Housing Officer Salary 2026/27: Pay and Take-Home
Full-time housing officers had a median gross pay of £34,688 in ONS ASHE 2025, with the middle half between £29,267 and £39,300. That median is close to spine point 23 on the 2025/26 NJC pay spine (£34,434). The group covers council housing teams and housing associations, which do not all use the same scale.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £34,688
- ASHE 2025, 10th to 75th percentile
- £25,066–£39,300
- Take-home at median
- £26,691 England, after the 6.5% LGPS pension contribution, Income Tax and NI.
At the median for this profession, you earn 11% below the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you between the 25th percentile (£29,262) and the 50th percentile (£39,039) of UK full-time earnings.
See exact take-home for £34,688 →
Council posts are graded on the national pay spine: NJC pay scales 2026/27 →
What influences housing officer pay
Council or housing association. Council housing staff are on the NJC spine and in the LGPS. Housing associations set their own pay and pension, often benchmarked to the spine but not bound by it, and some pay more for the same patch because they are competing with the council next door.
Patch and specialism. Generic tenancy management sits in the middle of the range; homelessness and temporary accommodation, anti-social behaviour, leasehold and income recovery roles are typically graded higher because of the statutory duty and court work involved.
Statutory duties attached to the post. Damp and mould, stock condition and compliance work carry legal duties that a generic tenancy management post does not, and employers grade them accordingly. That grading is a local decision though: the national spine sets what a point is worth, not which duties earn which point.
Career progression
- Indicative rungs, not published pay points: councils grade their own posts onto the NJC spine and housing associations set their own pay, so no national table sets what each job pays.
- Housing assistant or scheme support: £25,600 to £28,000.
- Housing officer or tenancy management officer: £30,000 to £36,000.
- Senior or specialist officer, for example homelessness or ASB: £36,000 to £42,000.
- Housing team leader: £42,000 to £50,000.
- Housing manager or head of service: £50,000 upwards, usually above the spine.
Frequently asked questions
- What is take-home on a £34,688 housing officer salary?
- About £26,691 a year, or £2,224 a month. That is after £3,973 Income Tax, £1,769 National Insurance and a £2,255 LGPS contribution at the 6.5% band. A housing association job at the same salary usually has a defined contribution pension instead, so the take-home is higher but the pension is worth much less.
- Do housing association staff get the LGPS?
- Some do and most do not. Associations that took a stock transfer from a council often kept LGPS access for transferred staff as admitted bodies, while new starters go into the association's own scheme. Check which scheme a job offers before comparing it with a council salary, because the difference is worth several thousand pounds a year in employer contributions.
- Is a housing officer on the NJC pay spine?
- In a council, normally yes, on whichever grade that authority has evaluated the post into. The spine sets the value of each point nationally; the grade boundaries are local. Housing associations are outside the NJC entirely.
Related 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 →