Richard Houston

This decrease comes despite a 2% rise in total revenue to £5.7 billion, driven by strong performance in tax, legal, and auditing. However, it remains the only Big Four firm paying out more than £1m this year.

The firm attributed the pay reduction to promoting 80 employees to partner in the past year, a move it claims reflects the improving UK economic outlook. Deloitte’s consulting arm saw a 1% dip in revenue to £1.58bn.

Richard Houston, Deloitte UK senior partner and CEO, said: “This is a strong set of results in a challenging market, against a difficult economic and geopolitical backdrop.

“Like many businesses, we had to carefully consider our cost base and make some difficult choices this year. We were therefore pleased to be able to recognise our people for their hard work with sustained promotion levels and investments in reward and benefits, including a 5% increase in average pay and bonuses.

“We’ve also continued to improve our people’s experience of working at our firm, with new benefits like equal parenting leave demonstrating our commitment to being a family-friendly employer.

“The UK economic outlook has been improving in the last 12 months. A recovering economy, alongside the government’s commitment to work with business in tackling economic and technological challenges, offers the prospect of stronger growth to come.”