Interim recruitment agencies: how interim works, day rates & the agencies that place them

Interim management is the full-time engagement of a senior executive for a defined period at a day rate, normally through the interim’s own limited company; the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average UK assignment at 10 months (IIM).

The interim sits in the role and runs the function.

Fractional is part-time — typically 1–3 days a week — and ongoing, with the executive usually splitting the week across more than one client.

Interim is the right tool for vacancy cover, transformation leadership and crisis; fractional is the right tool for ongoing part-time capability.

See our guide to fractional executive search firms for firms specialising in fractional appointments.

The IIM’s 2026 survey puts the UK interim average at £907 a day — £1,004 in the private sector, £700 in the public sector — with outside-IR35 assignments averaging £949 against £830 inside.

At C-suite level, Exec Capital’s 2026 guide publishes interim CEO £1,000–£3,500 a day, CTO £800–£1,800, CFO £700–£2,000 and CMO £700–£2,000, running from £600–£800 for smaller or less complex mandates to £1,500–£3,500 for FTSE, major crisis or turnaround work.

Its interim COO band is £800–£2,000.

Those are a recruiter’s planning bands, not a survey.

Always ask for a quoted rate against a specific role and term.

The day-rates section has every band and its source.

In UK usage the terms are effectively interchangeable — both describe firms that source senior executives into full-time, fixed-term, day-rate assignments.

Some firms style themselves interim management companies or firms, others interim recruitment agencies; the model is the same.

What matters more than the label is how the firm prices, how it vets, how it structures IR35, and whether it belongs to the relevant bodies (the IMA, now an REC sector group, for agencies).

See the profiled firms above.

A rule of thumb documented by the IIM is that an interim day rate roughly equals 1% of the equivalent full-time salary — so an £80,000 role implies about £800 a day — with interim providers typically adding a margin of 20–25% on the interim’s rate (IIM guide to fees and day rates, 2019; dated, so use it for the mechanics rather than current rates).

For current levels, the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the UK average at £907 a day (IIM).

It depends on the interim’s availability and notice more than on the agency, so we don’t quote a timetable.

The IIM’s 2026 survey found 64% of its respondents on assignment at the end of March, with an average gap of 3.2 months between assignments — at any moment, many strong candidates are mid-assignment.

What speeds things up on your side: a tightly scoped brief, the IR35 position agreed before approaches, and an interview panel ready to meet people.

We put no clock on our own shortlist: you meet 3–5 candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

The IIM, founded in 2001, is the UK professional body for independent interim managers — the practitioners, not the agencies.

It accredits members at Associate (AIIM) and Member (MIIM) levels, publishes the annual interim management survey, and runs a ranking of UK interim service providers built from roughly 25,000 practitioner survey responses.

Its 2026 Platinum tier includes Boyden (rank 7) and BIE (rank 15); other tiers cover further providers.

The IIM’s own site is iim.org.uk.

The IMA, co-founded in 1987 (originally as ATIES) by a group of UK interim providers including Russam, is the trade body for interim recruitment agencies — the providers, not the individual practitioners.

It now operates as a specialist sector group within the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) rather than maintaining a standalone website.

Russam’s About page documents the IMA’s founding in its own timeline.

IR35 decides whether an interim working through their own company is taxed, in effect, as an employee on the day rate (inside) or as a business (outside).

For a medium or large client, the client makes the status determination; for a small private-sector client, the interim’s own company does (HMRC).

Status turns on how the assignment actually runs, so agree it before the engagement starts and put it in writing in the engagement letter.

It also moves the rate: the IIM’s 2026 survey puts outside-IR35 assignments at £949 a day on average against £830 inside (IIM).

We set out the IR35 position on every brief.

Use fractional when the role is part-time and ongoing rather than full-time and time-bound.

A scale-up needing senior marketing direction two days a week through its growth phase is a fractional brief; a sudden CFO resignation that needs full-time cover while a permanent search runs is an interim brief.

The two are not substitutes — they answer different questions.

For fractional, start with fractional jobs UK or the fractional CFO hub.

The interim is engaged on a day rate, normally through their own limited company.

The agency’s margin is usually built into the day rate the client pays, rather than charged as a separate placement fee, and the client pays the agency for the days worked.

Margins are rarely published and vary by agency, role and length; the IIM’s guide to fees and day rates puts a typical provider margin at 20–25% on the interim’s rate (2019).

Ask for the split in writing.

We don’t rank them — we run interim searches ourselves, so we would be marking our own homework, and we know of no audited, published placement data to rank on.

The best outside cross-check is the IIM’s Leading Interim Service Providers list, voted by practitioners from roughly 25,000 survey responses; its 2026 Platinum tier includes Boyden at rank 7 and BIE at rank 15.

The three firms profiled above each have a review, and the five checks apply to every firm, us included.

The useful question is less which firm than whether the individual on the shortlist has run a turnaround before.

Of the firms profiled here, Boyden’s interim page describes “addressing a crisis” among the situations it covers, and BIE Executive organises around transformation.

Turnaround work is priced higher: Exec Capital publishes interim C-suite rates of £1,500–£3,500 a day for FTSE or major crisis and turnaround assignments, and its CEO guide puts turnaround-specialist interim CEOs at £3,500+.

Brief any firm on the situation — lenders, cash, timetable — not just the title.

See when interim fits.

Yes, alongside fractional ones — see interim executive recruitment.

You bring a brief; we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after the five stages on how we vet.

We hold no pool of interims, publish no placement record and put no clock on the shortlist.

Interim management companies take your brief, approach interims who fit and are available, and put a shortlist in front of you; the interim you choose usually works through their own limited company, and the firm bills you for the days worked.

Supplying people for temporary roles makes them employment businesses under the Employment Agencies Act and the Conduct Regulations, regulated in England, Scotland and Wales by the Fair Work Agency (GOV.UK).

A limited-company interim can opt out of those rules, and you must be told if they do (GOV.UK).

On IR35, a medium or large client makes the status determination and the firm passes it down the chain (HMRC).

See what interim management companies do.

It is the interim practice of a retained executive search firm.

Odgers Interim, Boyden Interim and Heidrick & Struggles’ on-demand talent line are the examples named above, each described from its own site.

Executive interim recruitment through a search firm follows that firm’s own method — a partner-led brief, research and referencing — applied to a full-time, fixed-term seat.

For executive interim management UK boards can also go to a specialist interim recruitment company, or an interim executive recruitment agency that does nothing else; either way you are buying a named interim on a day rate.

Compare them on the five checks.

Interim management agency fees are usually a margin inside the day rate you pay rather than a separate charge: the IIM’s guide to fees and day rates puts a typical provider margin at 20–25% on the interim’s rate (2019, so treat it as the mechanics rather than a current figure).

Retained search is charged differently, as a share of approximate first-year base salary — see the comparison above.

Margins vary by firm, role and length and are rarely published, so ask any interim recruitment services firm for the day rate, the interim’s share of it, and the notice and extension terms in writing.

No. Choosing an interim recruitment agency London-based is a preference, not a requirement: interims travel to the client’s site, and interim recruiters generally approach people nationally.

Of the firms profiled here, Russam has a London office at King’s Cross, BIE Executive is headquartered in London and Boyden has UK offices in London and Aberdeen, each per its own site.

We run interim searches across the UK, including London, for on-site, hybrid or remote assignments.

Some interim recruitment companies specialise by function, and HR interim agencies focus on HR directors and people leaders for restructures and integrations; others, such as BIE Executive, organise by function under one roof, with people and culture alongside board and finance.

An interim CEO agency, where a firm styles itself that way, works on the same model, but the brief carries more: the mandate, any board seat and, in a turnaround, the lenders.

When you compare interim HR agencies or CEO specialists, compare the seat’s published band too — Exec Capital’s 2026 guide puts interim HR Directors at £500–£1,800 a day and interim CEOs at £1,000–£3,500.

See interim CHRO and interim CEO.

Three differences.

What you buy: interim executive recruitment fills a seat full-time for a defined period; a permanent search makes one long-term appointment.

How the firm is paid: an interim provider usually takes a margin inside the day rate — typically 20–25% on the interim’s rate, per the IIM’s guide to fees (2019) — while a retained search is charged as a share of approximate first-year base salary (see the comparison above).

What must be settled first: the IR35 position; whether the interim takes a board seat, which makes them a director in law (Companies Act); and, in an FCA-regulated firm, whether the seat is a Senior Management Function that needs approval (FCA).

Start with the board on this page, drawn from our jobs feed, then the role pages: interim CEO, interim CFO, interim COO, interim CTO and interim CMO, each with its own board.

Registering with interim providers, including the firms profiled above, is another route.

The IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average at £907 a day — £1,004 in the private sector, £700 in the public sector and £728 in the third sector — with outside-IR35 assignments at £949 against £830 inside.

Its respondents billed 148 days on average, with a 3.2-month average gap between assignments.

The day-rates section has published C-suite bands by role, each with its source.

Yes, with the ones that work your sector and level.

Some publish the size of their register: Russam, for example, publishes 38,000 registered professionals and a vetted pool of more than 4,500 on its own site.

Ask each agency how it presents interims to clients, how it handles IR35, and how its margin is set.

No. Browsing the board and applying is free.

If you work through your own limited company, the off-payroll working rules decide how the assignment is taxed.

A medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small private-sector client, your own company does (HMRC).

Status turns on how the assignment actually runs, so have your own accountant review the contract.

We set out the IR35 position on every brief.

See the IR35 guide.