group whose members felt they had reached a career ceiling. The partnership structure was also a major topic during the process to select Houston’s successor as head of Deloitte UK.
Deloitte declined to comment.
Also read: Viksit Workforce for a Viksit Bharat
Do Follow: The Mainstream LinkedIn | The Mainstream Facebook | The Mainstream Youtube | The Mainstream Twitter
About us:
The Mainstream is a premier platform delivering the latest updates and informed perspectives across the technology business and cyber landscape. Built on research-driven, thought leadership and original intellectual property, The Mainstream also curates summits & conferences that convene decision makers to explore how technology reshapes industries and leadership. With a growing presence in India and globally across the Middle East, Africa, ASEAN, the USA, the UK and Australia, The Mainstream carries a vision to bring the latest happenings and insights to 8.2 billion people and to place technology at the centre of conversation for leaders navigating the future.