Junior / Part-Qualified Accountant Salary UK 2026/27
Junior accountants span AAT-trained finance assistants to final-year trainees. ONS does not measure them separately, so the anchor is where they sit within chartered and certified accountants (SOC 2020 2421): the lower quartile was £38,696 in ASHE 2025 and the 10th percentile £29,557, against a group median of £50,062 that includes fully qualified accountants.
Typical pay & take-home
- ASHE 2025 lower quartile, SOC 2421
- £38,696
- ASHE 2025, 10th percentile to median
- £29,557–£50,062
- Take-home on that salary
- £31,381 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At £38,696, you earn 1% 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.
What influences junior / part-qualified accountant pay
These are percentiles of the whole accountancy occupation rather than a measurement of trainee roles. A part-qualified accountant sits in the lower part of a group whose median reflects people who have finished their exams.
ONS does not publish pay by qualification stage, so no official figure describes trainees on their own. The lower quartile of the whole group is the closest published anchor, and pay before qualifying is set by each employer rather than by any national scale.
Study support is worth real money but is not taxed as a benefit. Employer-funded work-related training is exempt: HMRC guidance says the employer does not report it or pay tax and National Insurance on it, and the exemption covers the cost of the training and related costs such as books and travel. Salary paid during study leave is still salary, taxed and subject to National Insurance in the usual way.
Career progression
- Bottom decile of the group: £29,557.
- Lower quartile, where part-qualified accountants sit: £38,696.
- Group median, including fully qualified accountants: £50,062.
- Upper quartile: £68,056.
Frequently asked questions
- Do exam-fees paid by employer count as taxable income?
- Not where the training is work-related. HMRC guidance says an employer paying for an employee's work-related training does not report it or pay tax and National Insurance on it, and that covers the cost of the training and related costs such as books and travel. Professional body subscriptions follow a different rule: tax relief is available only for bodies on HMRC's approved list, List 3.
- What is the take-home at the £38,696 lower quartile?
- With a 5% salary-sacrifice pension, take-home on £38,696 is about £29,988 a year, after £4,838 Income Tax, £1,935 National Insurance and the £1,935 contribution. The same 5% paid from net pay or under relief at source leaves a little less, because only salary sacrifice saves National Insurance. The salary calculator gives the figure for your own pension percentage.