What is an AI consultant's day rate in the UK?

UK day rates for AI consultants in 2026 cluster in three bands. Independent consultants and small studios charge £500 to £1,200 per day. Specialist boutiques with sector expertise charge £1,200 to £2,000. The large firms (Accenture, Deloitte, PwC) quote £2,000 to £3,000 and up, usually inside six-figure programmes. Day rate is not the whole picture, though. A senior independent who has automated your exact workflow before may deliver more in two days than a generalist team delivers in ten. For smaller businesses, fixed-fee work often beats day rates entirely because the scope and price are agreed upfront. That is why we price our assessment and audit work as fixed fees rather than open-ended day-rate engagements.