Civil Service Grade 6 Salary 2026/27: Senior Civil Servant Pay
Grade 6 is the most senior delegated grade below the Senior Civil Service. Cabinet Office reports Grade 6 and Grade 7 as one combined band: it stood at £65,830 across the Civil Service as at 31 March 2026, ranging from £58,300 to £89,790 by department. Grade 6 sits in the upper part of that band.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £65,830
- Typical range
- £58,300–£89,790
- Take-home at median
- £48,739 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn about 69% above the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you in the top 17% of UK earners.
See exact take-home for £65,830 →
Published medians for each grade, the Senior Civil Service ranges, and how far the nine departments covered here sit either side: Civil Service pay 2026/27, every grade and department →
What influences civil service grade 6 pay
There is no published Grade 6-only median. Cabinet Office combines Grade 6 with Grade 7 into one responsibility level, so the £65,830 figure covers both and understates a settled Grade 6.
The grade is fully inside the 40% higher-rate band, and the published median now reaches the High Income Child Benefit Charge. alpha is a net pay arrangement, so the 7.35% contribution comes off before adjusted net income is measured: on the £65,830 median that leaves about £60,991, which is just over the £60,000 threshold, so the charge bites at the median and not only in the upper half of the range.
The £100,000 personal allowance taper stays out of reach across this band. Even at the £89,790 top of the departmental range, adjusted net income after the 7.35% contribution is about £83,190, still £16,810 short of £100,000, so the 62% taper band belongs to the Senior Civil Service range rather than this one.
Grade 6 / 7 median pay by department
Civil Service pay is delegated, so the same grade pays differently across departments. These are published medians for the Grade 6 / 7 responsibility level, as at 31 March 2026 - the most recent departmental breakdown Cabinet Office publishes. They pre-date the 2026/27 pay remit, so treat them as relative positioning between employers rather than current salary.
| Department | Grade 6 / 7 median | All grades |
|---|---|---|
| Home Office | £68,320 | £39,000 |
| HM Treasury | £66,130 | £60,670 |
| Ministry of Defence | £65,560 | £39,120 |
| Ministry of Justice | £65,330 | £35,530 |
| Cabinet Office | £65,050 | £47,670 |
| HMRC | £64,620 | £37,680 |
| Dept for Transport | £63,640 | £31,600 |
| DWP | £62,970 | £32,140 |
| Dept for Education | £62,340 | £49,000 |
The source publishes Grade 6 / 7 as one combined band, so a median for either grade on its own is not available.
Source: Cabinet Office - Civil Service Statistics 2026, Table 25 . Annual awards since the snapshot are set per department under the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance 2026/27 .
Career progression
- AA / AO: £28,020 median.
- EO: £32,140.
- SEO / HEO: £43,930 - published as one combined band.
- Grade 6 / Grade 7: £65,830, also published combined.
- Senior Civil Service: £95,540.
Frequently asked questions
- What is take-home for a Civil Service Grade 6?
- On the £65,830 combined Grade 6/7 median with the 7.35% alpha contribution, take-home is about £45,836 a year or £3,820 a month, after £4,839 pension, £11,829 Income Tax and £3,327 National Insurance. At the £89,790 top of the departmental range it is about £58,676.
- Does the Child Benefit charge hit Grade 6?
- Yes, at the published median, though only just. Because alpha reduces taxable pay before adjusted net income is worked out, £65,830 gross leaves about £60,991, £991 over the £60,000 threshold. The charge is 1% of Child Benefit for each complete £200 above it, which at this income claws back 4%: £56 of the £1,407 a year one child attracts, or £93 of the £2,337 for two. It reaches 100% at £80,000 of adjusted net income, which the top of the departmental range passes.
- How does Grade 6 compare to the Senior Civil Service?
- The published median for the Senior Civil Service is £95,540, against £65,830 for the combined Grade 6/7 band. The structural change at SCS is that pay stops following delegated departmental scales and is set within centrally defined pay bands, with performance-related pay on top.