The average teacher salary in the UK right now
Key Points
- The average teacher salary in England is £51,048, up 4% after the September 2025 pay award (Department for Education).
- Newly qualified teachers start on £32,916 in England outside London, rising to £43,815 at the top of the main pay scale.
- The upper pay range runs from £46,208 to £48,386; headteachers earn £58,569 to £153,488.
- Inner London starting pay is £40,317, rising to £62,496 for experienced classroom teachers.
- Scotland's main grade scale runs from £32,157 to £47,816, with Wales and Northern Ireland set separately.
Teachers in England now earn an average of £51,048 a year, according to Department for Education figures, marking a 4% increase on the previous year.
The figure follows a 4% pay award that the government accepted in full and applied to all teachers and school leaders from September 2025.
That headline average sits well above what most classroom teachers actually start on, because it blends early-career salaries with the higher pay of experienced staff and school leaders.
The starting salary for a newly qualified teacher, now called an early career teacher, is £32,916 in England outside London on the first point of the main pay scale. Teachers move up the main scale to a maximum of £43,815, a journey that takes around six years through annual incremental progression.
How the pay scale works
Beyond the main scale, qualified teachers can apply to move onto the upper pay range, where salaries run from £46,208 to £48,386.
Crossing onto that range requires a formal application and assessment rather than automatic progression, so not every teacher reaches it. School leaders are paid on a separate scale, with headteachers earning between £58,569 and £153,488 depending on the size of the school and its location.
Where a teacher works also changes the figure significantly. London weighting can add several thousand pounds to reflect the higher cost of living, with an inner London early career teacher starting on £40,317 and an experienced inner London classroom teacher reaching up to £62,496.
Outer London and London Fringe rates fall between the inner London and national figures.
Pay outside England
Scotland operates its own pay structure, with main grade teacher salaries ranging from £32,157 to £47,816 for the current year. Pay scales in Wales and Northern Ireland are set separately again, so the average salary a teacher can expect varies by nation as well as by region within England.
Several allowances sit on top of the base figures. Teaching and Learning Responsibility payments rose for 2025-26, and teachers supporting pupils with special educational needs receive a supplementary allowance that increased to a minimum of £2,787 and a maximum of £5,497.
A targeted retention incentive of between £3,000 and £6,000 is also available to teachers in their first five years who teach shortage subjects in state-funded secondary schools.
The Department for Education said teacher pay has risen by almost 10% over two years.
To attract new entrants, the government is also offering tax-free bursaries and scholarships worth up to £31,000 in subjects including chemistry, maths, physics and computing, with early career teachers in those subjects able to receive up to £6,000 after tax if they teach in disadvantaged schools.
