Waiting for the Budget? Your next leader isn’t.

Budget Day is nearly upon us. Wednesday 28 October is Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget, which he’s promised will be built on fiscal discipline and meet the fiscal rules. That means just over three weeks of speculation, refreshing the news and every Head of Public Affairs suddenly becoming the most popular person in the building.

It also means one phrase is doing the rounds in boardrooms: “We definitely need to make this hire… let’s just see what the Chancellor says first.”

I get the instinct. But before you press pause, a few thoughts…

We’ve done this dance before

Recruiters said Budget uncertainty was weighing on hiring decisions last autumn, and the REC’s chief executive pointed out the same mood before the Budget the year before. Then, by January, some firms were pressing ahead with recruitment plans as the uncertainty lifted. Hesitate, then catch up. It’s a pattern I’m very familiar with in my game.

Timing couldn’t be worse as it feels like the market has only just turned a corner. Permanent placements rose slightly in August for the first time since 2022, a flicker of hope against a bigger picture where overall demand for staff has still fallen for 34 months in a row. The risk is that we talk ourselves back into the freeze. Yes, a Budget can move a package, a headcount line or a timeline, but it can’t tell you whether your business has a hole at the top. If you need a CFO, a CPO or a new Chair, you needed one before the Chancellor stood up and you’ll still need one after.

The cost of an empty chair

Here’s what never makes it into the red box. Decisions stall or get made by committee. Strategy drifts. Good people on the team start wondering who they’ll be reporting to and whether they should be looking too. For a founder-led business mid-growth, or a PE-backed one watching an investment clock tick, a few months of waiting isn’t a pause, it’s a big chunk of the plan. A little Budget caution can quietly turn into a quarter of lost momentum and by the time the call reaches us at Hanson Executive, the gap has only got bigger and bigger.

The best people are reading the headlines too

your ideal candidate isn’t scrolling job boards. They’re in a role, doing well, and watching the Budget coverage with one eye on what it means for them. Very few will welcome a conversation sprung on them in a rush, so reaching the leaders you really want takes time, discretion and a proper reason to listen. Better to start while it’s quiet than join the stampede in November, when every hiring team has had the same bright idea.

The front end of a senior search is the thinking: agreeing the brief, mapping the market, quietly talking to people who aren’t looking. That takes four to six weeks. Kick one off now and your shortlist lands in November, just as the dust settles. Wait until after Budget Day and you’re starting the clock in November, and with notice periods at this level often running to three to six months, your new leader could be a spring story.

If I were sitting on a leadership hire, I’d use the time Budget Day gives me: agree the brief and what success looks like (who you need, what they’ll own, what year one should deliver), get comfortable with a package range rather than a fixed number so you can flex once you know the rules, and map the market now so that on 29 October you’re talking to real people rather than staring at a blank page. It’s also a good moment for the bigger questions: succession planning, Board composition, who’s next in line if your CEO or Chair moves on.

Hesitation that makes sense (and the kind that doesn’t)

There is a sensible version of waiting. If a role’s package genuinely hinges on a tax or cost change, hold off on the final numbers. But that’s a reason to delay the offer, not the search. Do the thinking now, decide once you know the rules.

If there’s a Board or leadership hire sitting in your “let’s wait and see” pile, I’d love to talk it through, even informally. Budget or no Budget.

#ExecutiveSearch #Leadership #Hiring #Budget2026

If you’re thinking through a Board appointment, a senior leadership hire, or succession planning, we’d love to talk – even informally.

Hanson Executive is the Board, C-suite and N-1 search practice of Hanson Search Group. It brings together the senior leadership work Hanson Search has delivered for 24 years under one dedicated practice. Led by CEO Katie Simpson, Hanson Executive partners with ambitious, high-growth businesses across the UK, Europe, the USA and the Middle East.