Fixed fee. Five working days. Every figure footnoted.
Pay you can defend in a board meeting.
Fixed-fee salary benchmarking, pay bands and pay transparency readiness for UK employers. One page. Board-ready. Sourced, not guessed.
How it works
One brief in. One page out. Five days.
Three steps. Every deliverable goes out as a one-page document with the workings on the page, every figure cited, every assumption stated. No 60-page reports. No day rates.
Brief by email
Send four lines: role, organisation, headcount, deadline. Reply within one working day with a fixed quote and a start date.
Source triangulation
Three independent sources per role: ONS, sector surveys, live market evidence. Match reasoning written down so you can argue with it.
One page, delivered
Board-ready one-pager with the recommendation at the top, the workings underneath, every figure footnoted to source. Five working days from briefing.
Built by a practitioner
Seven years in reward. Ten years in people data.
Kieron Power
Founder, Payband Advisory
Seven years in reward and ten in people data, including senior reward and people insight roles across FTSE-listed businesses, Big Four advisory and a global law firm. Most recently led a 45-office pay transparency programme. Payband Advisory is a fixed-fee consultancy for UK employers: salary benchmarking from £150, pay bands and pay transparency readiness from £2,500, every figure footnoted.
Services
Four tiers. One practitioner.
The £150 tier converts cold buyers. The £750 tier closes them. The £2,500 tier expands the engagement. The £8,000 tier keeps you covered all year.
Micro-Benchmark
£150fixed fee, 2 working days
- One role, one geography
- One primary source
- One-paragraph recommendation
- Source link and date
Benchmark
£750fixed fee, 5 working days
- One UK role, one geography
- 3+ independent sources
- One-page board-ready report
- Every figure footnoted
- Walkthrough included
Build
£2,500fixed fee, 3 to 6 weeks
- Pay bands for the whole organisation
- Full benchmarking refresh
- Pay transparency readiness audit
- Job architecture programme
Partner
£8,000per year, fixed fee
- Up to 6 Benchmarks per year
- One annual pay review cycle
- Quarterly reward reviews
- 2-day written advice turnaround
Buyer signal
What HR Directors say after the deliverable
The benchmark sat on the board agenda the day it arrived. The recommendation held up because the workings were on the page, not in a footnote.
Three sources, two on the same role, and the band sat between them rather than picking one. That honesty is rarer than it should be.
We had a pay transparency deadline and no job architecture. The audit was three pages of findings and a fixed quote for the work. We started on Monday.
2 August 2026 deadline
EU AI Act becomes fully applicable. HR AI is high-risk.
Penalties up to €35 million or 7 percent of global turnover. UK SMEs selling AI to EU customers, using AI in recruitment or operating CV-screening tools are in scope, extraterritorially. The fixed-fee £79 pack gives you the working documents: AI register, conformity assessment, worker disclosure template, incident log.
Cost preview
What would this cost for your organisation?
Drag the controls. The number updates. The estimate is directional, not a quote.
EU Pay Transparency Directive
All 27 member states, one live tracker.
Five states have transposed. Eight are at draft law. Fourteen are at consultation or earlier. The UK is consulting on its own regime until 27 October 2026. The worker right to ask for pay data is already live in countries that have transposed. The free tracker at payband.uk/tracker.html covers every member state with status, dates, and source links, and updates as things move.
Status across 27 member states
| State | Status |
|---|---|
| Italy | Transposed |
| Slovakia | Transposed |
| Lithuania | Transposed |
| Malta | Transposed |
| Netherlands | Draft law |
| Germany | Draft law |
| France | Earlier stage |
FAQ
Five questions HR Directors ask first.
What does the £150 Micro-Benchmark actually deliver?
One role in one geography using a single primary source. The deliverable is a one-paragraph recommendation you can paste into an email or a board note, with the source link and the source date. Two working days from briefing. No video walkthrough, no clarification round, no extras. If you need a single pay decision made this week and want a defensible number for it, this is the right entry point.
How are the three sources for a Benchmark picked?
One official or published data source (ONS ASHE, sector pay scales, government reports). One relevant sector evidence (NHS Agenda for Change, Compass Associates, comparable). One current market evidence (live advertised roles, recruiter evidence, Glassdoor). The match reasoning between the role you briefed and the comparator is written down on the page so you can argue with it.
Why fixed fee and not day rate?
Three reasons. One: a busy HR Director cannot act on a 60-page report in 60 seconds, so the deliverable is a one-pager and a one-pager has a fixed scope. Two: a fixed fee means the incentive is on quality, not on billable hours. Three: the £750 entry price is below what a Big Four firm charges for a single day of senior reward time, so the value case is obvious. Day rates invite scope creep. Fixed fees close it.
Can you do the work without a call?
Yes. The entire process is email-first. You send four lines, get a fixed quote by return, the deliverable arrives on the date agreed, and any clarification round is by email. A call is offered if you want one but is never required. The email-first rule is permanent.
What happens if my board pushes back on the recommendation?
The Benchmark includes a recorded video walkthrough you can replay and share. If you want a second opinion against a fresh data point, that is quoted separately. The recommendation is yours to use or to set aside. The deliverable does not change to suit the outcome.
Get the EU tracker in your inbox.
One page, 27 member states, updated as things move. Plus a quarterly Payband insight note. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.