What is take-home on a £28,950 caretaker salary?

About £23,020 a year, or £1,918 a month. That is after £2,940 Income Tax, £1,310 National Insurance and a £1,679 LGPS contribution at the 5.8% band. School support staff in academies are often on the same NJC terms their council used, so the arithmetic is usually identical.

Do caretakers get the Local Government Pension Scheme?

Council and maintained-school caretakers are normally eligible for the LGPS, and most academies keep support staff in it too. In England and Wales contributions run from 5.5% to 12.5% of actual pay, banded; 5.5% applies only up to £18,400 of actual pay, so a full-time caretaker pays 5.8% or 6.5%. Northern Ireland has its own scheme, NILGOSC, topping out at 10.5%, and the Scottish LGPS is separate again. It is a career-average defined benefit scheme, which is worth considerably more than the pay gap to a private-sector facilities job suggests.

Is a caretaker on the same scale everywhere?

No. The NJC pay spine fixes what each point is worth nationally, but every council runs its own job evaluation and decides which point a caretaker post sits on. Two neighbouring authorities can grade the same job differently, which is why published caretaker vacancies vary by several thousand pounds.

Caretaker Salary 2026/27: Pay and Take-Home

Full-time caretakers had a median gross pay of £28,950 in ONS ASHE 2025, with the middle half of the occupation between £25,678 and £32,942. That is around spine point 13 on the 2025/26 NJC pay spine (£29,064), the scale most school and council site staff sit on.

Typical pay & take-home

Median gross: £28,950
ASHE 2025, 10th to 75th percentile: £23,022–£32,942
Take-home at median: £23,020 England, after the 5.8% LGPS pension contribution, Income Tax and NI.

At the median for this profession, you earn 26% below the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you between the 10th percentile (£23,990) and the 25th percentile (£29,262) of UK full-time earnings.

See exact take-home for £28,950 →

Council posts are graded on the national pay spine: NJC pay scales 2026/27 →

What influences caretaker (school / council) pay

Site size and responsibility. A single-site school caretaker sits near the bottom of the range; a site manager responsible for several buildings, contractors and a small team is graded several points higher and can pass £35,000.

Trade skills and tickets. Plumbing, electrical or heating competencies, legionella and asbestos-awareness training, and a pool car or minibus licence all move the job up a grade, because they cut what the council spends on call-outs.

Accommodation and hours. Some posts still carry a house or flat on site, which is a taxable benefit rather than extra pay. Split shifts, lettings cover and out-of-hours call-outs are usually paid as local allowances on top of the spine point.

Career progression

Indicative rungs, not published pay points: each council or trust grades its own posts onto the NJC spine, and no national table sets what each job pays.
Cleaner or premises assistant moving into caretaking: around £25,600.
Caretaker, single site: £26,000 to £30,000.
Senior caretaker or site supervisor: £30,000 to £33,000.
Site manager across several buildings: £33,000 to £38,000.
Facilities or estates officer for a trust or council: £38,000 to £48,000.

Frequently asked questions

What is take-home on a £28,950 caretaker salary?: About £23,020 a year, or £1,918 a month. That is after £2,940 Income Tax, £1,310 National Insurance and a £1,679 LGPS contribution at the 5.8% band. School support staff in academies are often on the same NJC terms their council used, so the arithmetic is usually identical.
Do caretakers get the Local Government Pension Scheme?: Council and maintained-school caretakers are normally eligible for the LGPS, and most academies keep support staff in it too. In England and Wales contributions run from 5.5% to 12.5% of actual pay, banded; 5.5% applies only up to £18,400 of actual pay, so a full-time caretaker pays 5.8% or 6.5%. Northern Ireland has its own scheme, NILGOSC, topping out at 10.5%, and the Scottish LGPS is separate again. It is a career-average defined benefit scheme, which is worth considerably more than the pay gap to a private-sector facilities job suggests.
Is a caretaker on the same scale everywhere?: No. The NJC pay spine fixes what each point is worth nationally, but every council runs its own job evaluation and decides which point a caretaker post sits on. Two neighbouring authorities can grade the same job differently, which is why published caretaker vacancies vary by several thousand pounds.

All UK professions →

Sources

NJC for Local Government Services - pay circular, 24 August 2026
LGPS - employee contribution bands from April 2026
ONS - ASHE 2025 Table 14.7a, annual pay by SOC 2020 occupation (occupational pay)
ONS — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 (UK full-time median and percentiles)
HMRC — Rates and thresholds 2026/27
Our full methodology & calculation sources →