The 6 Best EA Recruitment Agencies in the UK in 2026

Administration ranked second across all UK job sectors for applications per vacancy in Q4 2025, behind only IT, according to research from CV-Library. For employers, that means the strongest EA candidates are rarely sitting in your inbox waiting.

This is a guide for founders, COOs, chiefs of staff, HR directors, and senior EAs hiring in corporate, finance, professional services, and private office environments. If you're a candidate, browse current openings on our EA jobs board.

The agencies below are grouped by where they genuinely deliver, not ranked. Full disclosure: Oriel Partners is one of the six agencies featured, and this piece was written by us.

Best EA Recruitment Agencies at a Glance

Six agencies covering the UK's main EA hiring markets, evaluated by region, specialism, and fit.

How These Agencies Were Evaluated

We looked at four things for each agency: whether EA is a primary focus or one function among many; the markets they credibly cover based on their own positioning; whether they offer retained or contingency search; and what their own websites and public information say about how they work.

Everything was verified in April 2026. No agency has paid for inclusion.

The UK's Best EA Recruitment Agencies Compared

Each entry covers what the agency does well, where it falls short, and who it's actually the right call for.

Oriel Partners: Best for senior EA and PA appointments in London and across the UK

Oriel Partners is a PA and EA specialist, placing business support professionals across corporate and private office environments on a permanent and temporary basis. London-headquartered with UK-wide reach, we’re an assessment-led agency: we always meet every candidate before putting them forward to a client, and the search is built around cultural fit from the first brief.

We cover every sector, including finance, executive search, consulting, property, creative, UHNW, and private household. For urgent temporary requirements, same-day and next-day availability is standard. Permanent searches take longer by design, but save you time in the long run because you’ll get the right person first time (or a swift replacement).

Strengths

• 4.9 stars across nearly 200 Google reviews

• Deep senior market knowledge across London and the UK

• Face-to-face candidate assessment before any submission

• 12-week replacement guarantee

• 50% repeat client rate within 12 months 

Limitations

• Permanent placement makes up the larger share of the business, though the temporary offering is growing fast.

Best-fit client profile

Finance, professional services, and private office employers where the appointment is senior, the brief is specific, and discretion matters.

Our executive assistant recruitment service covers both permanent and temporary appointments.

Bell Cornwall Recruitment: Best for EA and PA hiring across the West Midlands

Bell Cornwall was set up in Birmingham in January 2007 by Charlotte Bell and Jeremy Cornwall and has built its reputation on knowing the Midlands market rather than pretending to cover everywhere. It places across office support, PA, EA, legal, finance, HR, and sales. It’s a broad remit, but one that means the candidate database has genuine regional depth.

Directors are front-line on every search. Both permanent and temporary briefs are covered across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.

Strengths

• One of the few agencies with real EA candidate depth in the Birmingham market

• Director-led on every search, not passed to a junior consultant

• Candidate network spans professional services, legal, and corporate environments across the Midlands

Limitations

• Small operation (under 50 staff), so consultant bandwidth is limited; if you need to run concurrent searches or want a single dedicated contact throughout a long process, confirm capacity before instructing 

Best-fit client profile

Midlands-based businesses in professional services, legal, or finance that want a recruiter who actually knows the local candidate market and won't be running a national search from a London desk.

Lucy Walker Recruitment: Best for EA and business support hiring across Yorkshire and the North

Lucy Walker has been placing candidates across the North of England since December 1992. Over 100,000 placements in 30-plus years. PA and EA is a named specialism, and a portion of senior mandates go straight to their database before being advertised anywhere, which matters when you want access to candidates who aren't actively looking.

Coverage runs from Leeds and West Yorkshire through Manchester and across the broader North. Permanent and temporary placements are both covered.

Strengths

• 30 years of candidate relationships built in the North of England

• Reach across Leeds, West Yorkshire, Manchester, and beyond

• Reputation for senior PA and EA appointments, with some mandates handled exclusively before going to market

Limitations

• Their own positioning targets growing SMEs in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. If you're a large corporate or multinational they might not be a fit: the agency's sweet spot is smaller and mid-market employers, which may affect the seniority and type of client they're most used to briefing

Best-fit client profile

Yorkshire and North of England-based employers in professional services, financial services, or corporate environments who want a recruiter with genuine senior candidate relationships built over decades, not a national agency covering the North on paper.

Nigel Wright Group: Best for EA and senior admin appointments in the North East

Nigel Wright is the dominant generalist recruiter in the North East, with offices in Newcastle, Teesside, and Leeds and 35-plus years in the region. It covers a lot of ground: sales, marketing, IT, finance, engineering, HR, supply chain, and business support, and that breadth is what makes it useful for employers running several searches at once.

PA and EA sit within the business support team. Clients range across consumer, industrial, technology, services, and the public sector.

Strengths

• The most established recruiter in the North East across disciplines

• Business support team with dedicated PA and EA coverage in Newcastle, Teesside, and Leeds

• Practical if you're hiring an EA alongside other commercial roles and want one agency handling multiple searches

Limitations

• Consultant turnover has been flagged repeatedly in employee reviews; there's a real risk you won't work with the same person from brief to offer, which matters on a search where continuity and context are important 

Best-fit client profile

North East-based organisations in the consumer, technology, or public sectors that need an EA as part of a broader hiring push, rather than as a standalone confidential search.

Tate Recruitment: Best for EA and office support hiring across the South East

Tate has been around since 1985, when Lady Virginia Tate founded it, and now runs more than 27 branches across the UK. The South East and Home Counties is where the network is densest (Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Surrey, Hampshire), but the national footprint means it can cover multi-site requirements without needing separate agency relationships.

It places PAs, EAs, secretaries, office managers, and administrators on both permanent and temporary briefs. Permanent placements come with a Watertight Guarantee: a 110% fee credit if the placement doesn't work out within the first 100 days.

Strengths

• County-level candidate networks across the South East that most London-based agencies don't have

• National branch coverage if you're hiring across multiple sites

• Strong placement guarantee, one of the more robust in the market

Limitations

• Candidate reviews flag inconsistent communication and follow-up; at volume-operation scale, candidates placed with clients aren't always kept as well-briefed as they would be at a specialist agency, which can show up in how prepared they are at interview 

Best-fit client profile

South East and Home Counties employers, or multi-site businesses that need EA and business support hiring handled regionally without going back to London.

Meraki Talent: Best for EA appointments in Scotland's financial and professional services sector

Meraki was founded in Edinburgh in 2015 and has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London. Its core markets are financial services, technology, and professional services: global banks, asset managers, Big Four firms, and private equity. EA and executive support sits within a Corporate Functions practice rather than being a standalone specialism.

CEO Andrew Welsh has been placing candidates in Scottish financial services since 2001. Meraki is a Scottish Financial Enterprise member. Permanent, interim, and contract appointments are covered.

Strengths

• Genuine financial services market knowledge in Scotland, built over two decades

• Client relationships with banks, asset managers, and professional services firms in Edinburgh and Glasgow

• London office for searches that span both markets

Limitations

• EA is one part of a wider finance and technology offering, not the core focus; if you need a specialist business support agency rather than a FS recruiter who also places EAs, look elsewhere

• Outside financial services, relevant sector experience drops significantly

Best-fit client profile

Edinburgh or Glasgow-based financial services, asset management, or professional services firms that need an EA who understands the sector and can hit the ground running.

How to Choose the Right EA Recruitment Agency

Five questions worth working through before you pick up the phone.

1. What seniority level is the role? A C-suite EA appointment needs a specialist with a senior candidate network and a proper assessment process. For mid-level or junior roles, a regional generalist will usually do the job at a lower fee.

2. Where is the role based? A London agency covering the North on paper isn't the same as a recruiter with 30 years of candidate relationships in Leeds. Match geography first.

3. Which sector does your business sit in? Finance, executive search, consulting, property, and private household hiring each have their own candidate culture. An agency that places into your sector will send a better shortlist, faster.

4. Temporary or permanent, or both? Not all agencies have equal capability across both. If you need urgent temporary cover alongside a permanent search, check there's an active temp desk before you instruct. Our temporary EA and PA recruitment service covers same-day and next-day availability for urgent briefs.

5. Retained or contingency? For senior or confidential searches, retained gives the agency a clear mandate and means you're not competing with every other client for their attention. Contingency works for time-sensitive briefs where running parallel searches is fine.

If you're earlier in the process and still working out what you need, our hiring guide covers the full decision from role definition to offer. 

FAQs

What's the difference between a PA and an EA?

The main difference between a PA and an EA is scope. A PA typically supports one individual with administrative and diary management tasks. An EA operates at a more strategic level, often supporting senior executives, managing cross-functional projects, and acting as a decision-making partner. The responsibilities in the job description matter more than the title.

For more detail, take a look at our guide to the differences between PAs vs EAs.

Is it worth using a recruitment agency to hire an EA?

Using a recruitment agency to hire an EA is worth it in a competitive market. Administration was one of the UK's most competed-for sectors in Q4 2025, and strong EA candidates receive multiple approaches. ONS vacancy data from February 2026 confirms business support roles remain highly competitive. An agency with an active candidate network improves both shortlist quality and time-to-fill.

How much does it cost to hire an EA through an agency?

Hiring an EA through an agency typically costs between 15 and 25 per cent of first-year salary for a permanent placement, depending on seniority and agency model. Temporary placements are charged at an hourly or day rate inclusive of the agency margin. Most specialist agencies confirm fee structures at initial brief stage.

For a fuller breakdown, see our guide to the average cost of hiring a PA. 

Should you use a retained or contingency recruiter for a senior EA search?

For a senior EA search, retained recruitment is generally the stronger choice: it gives the agency a clear mandate and structures the timeline from both sides. Contingency works well for mid-level or time-sensitive briefs where parallel search across several agencies is acceptable. The right model depends on seniority, confidentiality, and urgency.

What are the best paid EA roles in the UK?

The best paid EA roles in the UK are senior positions in London's financial services, private equity, and UHNW private household sectors, typically ranging from £55,000 to over £90,000 for the most senior appointments. Outside London, Edinburgh's financial services market and Birmingham's professional services sector offer the strongest regional EA salary benchmarks.

Find Your Perfect EA Through Oriel Partners

We specialise in PA and EA recruitment across creative, corporate and private office environments, placing on both a permanent and temporary basis across the UK and beyond. Whether you need a senior EA appointment handled thoroughly or urgent temporary cover at short notice, we've been doing this for over 40 years across finance, executive search, consulting, property, luxury, and private household sectors. 

Explore our executive assistant recruitment service, browse PA and secretarial recruitment, or get in touch to talk through your brief.