The State of Board Effectiveness in 2026: What the Evidence Says for NEDs
Every annual report says the board is working well. The evidence says something more uncomfortable.
Board effectiveness in 2026 is slipping on the indicators we can actually measure: fewer boards are commissioning independent reviews, board papers keep getting longer while directors rate them less useful, and more boards admit they are stuck in operational detail rather than strategy. For a non-executive director, the implication is blunt — you can no longer assume the board's basic processes are working. Increasingly, you have to be the one who insists on them.
Key takeaways
- Externally facilitated board reviews are in decline: only 39% of the FTSE 150 ran one in 2025, down from 46% in 2020, according to the Spencer Stuart UK Board Index 2025.
- 42% of boards have not held an external review since the pandemic, and 45% have no formal process for giving NEDs feedback, per BDO and Norman Broadbent (2024).
- Board papers keep growing — the average pack is now 294 pages — yet only 36% of directors said theirs added value in 2024, down from 48% a year earlier (Board Intelligence, 2026).
- 80% of directors think boards are stuck in operational detail rather than strategy, up from 71% in 2022 (Board Intelligence).
- Only 12% of FTSE 350 companies demonstrate how board-evaluation findings are acted on (Grant Thornton, 2025) — measurement without follow-through.
Is board effectiveness getting better or worse?
On the measurable indicators, worse. The board-effectiveness picture for 2026 is not a story of scandal; it is a slow erosion of the basics — review, information quality, and time spent on what matters. Each is now documented in current UK research, and each lands on the non-executive director's desk.
The pattern matters because the 2024 UK Corporate Governance Code raised expectations at exactly the moment several practices were drifting the other way. The gap between what good governance asks for and what boards actually do is where a NED earns their place.
Why are external board reviews declining?
Because the discipline is quietly being let go. Only 39% of the largest 150 FTSE companies commissioned an externally facilitated board review in 2025, down from 46% in 2020, according to the Spencer Stuart UK Board Index 2025. Separately, 42% of boards had not held an external review since the pandemic, per BDO and Norman Broadbent's 2024 survey of 200 UK board members.
That drift runs against the rules. The FRC's 2024 Code (Provision 21) expects FTSE 350 companies to commission an external review at least every three years, on a comply-or-explain basis. And review without action is its own failure: Grant Thornton's 2025 Corporate Governance Review found that only 12% of FTSE 350 companies authentically demonstrate how evaluation outcomes are acted on. A NED should know when their board last had an independent review — and what changed because of it.
What is happening to board papers?
They are growing faster than their usefulness. The average board pack now runs to 294 pages, up from 267 in 2023, yet only 36% of directors said theirs added value in 2024, down from 48% a year earlier — both figures from Board Intelligence's 2026 research. More than half of directors (57%) say finding the key messages is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
This is not a clerical complaint; it is an oversight risk. When the signal is buried, challenge weakens.
"It's incredibly frustrating as a board member when you receive 1,200 pages to read over the weekend and, as a result, you can't see the wood for the trees." — Sir John Manzoni, Chair of SSE
Are boards spending time on the right things?
Often not. 80% of directors think boards are stuck in operational detail rather than the bigger strategic picture, up from 71% in 2022 (Board Intelligence). With the average board meeting running three hours and 48 minutes across 11 agenda items — about 21 minutes each — operational reporting crowds out the forward-looking debate that boards exist to have.
The drift is measurable across five years:
| Indicator | Earlier | Latest | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| External board review (FTSE 150) | 46% (2020) | 39% (2025) | Spencer Stuart |
| Directors saying board papers add value | 48% (2023) | 36% (2024) | Board Intelligence |
| Boards "stuck in operational detail" | 71% (2022) | 80% (2024) | Board Intelligence |
| Average board pack length | 267 pages (2023) | 294 pages (2024) | Board Intelligence |
What does this mean for you as a NED?
It means the burden of rigour has shifted toward the individual director. If the board will not commission an external review, ask why and when the next one is due. If no one gives you feedback, ask the chair for it. If the pack is 294 pages of operational reporting, say so, and ask for the strategic questions to be signposted. None of this requires a crisis — only a non-executive willing to hold the board to the standard it claims in its own annual report. Thorough preparation is what gives that challenge weight: the director who has read closely is the one who can tell the signal from the 294 pages of noise.
The state of board effectiveness, in one line
The headline numbers for 2026 point the same way: less independent review, longer and less useful board papers, and more time lost to operational detail. None of it is catastrophic, and all of it is fixable — but increasingly the fix starts with a single non-executive director asking the questions the board's own processes have stopped asking.
For more on the governance shifts shaping the NED's role, browse our governance insights.
Notes
- Spencer Stuart, 2025 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index — 39% of the FTSE 150 ran an externally facilitated board review in 2025 (46% in 2020); average NED tenure 4.3 years. https://www.spencerstuart.com/research-and-insight/uk-board-index/trends
- BDO and Norman Broadbent, Navigating a New Era for the Non-Executive Director (2024; survey of 200 UK board members) — 42% of boards had not held an external review since Covid; 45% have no formal process for NED feedback. https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb/insights/audit-and-assurance/navigating-new-era-non-executive-director
- Board Intelligence, The State of Board Effectiveness in 2025 (published 2026) — average board pack 294 pages (267 in 2023); 36% of directors said packs added value in 2024 (48% in 2023); 80% say boards stuck in operational detail (71% in 2022); 57% "needle in a haystack"; meetings average 3h48m over 11 items; Sir John Manzoni quote. https://www.boardintelligence.com/blog/the-state-of-board-effectiveness-in-2025
- Grant Thornton, Corporate Governance Review 2025 — only 12% of FTSE 350 companies demonstrate how evaluation outcomes are acted on. https://www.grantthornton.co.uk/insights/governance-is-growing-but-is-it-growing-in-the-right-places/
- Financial Reporting Council, UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 (Provision 21) — FTSE 350 external board review at least every three years, comply-or-explain. https://www.frc.org.uk/library/standards-codes-policy/corporate-governance/uk-corporate-governance-code/