Nursery education teaching professionals salary in the UK

The median full-time salary for nursery education teaching professionals in the UK is £37,593 (ONS, 2025). After tax and National Insurance at 2026/27 rates that is about £2,549 a month.

Median salary
£37,593
Take-home a month
£2,549
Rank for median pay
157th of 362
SOC 2020 code
2315

Pay range for nursery education teaching professionals

This is the ONS occupation group "Nursery education teaching professionals" (SOC 2020 code 2315). ONS figures for 2025 show that a quarter earn less than £29,040 and half earn less than £37,593.

Point in the pay rangeGross a yearGross a monthTake-home a yearTake-home a month
10th percentileNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
25th percentile£29,040£2,420£24,428£2,036
Median (50th percentile)£37,593£3,133£30,587£2,549
75th percentileNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
90th percentileNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published

Take-home at England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates. Not published means ONS did not publish that figure because the estimate is not reliable enough. ONS rates the median for nursery education teaching professionals as acceptable, so use it with caution: its sampling error (coefficient of variation) is 15%.

Where nursery education teaching professionals rank

The median for nursery education teaching professionals ranks 157th of 362 occupations on this site, in the upper half, and 82nd of 91 in professional occupations. It is £1,446 (3.7%) lower than the UK median of £39,039 for all full-time employee jobs. ONS change on the previous year: the median for nursery education teaching professionals rose 17.8%, more than the 4.3% rise in the UK median for all full-time jobs. Only 13 of 358 occupations had a change this large in either direction. ONS figures for one occupation come from a sample, so they can move a lot from one year to the next.

Jobs with the nearest medians: Plumbers & heating and ventilating installers and repairers (£37,881), Mobile machine drivers and operatives n.e.c. (£37,864), Therapy professionals n.e.c. (£37,599), Public relations professionals (£37,563), Customer service managers (£37,535) and Teachers of English as a foreign language (£37,514).

How spread out pay is

ONS published the 25th percentile (£29,040) but not the 75th, so we cannot show the middle half of the range for nursery education teaching professionals.

The mean for nursery education teaching professionals (total pay divided by the number of employees) is £41,934, which is £4,341 (11.5%) higher than the median. When the mean is above the median, a smaller number of higher salaries are pulling the average up. For all UK full-time jobs the mean is 24.3% above the median, so the gap for nursery education teaching professionals is smaller.

Among these 7 jobs in the same ONS minor group, this one has the 6th highest median. The highest median among them is £52,835 (higher education teaching professionals) and the lowest £37,514 (teachers of English as a foreign language).

JobSOC codeMedian salaryTake-home a month
Higher education teaching professionals2311£52,835£3,433
Secondary education teaching professionals2313£47,632£3,151
Special needs education teaching professionals2316£47,432£3,139
Primary education teaching professionals2314£45,939£3,050
Further education teaching professionals2312£42,218£2,826
Nursery education teaching professionals2315£37,593£2,549
Teachers of English as a foreign language2317£37,514£2,544

Take-home pay against all jobs

At the median, nursery education teaching professionals take home about £2,549 a month, against £2,636 on the UK median for all jobs. Scotland has its own income tax bands, so take-home pay on the same salary is different there.

GroupMedian a yearTake-home a monthTake-home a month in Scotland
Nursery education teaching professionals£37,593£2,549£2,545
All full-time employee jobs, UK£39,039£2,636£2,631

How this is worked out

Pay: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), 2025 provisional, SOC 2020 unit group 2315. Take-home: 2026/27 rates, tax code 1257L, no pension or student loan. How to read these figures.

Sources

Figures checked on 12 October 2026. ONS plans to publish its next ASHE figures on 22 October 2026. Read how we calculate or tell us about a mistake.

Frequently asked questions

On the median full-time salary of £37,593, take-home pay is about £2,549 a month (£30,587 a year) after 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance, with tax code 1257L and no pension or student loan. In Scotland, where income tax is different, it is about £2,545 a month.

ONS figures for full-time jobs (2025) show that a quarter earn less than £29,040 and half earn less than £37,593. ONS did not publish every point in the range because some estimates are not reliable enough.

No. The median for nursery education teaching professionals is £37,593, which is £1,446 (3.7%) lower than the UK median of £39,039 for all full-time employee jobs (ONS, 2025). It ranks 157th of 362 occupations on this site.