UK pay scales vs Skilled Worker thresholds

Every pay figure: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2026 provisional, Table 14.7a, full-time annual gross pay, UK. Every visa figure: GOV.UK. No estimates of our own.

Headline UK pay (ONS ASHE 2026)

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees was £40,911 (ONS ASHE 2026, provisional; full-time employees who had been in their job for at least a year). Median full-time weekly pay was £811.20 in April 2026 (ONS, 22 Oct 2026).

Skilled Worker general threshold: £41,700 – just above the UK full-time median (GOV.UK).
New-entrant floor: £33,400 (GOV.UK).
Going rates come from Appendix Skilled Occupations and are separate from ONS figures (GOV.UK).
2026 ONS figures are provisional; final figures are due October 2027 (ONS).

IT & software

7 occupation codes commonly used for it & software roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2134	Programmers and software development professionals	£59,862	£43,509 – £82,149	£54,700	£38,300
2133	IT business analysts, architects and systems designers	£64,326	£47,285 – £86,010	£54,900	£38,400
2135	Cyber security professionals	£55,373	£45,758 – £74,299	£48,500	£34,000
2136	IT quality and testing professionals	£45,165	not published (sample too small) – not published (sample too small)	£41,200	£33,400
2139	Information technology professionals n.e.c.	£59,048	£44,569 – £77,228	£52,300	£36,600
2131	IT project managers	£59,647	£46,166 – £73,690	£58,200	£40,700
2132	IT managers	£58,086	£44,526 – £79,585	£55,000	£38,500

AI & machine learning

3 occupation codes commonly used for ai & machine learning roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2134	Programmers and software development professionals	£59,862	£43,509 – £82,149	£54,700	£38,300
2139	Information technology professionals n.e.c.	£59,048	£44,569 – £77,228	£52,300	£36,600
2433	Actuaries, economists and statisticians	£60,263	£45,004 – £81,467	£55,100	£38,600

Data

3 occupation codes commonly used for data roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
3544	Data analysts	£41,247	£34,078 – £50,448	£34,900	£33,400
2433	Actuaries, economists and statisticians	£60,263	£45,004 – £81,467	£55,100	£38,600
2133	IT business analysts, architects and systems designers	£64,326	£47,285 – £86,010	£54,900	£38,400

Robotics & automation

4 occupation codes commonly used for robotics & automation roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2129	Engineering professionals n.e.c.	£50,307	£39,741 – £63,946	£46,100	£33,400
2124	Electronics engineers	not published (sample too small)	£48,774 – not published (sample too small)	£52,000	£36,400
2122	Mechanical engineers	£52,527	£41,938 – £64,856	£46,800	£33,400
3113	Engineering technicians	£45,867	£35,265 – £57,765	£42,500	£33,400

Banking & finance

4 occupation codes commonly used for banking & finance roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2422	Finance and investment analysts and advisers	£53,940	£39,666 – £75,790	£45,800	£33,400
2421	Chartered and certified accountants	£50,745	£36,210 – £68,619	£49,200	£34,500
3534	Financial accounts managers	£49,830	£37,792 – £70,764	£44,700	£33,400
1131	Financial managers and directors	£80,000	£52,043 – £133,539	£75,100	£52,600

Management & business

3 occupation codes commonly used for management & business roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2431	Management consultants and business analysts	£56,203	£42,734 – £74,276	£50,200	£35,100
2440	Business and financial project management professionals	£63,046	£48,092 – £83,712	£56,500	£39,500
1150	Managers and directors in retail and wholesale	£39,123	£30,798 – £53,566	£36,400	£33,400

Food & nutrition

6 occupation codes commonly used for food & nutrition roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2111	Chemical scientists	£42,153	£34,481 – not published (sample too small)	£39,900	£33,400
2112	Biological scientists	£49,001	£34,093 – not published (sample too small)	£40,300	£33,400
2229	Therapy professionals n.e.c.	£36,422	£31,132 – £49,752	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—
3115	Quality assurance technicians	£36,967	£30,534 – £46,210	£33,400	£33,400
1222	Restaurant and catering establishment managers and proprietors	£33,972	£29,602 – £43,085	£33,400	£33,400
5434	Chefs	£33,334	£27,433 – £40,166	£33,400	£33,400

Healthcare

6 occupation codes commonly used for healthcare roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2232	Community nurses	£42,504	£36,714 – £48,905	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—
2231	Midwifery nurses	£47,552	£40,663 – £53,837	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—
2251	Pharmacists	£55,410	£44,992 – £64,792	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—
2221	Physiotherapists	£46,303	£39,342 – £53,486	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—
2254	Medical radiographers	£49,713	£40,359 – £56,586	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—
2211	Generalist medical practitioners	£59,325	£46,541 – £73,421	Set by national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations)	—

Engineering

5 occupation codes commonly used for engineering roles. Your employer chooses the code, and it must genuinely match the job – see the course page.

SOC 2020	Occupation (ONS name)	Median full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2026)	Middle half: 25th – 75th percentile (ASHE 2026)	Visa going rate (Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked 31 Oct 2026)	New-entrant rate (70%, min £33,400)
2121	Civil engineers	£52,456	£41,252 – £69,429	£50,400	£35,200
2123	Electrical engineers	£63,136	£47,732 – £83,995	£58,700	£41,100
2125	Production and process engineers	£48,700	£39,390 – £59,569	£45,000	£33,400
2122	Mechanical engineers	£52,527	£41,938 – £64,856	£46,800	£33,400
2482	Quality assurance and regulatory professionals	£52,073	£40,050 – £68,583	£48,200	£33,800

NHS Agenda for Change pay (England, from April 2026)

Most NHS jobs use national pay bands. Health and Care Worker going rates for many listed codes follow these national pay scales (see Appendix Skilled Occupations).

Band	Pay points (by experience)
Band 5 (e.g. newly qualified nurse)	£32,073 / £34,592 / £39,043
Band 6	£39,959 / £42,170 / £48,117
Band 7	£49,387 / £51,932 / £56,515

Source: NHS Health Careers – Agenda for Change pay rates.

How to read these numbers

ONS medians describe what people in an occupation are paid across all experience levels; a graduate offer will often be below the median. The visa test is the going rate (or 70% of it for new entrants), not the ONS median.

London pay is often higher than the UK figure.
Robotics, AI and food roles have no single SOC code; the code depends on the actual duties.
“Not published” means ONS considered the estimate unreliable because of small sample size.

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Sources

ONS – Employee earnings in the UK: 2026 — checked 9 Nov 2026
ONS – ASHE Table 14 (4-digit SOC), 2026 provisional — checked 9 Nov 2026
Appendix Skilled Occupations (going rates) — checked 9 Nov 2026
Skilled Worker – your job — checked 9 Nov 2026
When you can be paid less — checked 9 Nov 2026
NHS Agenda for Change pay rates — checked 9 Nov 2026