Independent, partner-level counsel on executive and board remuneration for UK-listed companies, privately held businesses, and UK subsidiaries of overseas groups.
RB Consulting Services advises UK-listed companies, privately held businesses, and UK subsidiaries of overseas groups on executive and board remuneration — independently, and at partner level on every engagement.
The UK runs one of the most demanding executive pay governance regimes anywhere. A binding shareholder vote on remuneration policy, a comply-or-explain governance code with specific provisions on incentive structure and clawback, an annual remuneration report open to shareholder challenge, and mandatory gender pay gap publication. A remuneration committee here is doing considerably more work than its US equivalent, with considerably less room to improvise.
Our team has advised FTSE-listed companies and has run remuneration programmes from inside large multinational groups — including equity plans administered across 30+ countries. For a London-headquartered group with US, EU, and Asian populations, that cross-border fluency is usually the constraint that matters: the policy has to satisfy UK shareholders while remaining deliverable in every jurisdiction the company employs in.
Quoted companies must put their directors’ remuneration policy to a binding shareholder vote at least every three years under section 439A. Payments outside an approved policy are not permitted.
Applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, with Provision 29 applying from 1 January 2026.
Employers with 250 or more employees on the snapshot date must publish gender pay gap data. Snapshot dates are 31 March for public authority employers and 5 April for private, voluntary, and other employers, with publication due within a year — 30 March and 4 April respectively.
The reporting itself is mechanical. What is not mechanical is the narrative that accompanies it, and whether the numbers move year on year. A gap that is stable for four consecutive reporting cycles is a governance question, and increasingly it is asked in the same meeting as executive pay.
At least every three years, under section 439A of the Companies Act 2006, and again whenever the policy is changed. That vote is binding — a quoted company cannot make remuneration payments outside an approved policy. The annual implementation report is voted on separately and that vote is advisory.
The 2024 Code applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, with Provision 29 applying from 1 January 2026. Provision 36 says share awards should be phased so they encourage continuous focus on long-term performance rather than vesting all at once. Provision 37 requires malus and clawback in directors' contracts and related agreements. Provision 38 requires the annual report to describe those provisions and the circumstances in which they apply. The Code operates on comply-or-explain.
Employers with 250 or more employees on the snapshot date. Public authority employers use a 31 March snapshot and publish by 30 March; private, voluntary, and other employers use 5 April and publish by 4 April. In each case publication is due within a year of the snapshot.
We are not a London-headquartered firm, and we would rather be straight about that. We work with UK clients remotely and in person as engagements require, including attending remuneration committee meetings. Our team has advised FTSE-listed companies and administered equity programmes across 30+ countries.
That is the more common shape of our work than a single-jurisdiction engagement. A UK-listed parent typically has to satisfy UK shareholders and the Governance Code while delivering plans that work under US tax and securities rules and, increasingly, under the EU Pay Transparency Directive. We advise across all three.
Policy drafting, committee support, LTIP design, or cross-border equity — direct, partner-level engagement throughout.
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