UK Full-Time Pay Rises 5.8 Percent to 811.20 Pounds a Week as Real Gains Reach 2.7 Percent
Full-time employees in the UK earned a median 811.20 pounds a week in April 2026, the Office for National Statistics said on 22 October. That was 5.8 percent more than the 766.60 pounds of a year earlier. After inflation, measured by CPIH, the consumer price index that includes owner occupiers’ housing costs, the rise was 2.7 percent.
That is 44.60 pounds more a week, on our calculation. Real growth of 2.7 percent is more than double, on our calculation, the 1.1 percent the survey reported a year ago on its provisional April 2025 figures. Over two years, median full-time weekly pay has risen 11.4 percent from 728.27 pounds in April 2024, on our calculation from the two annual editions. The statistics office notes that the survey’s pay growth figures reflect changes in the make-up of the workforce and of its sample, as well as pay rises.
Part-time pay lags as its share of jobs grows
Median weekly pay for all employees rose 4.9 percent, 0.9 percentage points less than for full-timers, on our calculation. The statistics office says the difference is partly explained by a larger share of part-time jobs and fewer hours worked by part-timers. Part-time jobs made up 29.0 percent of employee jobs in April 2026, against 27.0 percent a year earlier. Mean weekly paid hours slipped to 32.7 from 32.8.
Part-time median weekly pay rose 2.9 percent in cash terms and fell 0.1 percent after inflation. A year earlier it had grown 6.4 percent, faster than full-time pay.
Median weekly pay growth by working pattern, April
| Measure | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time, nominal | 5.3% | 5.8% |
| Full-time, real | 1.1% | 2.7% |
| Part-time, nominal | 6.4% | 2.9% |
| Part-time, real | 2.1% | -0.1% |
| All employees, nominal | 4.7% | 4.9% |
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Real growth is adjusted by CPIH. The 2025 column shows provisional figures as published in October 2025; 2026 figures are provisional.
Hourly and annual measures point the same way. Median full-time hourly pay excluding overtime rose 5.7 percent to 20.81 pounds. That is 1.13 pounds an hour more than in April 2025, on our calculation. Median gross annual pay for full-timers in the same job for at least a year rose 4.5 percent to 40,911 pounds. That is 1,754 pounds more than the revised 39,157 pounds for 2025, on our calculation.
London and the public sector outpace the average
Full-time median weekly pay reached 862.20 pounds in the public sector, up 6.5 percent. The private sector paid 794.40 pounds, up 5.5 percent. The public premium is 67.80 pounds a week, or 8.5 percent, on our calculation. On last year’s provisional figures it was 55.39 pounds, or 7.4 percent, on our calculation.
Health contributes to the stronger public sector growth, the survey says. The sector accounts for 36 percent of public sector jobs, and human health and social work pay rose 7.3 percent, largely because more healthcare professionals were working in it this year.
Full-time median weekly pay by sector, April 2026
| Sector | Weekly pay | Change on year |
|---|---|---|
| Public sector | £862.20 | 6.5% |
| All full-time employees | £811.20 | 5.8% |
| Private sector | £794.40 | 5.5% |
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, gross median weekly earnings for full-time employee jobs; provisional.
London recorded the fastest regional rise, 8.2 percent, helped by an increase in professional jobs in the capital. The East Midlands, at 4.0 percent, and the North West, at 4.1 percent, were slowest. That is a spread of 4.2 percentage points, on our calculation. Every region and country, major occupation and sector-level industry recorded a rise.
Managers, directors and senior officials gained 6.7 percent. Elementary occupations rose 4.7 percent, and process, plant and machine operatives 4.1 percent. Both sit close to the 4.1 percent rise in the National Living Wage, to 12.71 pounds an hour.
The gender gap narrows to 6.8 percent
The gender pay gap for full-time employees fell to 6.8 percent from 7.2 percent. It is the difference between men’s and women’s median hourly earnings, excluding overtime, as a share of men’s. It compares pay across all full-time jobs, not what men and women are paid for the same job. Men earned a median 21.51 pounds an hour and women 20.05 pounds. The median woman in full-time work earned 93.2 pence for every pound the median man earned, on our calculation.
The gap stood at 9.4 percent in 2016 and 16.4 percent in 2001. It is 27.7 percent smaller than in 2016 and 41.5 percent of its 2001 level, on our calculation.
The headline gap hides wide differences. At the 90th percentile of hourly pay the gap is 17.3 percent. That is 11.5 times the 1.5 percent at the 10th percentile, on our calculation. It doubles, on our calculation, from 4.1 percent for workers in their 30s to 8.2 percent for those in their 40s. Scotland and Wales have smaller gaps than every English region, and in Northern Ireland women out-earn men.
Across all employees the gap is 12.3 percent, down from 13.0 percent. It is wider than the full-time gap because more part-time employees are women and part-time hourly pay is lower, the survey says. Among part-timers, women earn more an hour than men: 15.05 pounds against 14.74 pounds.
Full-time gender pay gap, April 2026
| Group | Gap |
|---|---|
| All full-time employees | 6.8% |
| 90th percentile | 17.3% |
| 10th percentile | 1.5% |
| Aged 18 to 21 | 0.3% |
| Aged 30 to 39 | 4.1% |
| Aged 40 to 49 | 8.2% |
| Aged 60 and over | 11.2% |
| Scotland | 0.9% |
| Wales | 3.2% |
| Northern Ireland | -1.6% |
Difference between men’s and women’s median hourly earnings excluding overtime, as a share of men’s; a negative gap means women earn more. Provisional.
The 90th percentile gains 7.0 percent as the wage floor nears the low-pay line
Growth was strongest towards the top of the pay distribution. Full-time hourly pay at the 90th percentile rose 7.0 percent, ahead of the 70th and 80th percentiles at 6.5 and 6.3 percent. That is 1.3 percentage points faster than the full-time median hourly rate, on our calculation.
Median hourly pay was 19.00 pounds. The share of high-paid jobs, paying 1.5 times that or more, edged up to 23.7 percent from 23.4 percent. The share of low-paid jobs, below two-thirds of the median, rose to 2.8 percent from 2.6 percent.
The National Living Wage now equals 66.9 percent of median hourly pay, on our calculation. That leaves it 4 pence above the low-pay line of 12.67 pounds, on our calculation. Among employees aged 16 to 21, 33.6 percent were low paid, as were 16.3 percent of jobs in accommodation and food. Part-time workers were 5.1 times as likely as full-timers to be low paid, on our calculation, at 6.6 percent against 1.3 percent.
An estimated 346,000 jobs, 1.1 percent of the total, were paid below the minimum rates, according to the Office for National Statistics. It says the figure is not a measure of non-compliance with the law.
Hourly pay markers, April 2026
| Marker | Pounds an hour |
|---|---|
| High-pay threshold | £28.50 |
| Median hourly earnings | £19.00 |
| Real Living Wage, London | £14.80 |
| Real Living Wage, outside London | £13.45 |
| National Living Wage, aged 21 and over | £12.71 |
| Low-pay threshold | £12.67 |
The high-pay and low-pay thresholds equal 1.5 times and two-thirds of median hourly earnings excluding overtime. The real Living Wage is a voluntary rate. Provisional.
The annual survey is a snapshot of one pay period, the one that included 22 April. Monthly data released on 20 October cover the months since. Regular pay excluding bonuses and total pay both grew 3.7 percent a year in June to August 2026. Total pay growth was last lower in August to October 2020. In real terms, regular pay rose 0.6 percent. The monthly series covers all employee jobs and moves with hours as well as pay rates, so the two are not directly comparable. The April survey drew 197,000 responses, its largest sample on record.
Why it matters: Full-time pay outpaced inflation by 2.7 percent in April, against 1.1 percent a year before, and every region shared in the rise. Part of the headline is mix, though. More professionals in London and in health lift the median, which is not the same as everyone getting a bigger raise. At the bottom, the lowest-paid occupations rose in step with the legal floor, which sits slightly above the low-pay line.
Outlook: The next monthly labour market figures are due on 17 November 2026. The 2026 survey figures are provisional, and the final numbers are due in October 2027.
Sources: Office for National Statistics, The Edge.
