work and productivity · the national record
Pay and productivity across the UK
UK median full time weekly pay reached £766.60 in April 2025, up 5.3 per cent on the year. But behind that average lies a near twofold gap between the highest- and lowest paying local authorities, and an even wider spread in output per hour across places.
How to read this
Pay figures are from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), April 2025 provisional, and are residence based: they record where workers live, not where they work. Productivity figures are ONS subregional GVA per hour worked, 2023 (workplace based). The two measures capture different things: a commuter area can show high pay but not high local productivity. The productivity data are two years behind the pay data.
ONS ASHE Table 8 (Apr 2025 provisional) · ONS Subregional Productivity LAD (Jun 2025 release, data to 2023)
work and productivity · the national record
UK pay rose 5.3 per cent in 2025, but geography shapes outcomes more than the average suggests
The median full time employee in the UK earned £766.60 a week in April 2025, up £38.70 on the previous year. Nationally, wage growth has outpaced inflation for two years running. Yet the national figure obscures a near twofold spread across local authorities and an even steeper divide in economic output per hour worked.
the four nations
Scotland tops the nations; Northern Ireland and Wales trail England
Scotland had the highest median full time weekly pay of the four nations at £775.60, above the UK average of £766.60. England came second at £769.50. Wales at £719.30 and Northern Ireland at £715.60 were both roughly 6 per cent below the UK average. These are residence based figures (ASHE 2025).
UK average: £766.60. Residence based median weekly full time gross pay, April 2025. Source: ONS ASHE Table 8.
pay by local authority
A near twofold pay gap: from St Albans to Boston
Among the 348 local authorities with usable data, median weekly full time pay ranges from £1,134.60 in St Albans to £609.40 in Boston: a ratio of 1.86 to one. The top of the table is dominated by London commuter belt authorities and inner London boroughs. The bottom is concentrated in the East Midlands, Lancashire and coastal areas. These are residence based figures: they show where workers live, not where they do their jobs.
Highest weekly pay
Lowest weekly pay
Residence based median weekly full time gross pay by local authority, April 2025 (provisional). Residence based. 348 of 363 authorities had usable data; 15 suppressed by ONS due to small sample size.
productivity by local authority
Rushmoor leads productivity; West Devon is at one third of the UK average
ONS subregional productivity (GVA per hour worked, workplace based, 2023, UK = 100) shows an even wider spread than pay. Rushmoor in Hampshire, home to Aldershot garrison and a large defence and aerospace cluster, records an index of 200.9, more than double the UK average. At the other end, West Devon stands at just 56.8. City of London (188.7) is excluded from the league table as a statistical outlier: its very small resident workforce makes the index unrepresentative of the local economy. Note: these are workplace based figures, not residence based, so they differ from the pay rankings above. A commuter belt like St Albans can show high pay (residents earn well) but middling local productivity (fewer high output jobs are physically located there).
Highest output per hour (index, UK = 100)
Lowest output per hour (index, UK = 100)
Workplace based GVA per hour worked, 2023. Workplace based GVA per hour worked, 2023, UK index = 100 (£41.87/hr). City of London excluded from league table (statistical outlier: index 188.7). 2 authorities had no data. Data vintage: 2023, two years behind the 2025 pay figures.
questions raised by this data
What do these patterns tell us, and what do they not?
- 1.
Why do residence based pay figures differ so much from workplace based productivity? Commuter areas like St Albans appear in the top pay league because residents travel to high wage jobs in London, but the local workplace economy is different. The two measures are complementary, not interchangeable.
- 2.
Is Rushmoor genuinely the most productive local economy? Its 200.9 index partly reflects the MOD presence and classified defence contracts: activities that appear as high value output but are not a replicable commercial model. Sectoral mix drives much of the geographic spread.
- 3.
What explains the persistently low pay in coastal and rural areas? Boston, Pendle and Mansfield have seen below average growth alongside low absolute wages. The data do not distinguish whether this reflects industrial structure, skills supply, or infrastructure constraints.
- 4.
Is the 5.3 per cent UK pay rise in 2025 a real gain? ASHE measures gross pay in April of each year. Whether workers are better off in real terms depends on inflation over the same period. This page does not adjust for prices.
- 5.
Why is Scotland the highest paying nation when London and the South East dominate the local authority table? Nations data are averages across all local authorities within them; Scotland has fewer very low pay rural areas and a higher proportion of public sector employment with nationally set pay scales.
Sources & method
Data provenance
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2025, Table 8: Place of residence ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- ONS Subregional productivity: labour productivity indices by local authority district, June 2025 release ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
Caveats & data notes
- ASHE pay data are residence based (where workers live). Productivity data are workplace based (where output is generated). The two sources measure different things. Do not treat the pay league table and the productivity league table as measuring the same concept.
- The pay data are for April 2025 (provisional, released October 2025). The productivity data are for 2023, released June 2025. There is a two year vintage gap between the two series.
- ASHE covers employees only; the self employed are excluded. 15 local authorities were suppressed due to small sample sizes and have no pay data. 2 authorities have no productivity data.
- Pay figures are median gross weekly pay for full time employees aged 16+. They do not capture part time workers, who tend to earn lower hourly rates, nor do they reflect total household income or benefits.
- City of London is excluded from the productivity league table as its very small resident and daytime workforce population makes the index unrepresentative for comparison with other authorities.
- Rushmoor's high productivity index reflects defence and aerospace activity centred on Aldershot. This is a sectoral effect, not a general signal of the local commercial economy.
- Annual pay change figures (per cent) are from ASHE 2025 vs 2024, both provisional. Year on year changes at local authority level can be volatile due to sample rotation.
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