Civil Service Pay Bands 2026/27
Median Salary by Grade — England (31 March 2026)
| Grade | Median salary | Take-home per month |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative Officer (AO) | £28,020 | £1,889 |
| Administrative Assistant (AA) | £30,660 | £2,039 |
| Executive Officer (EO) | £32,140 | £2,123 |
| Higher Executive Officer (HEO) | £38,960 | £2,489 |
| Senior Executive Officer (SEO) | £47,670 | £2,980 |
| Grade 7 | £63,350 | £3,709 |
| Grade 6 | £78,010 | £4,364 |
| Senior Civil Service | £94,910 | £5,118 |
Civil service pay below the Senior Civil Service is delegated: each department negotiates its own pay ranges within the Cabinet Office pay remit, and they settle in different months. There is no national scale, so the figures here are published medians — what people at this grade actually earn — rather than a rate you are entitled to.
The overall civil service median was £37,820 as at 31 March 2026, up 6.0% on the year, across a workforce of 557,825 people. Median pay rose at every grade, by 5.2% at AA/AO down to 3.2% in the Senior Civil Service.
The Senior Civil Service is the exception to delegated pay: it has published national bands of £86,000 to £117,800 at Pay Band 1, £105,000 to £162,500 at Pay Band 2 and £135,000 to £208,100 at Pay Band 3.
One oddity worth knowing: the published AA median of £30,660 sits above the AO median of £28,020. AA is a small population and departments map their own grades onto these reporting levels, so a handful of specialist roles can pull it up.