SEO Salary
SEO Pay and Take-Home (2026/27)
| Measure | Salary | Take-home per month |
|---|---|---|
| Median, England | £47,670 | £2,980 |
| Median, England excluding London | £46,550 | £2,917 |
| Next grade up — Grade 7 median | £63,350 | £3,709 |
| Grade below — HEO median | £38,960 | £2,489 |
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.
Senior Executive Officer is the senior delegated-grade management level below Grade 7 — running teams, owning delivery, and often the last step before the Grade 7 and Grade 6 tier. The published England median is £47,670, and £46,550 outside London.
On the median, take-home is about £2,980 a month. SEO sits comfortably inside the 5.45% alpha pension tier, which runs from £36,200 to £56,000 of pensionable earnings.
The step from SEO to Grade 7 is the largest single jump in the delegated grades: £47,670 to £63,350 at the median, about £728 a month more after tax.