UK employment shows signs of recovery as median pay reaches £2,626 a month
Figures as published on Jul 2026.
United Kingdom
Data to May 2026
Published at local authority grain.
Recent months are provisional and revised in later ONS releases; this page always shows the latest published value (data to 2026-05-01).
Median monthly pay
£2,626
+4.6% on year
How we know this
Grade A · data to 2026-05-01
Source: PAYE RTI Dataset — Payrolled Employees & Median Pay
Real pay vs CPIH
+1.6%
CPIH 2.97%
How we know this
Grade A · data to 2026-05-01
Source: Derived: HMRC RTISA median pay deflated by ONS CPIH for 2026-05-01; PAYE RTI Dataset — Payrolled Employees & Median Pay; Consumer Price Indices (ONS MM23/CPIH)
Payrolled employees
30,253,517
-0.4% on year
How we know this
Grade A · data to 2026-05-01
Source: PAYE RTI Dataset — Payrolled Employees & Median Pay
Median pay trend
Everyday & leisure spending
Everyday and leisure spending, priced at the area's CPI region — not a weekly food shop, rent, energy, or council tax.
Eating out basket£92.20
Night out for two£196.52
Night out with friends£72.23
Family day out£390.58
Household essentials (monthly)£70.62
Dog owner monthly costs£44.05
Monthly leisure activities£129.81
Priced at National (UK) prices (CPI region), not the town.
Healthy life expectancy
Healthy life expectancy is published only at council level.
Latest from the wire
About these figures. Pay and employment derive from HMRC PAYE RTI, published by ONS. Real pay is deflated by CPIH (2.97%). Recent months are provisional and revised in later releases.