Profession: 2026/27
UK Civil Service Pay 2026/27
Delegated-grade pay bands from AA to Grade 6, Senior Civil Service ranges SCS1 to SCS4, London vs National split, alpha pension contributions, and engine-verified take-home for each tier of the 2026/27 Cabinet Office pay remit.
Overview of UK Civil Service pay
Civil Service pay in the United Kingdom is not set on the open market and is not set on a single national scale either. It is a hybrid: Cabinet Office publishes an annual Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance that sets the maximum average uplift each department can apply to its delegated-grade staff, and each department then negotiates its own pay award and band structure within that cap. The result is that two civil servants doing comparable policy work at the same grade in different departments can earn meaningfully different salaries: a Grade 7 at HM Treasury or Cabinet Office sits near the top of the £55,000 to £75,000 national band, while a Grade 7 at DWP, HMRC or MoJ typically sits closer to the bottom.
The delegated grades (AA, AO, EO, HEO, SEO, Grade 7, Grade 6) cover everyone below the Senior Civil Service. The grade structure is uniform across the Civil Service even though pay scales are not: an HEO at the Cabinet Office is doing the same level of work as an HEO at DEFRA, with comparable line management responsibility and policy ownership, regardless of the difference in their base salary. The Senior Civil Service (SCS1 Deputy Director through SCS4 Permanent Secretary) is non-delegated and pay is set centrally by Cabinet Office on the recommendation of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
The 2025/26 pay remit, announced in July 2025, allowed an average uplift of approximately 3.5% to 5% across departments. The 2026/27 remit is expected in July 2026 and is likely to land in the same range, tracking the wider public sector pay envelope set out in the Spring Statement. Pay figures on this page reflect the most recent confirmed settlement and the typical department band positions observed for 2025/26 (mid-market across the central departments). Every figure cites its underlying gov.uk publication or Civil Service Pension Scheme reference at the bottom of the page; the alpha pension contribution rates are taken from the Civil Service Pensions website and re-verified each year against the most recent member factsheet.
Grade structure and pay bands
Delegated grades (AA through Grade 6) are set by individual departments within the Cabinet Office remit cap. "National" is the typical range for offices outside London; "London" includes the inner-London differential that most central departments operate. Figures are mid-market across the central departments for 2026/27; specific departments sit higher (HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, DBT) or lower (DWP, HMRC, MoJ) within the band.
Delegated grades (AA to Grade 6)
| Grade | Description | National | London |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA / AO | Administrative Assistant / Officer | £24,000 to £28,000 | £26,500 to £31,000 |
| EO | Executive Officer | £28,000 to £34,000 | £31,500 to £38,000 |
| HEO | Higher Executive Officer | £34,000 to £42,000 | £38,500 to £47,500 |
| SEO | Senior Executive Officer | £42,000 to £52,000 | £47,000 to £58,000 |
| Grade 7 | Policy / professional lead | £55,000 to £75,000 | £60,000 to £82,000 |
| Grade 6 | Senior policy / deputy head | £70,000 to £95,000 | £75,000 to £102,000 |
Senior Civil Service (SCS1 to SCS4)
SCS pay is non-delegated: Cabinet Office sets a single band that applies across the UK with no separate London differential. Pay within band is set by capability rating and the SCS Pay Committee.
| Grade | Description | UK-wide range |
|---|---|---|
| SCS1 | Deputy Director | £75,000 to £117,800 |
| SCS2 | Director | £97,000 to £162,500 |
| SCS3 | Director General | £125,000 to £208,100 |
| SCS4 | Permanent Secretary | £150,000 to £200,000 |
Source: Cabinet Office Civil Service pay remit guidance (2025/26 settlement) and Senior Civil Service pay framework. Cross-checked against Institute for Government Civil Service pay explainer. Retrieved 2026-05-22.
Department variance: why Treasury pays more than DWP
The single biggest source of pay variation within the Civil Service is the department you work for, not the grade you hold. Cabinet Office sets the remit cap (the maximum average uplift) but does not set a national pay scale: each department designs its own band structure and progression rules within that envelope. Central economic and policy departments compete with the private sector for senior analysts, economists, lawyers and digital specialists, and have historically positioned their pay near the top of each band to retain that talent. Volume-staffed operational departments handle large delegated-grade workforces (DWP runs the benefits system, HMRC runs tax administration, MoJ runs courts and prisons) and need to control paybill at scale, which keeps them closer to the bottom of band.
At Grade 7 the spread is the widest. HM Treasury Grade 7 base pay typically lands in the £68,000 to £75,000 national range, with a higher London band of £73,000 to £82,000. Cabinet Office, DBT, DESNZ and DSIT pay similar premia for policy and economist roles. By contrast, a DWP Grade 7 typically sits at £55,000 to £62,000 national, and HMRC Grade 7 lands at £56,000 to £65,000. The difference, £15,000 to £20,000 a year for the same grade and broadly similar work, materially changes which department a senior policy professional applies to and how mobile they are within the service.
The pattern reverses at AA and AO. Volume departments running large operational sites (DWP processing centres, HMRC contact centres) pay competitive AA/AO rates to fill posts in local labour markets, while central departments often have fewer AA/AO posts and treat them as entry-level rather than career grades. EO and HEO sit in the middle: central departments use HEO as their main policy entry grade and pay it near the top of band (£40,000 to £47,500 inner-London), while DWP and HMRC use HEO as a middle-management operational grade closer to band midpoint.
Departmental pay deals are typically published as a formal pay agreement on the relevant trade union website (PCS, FDA, Prospect) or via a Cabinet Office written statement. The agreement specifies the consolidated uplift (the pay rise applied to all staff), any progression payments (for staff not at top of band), any structural changes to the band (such as removal of a low spine point), and the cash value of any one-off non-consolidated payments. Departmental bands and progression rules are reviewed annually as part of the pay deal negotiation.
Take-home: six representative grades
Figures below show gross to take-home with full Personal Allowance, no student loan and a 0% pension baseline so the underlying tax and NI mechanics are visible. In practice the alpha pension contribution (4.60% to 7.35% depending on pensionable earnings) would deduct further from cash take-home but adds a guaranteed inflation-linked deferred income. Computed via our HMRC-verified salary engine, England 2026/27 rates.
| Grade & location | Gross | Income Tax | NI | Annual take-home | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EO (National, mid) | £31,000 | £3,686 | £1,474 | £25,840 | £2,153 |
| EO (London, mid) | £35,000 | £4,486 | £1,794 | £28,720 | £2,393 |
| HEO (National, mid) | £38,000 | £5,086 | £2,034 | £30,880 | £2,573 |
| HEO (London, mid) | £43,000 | £6,086 | £2,434 | £34,480 | £2,873 |
| Grade 7 (National, mid) | £64,000 | £13,032 | £3,291 | £47,677 | £3,973 |
| Grade 7 (London, mid) | £70,000 | £15,432 | £3,411 | £51,157 | £4,263 |
The London uplift at HEO from £38,000 to £43,000 gross adds £3,600 a year to cash take-home (the £5,000 gross differential is taxed at the basic 20% Income Tax rate and 8% main NI rate, retaining roughly 72p in the pound). At Grade 7 the equivalent £6,000 gross differential between National £64,000 and London £70,000 yields only £3,480 take-home, because every pound above £50,270 is taxed at the 40% higher rate and 2% NI (a marginal retention of 58p in the pound).
The alpha pension scheme
Every civil servant who joined on or after 1 April 2015, and most existing members from 2022 onwards after the McCloud remedy, is enrolled in alpha. Alpha is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) defined benefit pension scheme administered by MyCSP on behalf of Cabinet Office and the Civil Service Pension Scheme partnership. Each year a member earns a pension equal to 2.32% of their pensionable earnings for that year. The accrued amount is revalued annually in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measured to the September before the start of the new scheme year. Normal Pension Age in alpha tracks State Pension Age (currently 67, rising to 68 over the period 2044 to 2046), which is notably later than the legacy classic and premium schemes that closed to new entrants in 2007.
Employee contributions are tiered by pensionable earnings, with thresholds uprated each year by CPI. The current bands and rates are:
| Pensionable earnings band | Contribution rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £32,000 | 4.60% |
| £32,001 to £56,000 | 5.45% |
| £56,001 to £150,000 | 7.35% |
| Over £150,000 | 8.05% |
The contribution is deducted under the net-pay arrangement: it comes out of pensionable pay before Income Tax is applied, so the member receives full Income Tax relief at their marginal rate without needing to claim relief separately through Self Assessment. National Insurance relief is not given on net-pay pension contributions (only on salary-sacrifice arrangements). A standard Grade 7 paying 7.35% on £62,000 contributes £4,557 a year before tax; at the 40% marginal rate that costs £2,734 net.
The employer contribution to alpha is set by the Government Actuary in the quadrennial valuation and changes each cycle. The current employer rate is approximately 28.97% of pensionable pay, paid by the department from its delegated budget. Combined with the employee 4.60% to 7.35%, total contributions to the scheme exceed 33% of pensionable pay. This is several times higher than a typical private-sector workplace defined contribution pension (8% combined). A civil servant on £62,000 effectively receives an additional £18,000 a year in deferred employer pension contribution, which does not appear on the payslip but accrues toward a guaranteed inflation-linked retirement income.
Salary sacrifice for additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) is available through the partnership AVC provider (currently Legal & General). AVCs sit alongside the alpha defined benefit and provide a separate defined contribution pot, with both Income Tax and NI relief at the marginal rate when paid via salary sacrifice. Standard alpha contributions cannot be sacrificed because the scheme regulations specify net-pay treatment for the main accrual.
Career progression: EO to Grade 6
A typical Civil Service career might run EO at year zero to two, HEO at year three to five, SEO at year five to eight, Grade 7 at year eight to twelve, and Grade 6 at year twelve plus. Take-home figures use England 2026/27 rates with a 0% pension baseline so the gross-to-cash mechanics at each step are visible. Alpha pension contributions (4.60% to 7.35% of pensionable earnings) would deduct further at each step.
| Grade | Gross | Income Tax | NI | Annual take-home | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EO (mid-band) | £30,000 | £3,486 | £1,394 | £25,120 | £2,093 |
| HEO (mid-band) | £37,000 | £4,886 | £1,954 | £30,160 | £2,513 |
| SEO (mid-band) | £47,000 | £6,886 | £2,754 | £37,360 | £3,113 |
| Grade 7 (mid-band) | £62,000 | £12,232 | £3,251 | £46,517 | £3,876 |
| Grade 6 (mid-band) | £80,000 | £19,432 | £3,611 | £56,957 | £4,746 |
The EO to HEO promotion adds £7,000 gross / £5,040 take-home (basic-rate marginal, retaining roughly 72p per pound). The Grade 7 to Grade 6 promotion adds £18,000 gross / £10,440 take-home, with the marginal pound taxed at the 40% higher rate and 2% NI. Step-up percentage is largest at SEO to Grade 7 (jumping into a meaningfully higher band of policy work), which adds £15,000 gross / £9,158 take-home.
London vs National at Grade 7
The London vs National split is most visible at Grade 7, where a typical mid-tier department pays around £59,000 nationally and £64,000 in inner London. The £5,000 gross differential is intended to compensate for higher housing and commuting costs in central London, but it is not earmarked or ring-fenced: it simply lifts the base band. The London figure is taxable, NIable, and pensionable on the same basis as base pay, so the take-home differential is meaningfully smaller than the gross differential.
| Location | Gross | Income Tax | NI | Annual take-home | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 National | £59,000 | £11,032 | £3,191 | £44,777 | £3,731 |
| Grade 7 London | £64,000 | £13,032 | £3,291 | £47,677 | £3,973 |
| Delta | +£5,000 | +£2,000 | +£100 | +£2,900 | +£242 |
The £5,000 gross London uplift converts to roughly £2,900 a year of additional take-home, a retention rate of around 58p in the pound because the entire differential sits above the £50,270 higher-rate threshold. For a Grade 7 weighing a relocation from a regional office to a London office, the additional cash compensation is therefore around £242 a month, which needs to be set against the difference in rent or mortgage cost and commute time before the relocation is financially neutral.
At SEO and below, the London differential is smaller (£3,000 to £5,000 gross) but the marginal tax rate is lower (20% basic rate plus 8% main NI), so a larger share of the differential reaches take-home. At SCS level there is no London uplift at all: SCS pay is UK-wide and a Permanent Secretary in Edinburgh earns the same as a Permanent Secretary in Whitehall.
Comparison vs similar roles
An HEO in a central department sits at a similar gross to an NHS Band 6 nurse (£37,000 to £45,000), an experienced primary school teacher on the upper pay range (M6 to UPS3 £37,000 to £47,000), or a police sergeant at point 1 to 2 (£50,000 to £52,000 from year ten of police service). At Grade 7 the comparable roles are NHS Band 8a manager (£53,000 to £60,000), deputy headteacher (£62,000 to £80,000 inner London), and police inspector (£62,000 to £70,000). At Grade 6 a civil servant earns broadly comparable gross to a senior NHS Band 8b or 8c manager and an experienced senior solicitor outside the magic circle.
The pension dominates the total-reward comparison. Alpha contributes around 28.97% employer rate plus 4.60% to 7.35% employee, totalling roughly 33% to 36% of pensionable pay. Police Pension 2015 contributes around 31% employer plus 13.44% employee. Teachers Pension contributes around 28.68% employer plus 9.1% to 11.3% employee. NHS Pension contributes around 23.7% employer plus 9.8% to 12.5% employee. Across all four schemes the public-sector defined benefit pension is several times larger than the typical private-sector 8% combined contribution to a defined contribution pot, and accrues a guaranteed inflation-linked income for life rather than a pot of money exposed to investment risk.
- UK police officer pay - federated police pay scales, Police Pension 2015 contributions.
- Civil Service Executive Officer (EO) - profession landing for the EO grade.
- Civil Service Higher Executive Officer (HEO) - profession landing for the HEO grade.
- Civil Service Grade 7 - profession landing for the senior policy lead grade.
- NHS Band 7 nurse - similar gross to a mid-band HEO or junior Grade 7.
- Experienced teacher (M6 to UPS3) - mid-career teacher comparable to HEO band.
- All UK professions - browse the full directory.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does a UK civil servant earn in 2026/27?
- A new-entrant Executive Officer (EO) earns roughly £28,000 to £34,000 nationally, or £31,500 to £38,000 in London. A mid-career HEO sits at £34,000 to £42,000 national / £38,500 to £47,500 London. Senior policy roles at Grade 7 reach £55,000 to £75,000 nationally and Grade 6 reaches £70,000 to £95,000. Senior Civil Service Deputy Director (SCS1) pay starts at £75,000 and Permanent Secretary pay reaches £200,000.
- Who sets civil service pay?
- Cabinet Office publishes an annual Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance that sets the maximum average uplift each department can apply to delegated grades (AA through Grade 6). Each department then negotiates its own pay deal within that cap, which is why HM Treasury and Cabinet Office pay differs from DWP or HMRC at the same grade. Senior Civil Service pay (SCS1 to SCS4) is non-delegated and set by Cabinet Office on recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body.
- Is there a London weighting in the Civil Service?
- Most central departments operate separate London and National pay ranges rather than a flat allowance. The London range is typically £3,000 to £7,000 higher at HEO and above. Inner-London locations attract the higher band; outer-London or commuter belt locations may pay an intermediate rate. The exact split varies by department and is not standardised across the Civil Service the way police London weighting is.
- Why does Treasury pay more than DWP at the same grade?
- Each department sets its own pay band within the Cabinet Office remit cap. HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, DBT, DESNZ and DSIT compete for policy talent against the private sector and tend to position their pay scales near the top of the remit envelope. Volume-staffed departments like DWP, HMRC and MoJ employ many more delegated-grade staff and position closer to the bottom of band to control the paybill. A Grade 7 at Treasury can earn £15,000 to £20,000 more than a Grade 7 at DWP doing similar policy work.
- How is take-home pay calculated for civil servants?
- Take-home is gross pay minus Income Tax, employee National Insurance (Class 1) and alpha pension contributions. The alpha contribution is deducted under net-pay, so it reduces taxable pay before Income Tax is calculated, giving full Income Tax relief at the marginal rate. A Grade 7 on £64,000 in London takes home approximately £47,000 a year after these deductions at the standard 7.35% alpha rate.
- What is the alpha pension scheme?
- Alpha is the Civil Service Pension Scheme introduced in April 2015 for all new entrants and most existing members. It is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) defined benefit scheme with an accrual rate of 2.32% of pensionable earnings each year, revalued annually in line with CPI. Normal Pension Age tracks State Pension Age. Employee contributions are tiered from 4.60% to 8.05% by pensionable earnings; the employer contribution is around 28.97% (set by the Government Actuary).
- Can civil servants use salary sacrifice for pension?
- Alpha contributions are deducted under the net-pay arrangement, which gives Income Tax relief at the marginal rate but not NI relief. Many departments offer additional voluntary contribution (AVC) routes through the Civil Service Pensions partnership where extra contributions can be made via salary sacrifice (giving full Income Tax and NI relief). Standard alpha contributions cannot be sacrificed because the scheme regulations specify net-pay treatment.
- What is the difference between Grade 7 and Grade 6?
- Grade 7 (formerly Principal) is a senior policy or professional lead role, typically responsible for a defined policy area or team of HEO/SEO staff. Grade 6 (formerly Senior Principal) is the equivalent of Deputy Head and the most senior delegated grade below the Senior Civil Service. Pay scales overlap: a top-of-band Grade 7 (£75,000 national) earns more than a bottom-of-band Grade 6 (£70,000 national). Both pay groups operate under the Cabinet Office pay remit.
- How does Senior Civil Service (SCS) pay work?
- SCS pay is non-delegated and set centrally by Cabinet Office. SCS1 (Deputy Director) bands run roughly £75,000 to £117,800; SCS2 (Director) £97,000 to £162,500; SCS3 (Director General) £125,000 to £208,100; SCS4 (Permanent Secretary) £150,000 to £200,000. There is no separate London weighting at SCS level; bands are uniform across the UK. Performance-related pay (PRP) bonuses of up to 5% of base may be awarded at SCS level subject to annual capability rating.
- How does Civil Service pay compare to the private sector?
- Base pay is typically 10% to 20% below comparable private-sector roles at the same level of responsibility, particularly in policy, digital and commercial functions. The gap is offset by the alpha pension (employer contributes around 28.97% versus 5% to 8% private-sector typical), generous leave (25 to 30 days plus bank holidays), flexible working, and job security. Total reward (base + pension + leave) is broadly competitive with the private sector at HEO and SEO level, though falls behind for senior commercial, digital and SCS roles where private equivalents pay significantly more.
Sources
- Cabinet Office - Civil Service pay (collection of remit guidance) Retrieved 2026-05-22
- Cabinet Office - Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2025 Retrieved 2026-05-22
- Cabinet Office - Senior Civil Service pay framework Retrieved 2026-05-22
- Civil Service Pension Scheme - alpha member website Retrieved 2026-05-22
- Civil Service Pensions - alpha scheme member factsheet Retrieved 2026-05-22
- Institute for Government - Civil Service pay explainer Retrieved 2026-05-22
- HMRC - Rates and thresholds for employers 2026/27 Retrieved 2026-05-22
- Our full methodology & calculation sources →