Personal assistants and other secretaries: average salary and pay in the UK
Full-time personal assistants and other secretaries in the UK earned a median £34,954 in the year to 5 April 2025, according to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE): £4,085 below the all-jobs median of £39,039.
What the figures show
That puts it 202nd of 382, in the middle third of occupations.
The middle half of full-time jobs paid between £28,565 and £43,903.
Median full-time pay: women £35,000 a year, men £32,994 a year.
About 52% of the roughly 186,000 employee jobs are full-time.
Since 2021 it has risen 21.9%, from £28,673, slower than the 25.0% for all jobs.
The Annual Population Survey counts 133,700 people in this line of work, 21% of them in London.
Pay distribution, 2025 provisional
| Gross pay | Full-time, annual | Full-time, weekly | Full-time, hourly | All, annual | All, weekly | All, hourly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | £24,382 | £486.00 | £12.96 | £5,965* | £116.90 | £12.29 |
| 20th percentile | £27,509 | £544.80 | £14.07 | £10,702 | £199.60 | £12.90 |
| 25th percentile | £28,565 | £559.00 | £14.91 | £12,103 | £233.10 | £13.16 |
| 30th percentile | £29,810 | £584.30 | £15.57 | £13,408 | £253.60 | £13.65 |
| 40th percentile | £32,109 | £629.70 | £16.83 | £19,743 | £374.00 | £14.88 |
| Median (50th percentile) | £34,954 | £686.00 | £18.25 | £25,233 | £488.00 | £15.96 |
| 60th percentile | £37,694 | £748.60 | £19.93 | £29,558 | £567.10 | £17.41 |
| 70th percentile | £41,217 | £821.70 | £21.99 | £33,297 | £651.60 | £19.54 |
| 75th percentile | £43,903 | £862.80 | £23.19 | £36,179 | £702.10 | £20.51 |
| 80th percentile | £46,826 | £911.90 | £24.78 | £38,739 | £766.60 | £22.26 |
| 90th percentile | – | £1,054.10* | £27.93 | £48,675* | £930.90 | £26.50 |
| Mean | £37,951 | £738.00 | £19.64 | £26,511 | £502.20 | £18.65 |
Pay since 2021
| ASHE year | Full-time, annual median | Full-time, weekly median | Full-time, hourly median | All, annual median | All, weekly median | Jobs (thousands, indicative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 revised | £28,673 | £555.80 | £14.78 | £18,542 | £362.70 | 227 |
| 2022 revised | £29,859 | £574.90 | £15.31 | £20,477 | £401.60 | 196 |
| 2023 revised | £30,258 | £598.90 | £15.96 | £21,720 | £444.70 | 193 |
| 2024 revised | £33,468 | £660.20 | £17.76 | £24,500 | £473.60 | 166 |
| 2025 provisional | £34,954 | £686.00 | £18.25 | £25,233 | £488.00 | 186 |
Personal assistants and other secretaries by region
UK: 133,700 (± 14,200), April 2025 to March 2026. 7 of the 12 regions and nations have samples too small to publish.
| Region or nation | People in employment | 95% confidence interval |
|---|---|---|
| London | 28,100* | ± 8,600 |
| South East | 23,000* | ± 6,000 |
| East of England | 16,800* | ± 5,600 |
| North West | 13,100* | ± 4,400 |
| South West | 12,400* | ± 4,000 |
Annual Population Survey (Nomis)
What personal assistants and other secretaries do
Personal assistants and other secretaries provide administrative and secretarial support to individuals, departmental or management teams within organisations. (ONS SOC 2020, 4215)
Also covers: executive assistant, PA-secretary, personal assistant, personal secretary, secretary, admin secretary, administration secretary, administrative secretary, assistant secretary, bilingual secretary, branch secretary, club secretary, commercial secretary, confidential clerk, confidential secretary, county secretary, diary manager and director's assistant (40 titles in the ONS coding index).
- Acts as a first point of contact for a manager or team with colleagues and people from outside organisations, fields telephone enquiries, takes and passes on messages
- Arranges appointments, keeps business diary, organises travel arrangements, makes reservations and organises a variety of functions
- Opens, sorts, distributes and files correspondence (in hard copy and electronic) and deals directly with routine correspondence
- Uses appropriate software to produce correspondence, memoranda, reports, presentations and other documents from drafts, handwritten copy or by transcribing dictation
- Arranges and attends meetings, takes minutes and prepares records of proceedings
- Translates documents and liaises with overseas clients and suppliers
There are no minimum academic requirements, although entry to professional secretarial courses typically requires GCSEs/S grades. NVQs/SVQs are available in Administration at levels 2, 3 and 4.
Related
Secretarial and related occupations (median £28,388) · Company secretaries and administrators · Receptionists · salary percentile · UK average weekly earnings growth · Median
ASHE Table 14: 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 · coding index · notes · 15 October 2026