In case you missed the excitement, BLT's 2026 UK Indirect Tax Market Report is now out.
Here's the headlines:
- Indirect Tax recruitment volume improved in 2024 and early 2025 before falling back.
- Long overdue a strong upturn - 2026 could be the year?
- 4% average salary increase
- Private equity investment in the mid-tier benefits average salaries: 7% increase
- Lower in the corporates (3%) and Big 4 (1%)
- Salary range bandings largely static and not keeping up with inflation.
- Exceptions are at Director, Senior Manager and Manager levels in the mid-tier, and EMEA/Global Sole Indirect Tax specialists and at Manager grade in in-house teams.
- Salaried Partner bandings in smaller practices rise as more firms invest in Indirect Tax services.
- Sea change in Customs & Global Trade: headline grabbing tariff announcements increase complexity and visibility of the discipline.
- Retention in professional services is high.
- Low volumes of interim appointments.
- Candidate shortages mean recruitment and team growth remain a headache.
- Firms are much better at looking after their employees; results in a sticky market.
- BLT revenue up 50% as direct sourcing struggles.
- AI & Automation impacts junior level hiring.
- In-house senior level hiring improves a little, particularly in the F/S world.
- Spike in hiring in the software houses and independents in 2024, before falling back.
- Hybrid working - a mismatch between company policy and office presence reality.
- In-house roles increasingly going to those with in-house experience already.
- Continuing fall in the proportions of the Indirect Tax population with tax technical qualifications.
- In-house roles continue to appoint more women than men; drop in the proportion of female hires in professional services though.
- Big 4 hiring swings towards Manager grade hiring focus rather than more senior expertise.
- In-house swings more towards Senior Manager and Director equivalent hiring.
- High levels of partner hiring in the mid-tier as firms invest.
All this and much much more is in the Report - to request your copy with all the granular detail, drop me a note to gnb@blt.co.uk
We hope you enjoy the read just as much as we enjoy putting it all together!
- by Guy Barrand