In 2024 men aged between 50 and 59 were the highest full-time earners in the United Kingdom among different gender and age groups, with men of different ages consistently earning more than women.

In 2025, the average annual full-time salary for men in the United Kingdom was 41,832 British pounds, compared with 35,670 pounds for women, a difference of 6,162 pounds. In the previous year, men earned an average annual salary of 40,053, compared with women who earned 34,001.

The median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was just over 39,000 British pounds in 2025, compared with 37,400 pounds in the previous year. At the start of the provided time period, in 1999, the average full-time salary in the UK was 17,800 pounds per year, with median earnings exceeding 20,000 pounds per year in 2002, and 30,000 by 2019. Wages continue to grow faster than inflation in 2025 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of March 2025. At the peak of the recent wave of high inflation in October 2022, the CPI inflation rate reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent, wages were growing much slower at 6.1 percent. Since that peak, inflation remained persistently high for several months, only dropping below double figures in April 2023, when inflation was 8.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in the previous month. For 2023 as a whole, the average annual rate of inflation was 7.3 percent but fell to 2.5 percent in 2024, but is forecast to increase to 3.2 percent in 2025. Highest and lowest-paid occupations As of 2023, the highest-paid occupation in the UK was that of Chief Executives and Senior Officials, who had an average weekly pay of approximately, 1,576 pounds. By contrast, the lowest-paid occupation that year was that of retail cashiers, and check-out operators, who earned approximately 383 pounds a week. For industry sectors as a whole, people who worked full-time in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector had the highest average earnings, at 955 pounds a week, compared with 505 pounds a week in the accommodation and food services sector, the lowest average earnings in 2023.

In 2025, men in the United Kingdom had a higher average hourly full-time salary than women across most age groups, except for 16 to 17 where women had slightly higher earnings, and among those aged between 18 and 21, earnings were almost the same.

The 'Average Earnings incl. Bonus (3Mo/Yr)' in the UK measures the change in the total earnings, including bonuses, paid to employees over a three-month period compared to the same period in the previous year.

In the three months to August 2025, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 4.7 percent. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 3.8 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2024, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was 37,430 British pounds a year, up from 34,963 in the previous year. In London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds per year, compared with just 32,960 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was seven percent for full-time workers in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 15,887 pounds as of November 2024, far higher than even that of the average for the top five percent, who earned 7,641 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 805 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.

For the 2025/26 financial year, the annual salary for Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom was 93,904 British pounds. This marked an increase of around 2,558 pounds when compared with the previous year, when the annual salary was 91,346 pounds. In 2021/22, there was no increase in pay for MPs in the UK because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the annual salary remaining at 81,932 pounds per year at that time. Comparison with average earnings In 2025, the median earnings for full-time workers in the UK was around 39,000 pounds a year, with MPs earning just over 54,000 pounds more than this. The appropriate salary for MPs is a charged issue in the UK, especially with the country currently facing its worst Cost of Living Crisis in decades. As of October 2025, over sixty percent of Britons were facing higher living costs compared with the previous month, while more than half thought the economy was the main issue facing the country. MPs themselves are not responsible for deciding their pay, and since 2011, decisions regarding MPs pay and expenses lie with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). House of Commons demographics The makeup of the UK parliament has changed quite noticeably in recent years. In 1979 for example, just three percent of MPs were women, compared with 41 percent in 2024. As of 2024, there were 90 non-white MPs, compared with four in 1987. Following the 2019 election, most MPs were aged between 50 and 59, with only 21 of them in their twenties or younger. The number of LGBTQ+ MPs in the 2019 parliament was estimated at 46, compared with 45 in 2017.