The State of Board Effectiveness in 2026: What the Evidence Says for NEDs

Current UK research points to a quiet erosion of governance basics: fewer externally facilitated board reviews, board packs ballooning to an average of 294 pages while only 36% of directors find them useful, and more boards stuck in operational detail rather than strategy. For NEDs and board members, the takeaway is that they can no longer assume basic board processes are working and must actively insist on discipline in pre-reads, information quality and time on strategy.