Head of people salary · head of HR pay, 2026
What a head of people earns, by source, region and company size
A head of people salary in 2026 runs from £62,500 to £80,750, with a median of £70,000, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent head of HR.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £95,250.
Robert Walters puts a London head of HR at an average of £110,000 in a medium enterprise and £140,105 in a large one.
None of the salary guides we cite lists a head of people: they publish the seat as head of HR, and every recruiter figure on this page is for that title.
When you hire one through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
In the press
Fast Company 16 leaders on when fractional C-suite hires make sense · 24 Jun 2026
Leaders disagree on when a fractional hire makes sense and when a seat needs a full-time owner. Read it before you commit to a permanent people lead and the salary that goes with one.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a head of people
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Head of People candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
HR leadership jobs on the board
HR leadership roles on the board
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a Head of People brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a head of people does, and what sets the pay
A head of people runs the people function: hiring processes, contracts and policies, employee relations casework, pay and performance frameworks, and the HR systems underneath them.
In a growing business it is often the first senior people hire, reporting to the CEO, COO or finance lead.
Many companies call the same seat head of HR.
The professional body for the seat is the CIPD.
Its membership levels run from Foundation and Associate Member to Chartered Member and Chartered Fellow; ask which level a candidate holds and what it took to reach it.
Company size moves the pay most.
In London, Robert Walters puts a head of HR at £90,000–£125,000 in a medium enterprise (50 to 250 staff) and £105,000–£180,000 in a large one (250+ staff).
In the Midlands the same step runs from £65,000–£90,000 to £75,000–£110,000.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts the full-time median for human resource managers and directors (SOC 2020 code 1136) at £57,529 in 2025, with the middle half of the group between £43,676 and £78,677.
That group includes HR managers, so it sits below head of HR pay.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a head of people
1. Decide whether the seat builds or runs
A first people hire builds: contracts, a handbook, a hiring process, a pay framework.
A head of people joining an established team runs and improves what exists.
The first needs someone who has built a function from nothing, and the package has to reach them.
2. Size the legal workload
Much of the job is compliance.
Acas notes that the Employment Rights Act 2025 became law on 18 December 2025, with its changes arriving through 2026 and 2027.
Every new starter needs a right to work check before they are employed, and an employer with 250 or more employees must report its gender pay gap.
The more of this the seat owns, the more senior the hire.
3. Choose the route
A permanent head of people suits a business that needs the function run every day.
If the seat is empty and needs cover now, see interim head of people salary for what an interim is paid by the day.
If the work fits into part of the week, see fractional head of people jobs.
For the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see fractional head of people salary.
4. Check the seat above
If the brief includes board-level people strategy or a whole HR team to lead, the seat may be an HR director or a chief people officer, and paid as one.
See HR director salary and CHRO salary before you set the budget.
What we do on a people-leadership brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary people leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
For director-level searches, see HR director recruitment.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 2 roles · HR leadership
Engagement
- Fractional2
Seat
- CHRO1
- HRD1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)0
- Rate not stated2
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site1
Newest posting on the board: 6 Oct 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional head of people.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional head of people holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim head of people.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim head of people takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent head of people after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim head of people holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent head of people.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
Head of people salary by source, region and company size
Permanent pay for the seat as each publisher states it, all for the title head of HR. Robert Half publishes starting salary projections (base); Robert Walters publishes ranges and averages from over 100,000 advertised roles (basic salary, before benefits and bonus). The ONS line covers all human resource managers and directors, not this seat alone. Robert Half and Robert Walters are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
On a £70,000 salary that is £9,750 a year (15% of £65,000, our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must also pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
Bonus, benefits and any recruitment cost sit on top.
07/ vetting
How we vet head of peoples
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Head of People tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ head of people salary uk
Head of people salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
Robert Half’s range for a head of HR, £62,500–£80,750 with a median of £70,000, is a starting-salary projection from its own placements and third-party vacancy data.
Robert Walters’ averages come from advertised roles, by region and company size.
The ONS median of £57,529 covers every full-time human resource manager and director.
Read the head of people salary UK benchmarks as a range of views, not one answer.
The useful question is which band your business sits in: its size, its region and how much of the people function the seat owns.
09/ head of people salary london
Head of people salary London, and the regions
The head of people salary London employers pay sits at the top of every source.
Robert Half puts a London head of HR at £85,000–£109,750, with a median of £95,250.
Robert Walters puts the London average at £110,000 in a medium enterprise and £140,105 in a large one.
Outside London, Robert Walters’ averages for a medium enterprise are £78,356 in the Midlands, £77,500 in the South and £68,500 in the North, where its table titles the seat head of human resources.
In a large enterprise they are £86,560, £95,000 and £76,000.
10/ head of hr salary
Head of HR salary, the title the surveys use
Each recruiter figure on this page is a head of HR salary: Robert Half and Robert Walters publish the seat under that title, not head of people.
Robert Half’s national median is £70,000 and its London median £95,250.
Company size matters more than the title.
In each region Robert Walters covers, a head of HR in a large enterprise (250+ staff) earns more on average than one in a medium enterprise (50 to 250 staff): £140,105 against £110,000 in London, and £95,000 against £77,500 in the South.
11/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or part-week: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a people lead every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim head of people salary for the day rates.
A fractional head of people works part of the week; no survey we can cite publishes a day rate for the seat, so every candidate on a shortlist states their own.
Fractional head of people salary spreads this salary across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate).
Roles on the board are on fractional head of people jobs.
12/ questions
Head of people salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of people.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
