Official figures, with their sources
Two official sources publish pay for plumbers. Here is what each one measures, its range and what it leaves out. None of it is a promise of any wage.
Each comes from a public source we name, with the year it describes and the date we read it. They measure different things, so they do not agree exactly.
A guide range for plumbers in England, from starting out to experienced.
The profile does not say which year the range describes or how it was worked out, so treat it as a rough guide.
Source: National Careers Service, Plumber: job profile. No reference year given; range as shown on the profile in October 2026. Read on 25 October 2026.
Gross annual pay before tax, for full-time employee jobs in the ONS group “Plumbers & heating and ventilating installers and repairers”.
The group also counts heating and ventilating installers and repairers, so it is wider than plumbing alone. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred pounds. ONS rates all three estimates as precise.
ONS does not publish a figure for the best-paid tenth of these jobs, because its sample is too small to be reliable. We do not estimate one.
Provisional figures: ONS revises them when it publishes next year’s.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Earnings and hours worked, occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 14, Table 14.7a, full-time employees, SOC 2020 code 5315. Tax year ending 5 April 2026 (ASHE 2026, provisional). Released 22 October 2026. Read on 25 October 2026.
An industry agreement, an employee salary and a customer invoice measure different things.
| Measure | What to compare |
|---|---|
| Employee salary | Gross pay, contracted hours, overtime, paid holiday, pension and travel terms. |
| Industry agreement | Whether the contract follows it, the correct grade, its effective date and applicable allowances. |
| Self-employed invoice | Revenue before materials, business costs, unpaid time and tax; it is not take-home pay. |
For plumbing and mechanical engineering employment covered by the JIB-PMES National Working Rule Agreement in England and Wales, compare the grade, wage rate and allowances that apply. These negotiated terms are not the same thing as a UK-wide statutory minimum or the ONS median. Ask the employer which agreement its contract follows.
Offer-comparison guidance updated . Figure reference periods and access dates remain beside each figure table.
Read the ranges with these limits in mind.
The ONS survey counts employees only, so it says nothing about people who work for themselves. The National Careers Service range does not say it covers them either.
Neither source gives a day rate, and we know of no official public source that does, so we give none. Rates on job boards and forums are not official statistics.
The ONS figures are for full-time employees on adult rates who had been in the same job for more than a year.
The ONS figures are for the whole UK; this table does not split them by nation or region. The National Careers Service range is for England only.
Apprentice pay is set differently. The legal minimum is below.
A range describes what jobs paid in the past. It does not tell you what any employer will pay you.
Two people in the same trade can be paid very differently. These are the usual reasons; none of them comes with an official figure.
Where you work. Pay differs across the UK. Compare adverts and ask employers in the area you will actually work in, not national figures.
Overtime and call-outs. Some jobs add paid overtime, call-outs or shift work to basic pay, and some do not. Ask how often it happens and how it is paid.
Employed or self-employed. Working for yourself means setting your own prices, but also paying for your own van, tools, insurance, holidays and quiet weeks. Employee figures cannot tell you what would be left.
Where you take the work. The National Careers Service says that with experience you could train as a heat pump engineer, work on ventilation, air-conditioning or renewable heating, move into building services engineering, or train apprentices. We have no official figure for what each of those pays.
Gas work. In Great Britain, everyone who does gas work must be competent, and employers and self-employed gas workers must be on the Gas Safe Register. We do not teach gas work, and we have no official figure for what it adds to pay, so we claim none.
Some water fittings work needs notice to, and consent from, the water supplier before it starts. Check the rules where you live.
Gas work is for competent workers covered by a Gas Safe registered business in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has separate gas regulations. Do not work on gas pipes or appliances yourself.
In England, installing an unvented hot-water system over 15 litres is notifiable building work: use a competent installer registered with a competent-person scheme, or tell building control before work starts. Leave this work to a suitably skilled person.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own water and building rules; check which apply before work starts. Electrical connections belong with an electrician.
This guide does not qualify you or make you competent, approved or registered for plumbing, gas or unvented work.
An apprentice is an employee, paid at least the National Minimum Wage. These are the legal minimums for the whole UK: a floor, not a typical wage.
We do not know of an official figure for what apprentice plumbers are typically paid, so we do not give one. Your contract should state your rate; ask each employer what it pays and how pay rises as you progress.
Source: GOV.UK (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade), National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates. Rates from 1 April 2026. Read on 25 October 2026.
No. A customer invoice has to cover business costs and time that cannot be billed as well as the person's earnings. Employee gross pay is a different measure. Compare net business income only after realistic costs, unpaid time and tax have been considered.
Compare contracted hours and basic pay first, then the written overtime, travel, call-out, holiday and pension terms. Treat optional overtime separately from contracted income. Ask which industry agreement and grade apply rather than assuming a national pay range describes the offer.
In the latest ONS figures, which are provisional, half of full-time employee jobs for plumbers and heating and ventilating installers paid less than £39,200 a year before tax. The middle half paid between £32,700 and £47,100. The National Careers Service gives £24,000 for a starter to £46,000 when experienced, for England. Neither is a promise of any wage.
We know of no official public source that publishes one, so we do not give one. The ONS survey covers employees only, so it says nothing about self-employed rates.
At least the legal minimum. On GOV.UK's current rates, the apprentice rate is £8 an hour. GOV.UK sets out who it applies to, by age and by year of the apprenticeship; after that, the minimum is the rate for your age. Many employers pay more, so ask each one.
We re-read each figure when its source publishes a new edition. If a source disagrees with this page, the source is right.
A pay range only matters if there is a way into the work. These are the next steps.
Our plumbing path teaches the basics and helps you prepare. TradeTraining prepares people for training and work. We do not award qualifications, certify competence, register anyone or place anyone in a job, and our lessons do not replace supervised workplace training or formal assessment.