What is take-home on a £27,857 refuse collector salary?

About £22,284 a year, or £1,857 a month. That is after £2,734 Income Tax, £1,223 National Insurance and a £1,616 LGPS contribution at the 5.8% band. The LGPS is a net pay arrangement, so the contribution reduces your taxable pay but not the pay your NI is charged on.

Are refuse collectors on the NJC pay spine?

Directly employed council staff usually are. The NJC sets the value of each spine point nationally, and each council maps its own grades onto those points, so the grade label differs by authority even where the money does not. Staff employed by an outsourced waste contractor are not on the spine at all.

Is refuse collection pay rising in 2026/27?

Yes, at 3.3% backdated to 1 April 2026. The offer was made in March, rejected by all three unions, then accepted in August 2026 by UNISON and GMB after UNISON’s industrial action ballot missed the turnout threshold. Unite did not accept, but under NJC rules the other two are enough. Arrears follow, and the NJC published the uplifted spine in its signed agreement circular of 24 August 2026. The spine points named on this page are the 2025/26 ones, because they are what the ONS ASHE 2025 median is being compared against; the 2026/27 equivalents are 3.3% higher.

Refuse Collector Salary 2026/27: Pay and Take-Home

Full-time refuse and salvage workers had a median gross pay of £27,857 in ONS ASHE 2025, with the middle half of the occupation between £25,803 and £31,223. That median sits close to spine point 10 on the 2025/26 NJC pay spine (£27,694), the scale most council waste services are graded on.

Typical pay & take-home

Median gross: £27,857
Typical range: £23,786–£31,223
Take-home at median: £23,577 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.

At the median for this profession, you earn 29% below the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you in the bottom 21% of UK earners.

See exact take-home for £27,857 →

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

What influences refuse collector (loader / driver) pay

Whether you drive. An LGV licence moves you from loader to driver and onto a higher grade, and it is the single largest step in the job. Councils that have brought collections back in-house also tend to pay above the contractor rate for the same round.

Who employs you. Directly employed council staff are on the NJC pay spine and in the Local Government Pension Scheme; staff working for an outsourced contractor are on that company's rates, which are usually lower and without the LGPS. TUPE protects the terms of transferred staff but not of new starters.

Overtime, allowances and rounds. Basic pay understates the job: bank holiday working, early starts, and task-and-finish arrangements where crews go home once the round is done are all common. Those are locally negotiated, not in the national agreement.

Career progression

Loader on a collection round: around the bottom of the spine, roughly £25,600 to £26,000.
LGV driver on refuse collection: around £27,000 to £31,000.
Charge hand or crew supervisor: £30,000 to £35,000.
Waste operations supervisor or transport manager: £35,000 to £45,000.
Waste services manager: £45,000 upwards, above the top of the spine in larger authorities.

Frequently asked questions

What is take-home on a £27,857 refuse collector salary?: About £22,284 a year, or £1,857 a month. That is after £2,734 Income Tax, £1,223 National Insurance and a £1,616 LGPS contribution at the 5.8% band. The LGPS is a net pay arrangement, so the contribution reduces your taxable pay but not the pay your NI is charged on.
Are refuse collectors on the NJC pay spine?: Directly employed council staff usually are. The NJC sets the value of each spine point nationally, and each council maps its own grades onto those points, so the grade label differs by authority even where the money does not. Staff employed by an outsourced waste contractor are not on the spine at all.
Is refuse collection pay rising in 2026/27?: Yes, at 3.3% backdated to 1 April 2026. The offer was made in March, rejected by all three unions, then accepted in August 2026 by UNISON and GMB after UNISON’s industrial action ballot missed the turnout threshold. Unite did not accept, but under NJC rules the other two are enough. Arrears follow, and the NJC published the uplifted spine in its signed agreement circular of 24 August 2026. The spine points named on this page are the 2025/26 ones, because they are what the ONS ASHE 2025 median is being compared against; the 2026/27 equivalents are 3.3% higher.

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