Security Guard Salary 2026/27: What You Take Home
Security guards earn a full-time median of £33,832 (ONS ASHE 2025, SOC 2020 9231), with a 10th-to-90th percentile range of £23,794 to £44,793. An SIA licence is a legal requirement for most front-line roles. The median sits inside the 20% basic-rate tax band.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £33,832
- ASHE 2025, 10th to 90th percentile
- £23,794–£44,793
- Take-home at median
- £27,879 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn 13% 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 security guard pay
The ONS ASHE 2025 full-time median for security guards and related occupations was £33,832 (provisional, Table 14.7a annual gross pay, SOC 2020 code 9231), with the 10th percentile at £23,794, the middle half between £27,982 and £39,194 and the 90th percentile at £44,793. ASHE annual pay includes the overtime and shift pay employees actually received, so long rotas are already inside these figures; ONS does not split them by shift pattern or contract.
A valid SIA (Security Industry Authority) licence is a legal requirement for most guarding, door supervision and CCTV roles. It costs £204 to apply for one licence, and licences last three years, with the required training on top. Pay differences between static guarding, door supervision and control-room work are set employer by employer; no published series measures them.
A security guard on the median is a basic-rate taxpayer: after the £12,570 personal allowance, pay is taxed at 20% Income Tax plus 8% Class 1 NI up to £50,270. Overtime is taxed at the same marginal rate as normal pay.
Career progression
- ASHE does not publish security pay by role. These are points in the April 2025 full-time pay distribution for SOC 2020 9231.
- 10th percentile: £23,794.
- Lower quartile: £27,982.
- Median: £33,832.
- Upper quartile: £39,194.
- 90th percentile: £44,793. Supervisor and security manager posts are the usual progression.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the take-home for a £33,832 security guard?
- On the £33,832 full-time median, take-home in England is about £27,879 a year (£2,323 a month) with no pension contribution, or about £26,661 with a 5% salary sacrifice pension.
- Do I need an SIA licence to work as a security guard?
- Yes for most roles - the Security Industry Authority licence is a legal requirement for front-line guarding, door supervision and CCTV work. It costs £204 to apply for one licence, which lasts three years, on top of the required training course. Some in-house and non-guarding security roles are exempt.
- Why do security guards earn above the minimum wage floor full-time?
- Largely because of hours. ONS ASHE 2025 records a median of 41.9 paid hours a week for full-time security guards, against 37.5 for all full-time employees, so annual pay at the £33,832 median reflects longer weeks as well as the hourly rate.