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UK salary report · 2026

Legal Secretary Salary in South East

Official ONS earnings for South East.

ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Imprecise estimate Where this comes from →

Median salary — South East

£23,386

gross, per year, all employees

▲ 0.8% change on the previous year

Mean

£23,947

What a typical legal secretary takes home

On the median of £23,386, 2026/27 tax year, England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates, no pension or student loan.

Take-home a month

£1,696

Take-home a year

£20,358

Income Tax

£2,163

National Insurance

£865

Work out yours — with pension, student loan and bonus → £23,000 after tax, step by step →

What most legal secretarys actually earn

Half of legal secretarys in South East earn between £12,000 and £27,985. Earning above £27,985 puts you in the top quarter of the profession.

ONS suppresses the detailed spread for this occupation at regional level, so this range describes the wider “Secretarial and Related Occupations” group in South East.

The full pay range

Each bar is the salary at that percentile — the 25th means a quarter of legal secretarys earn less than this.

10th
£8,006
20th
£10,861
25th
£12,000
30th
£13,457
40th
£16,387
50th
£21,493
60th
£24,123
70th
£26,392
75th
£27,985
80th
£30,105
Check where your salary sits

Where this figure comes from

ONS occupation group
Legal secretaries
SOC 2020 code
4212
Measure
Gross annual pay, all employees
Edition
ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional

ONS publishes a sampling error of 19.0% for this figure and asks that anything above 10% is treated as imprecise — too few people in this region answered the survey for this occupation. The figure is shown because it is the one ONS published, but it is not firm enough to rank South East against anywhere else, so this page doesn't.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are estimates from a survey of PAYE jobs and are not financial advice.

Legal Secretary salary FAQs

What is the average Legal Secretary salary in South East?

The median is £23,386 a year and the mean is £23,947, according to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Those cover all employees; ASHE publishes no full-time split at regional level.

How much does a legal secretary earn per hour?

Across the UK the median hourly rate is £14.22 excluding overtime, or £14.60 for full-time employees. ASHE publishes hourly pay by occupation nationally only, so there is no separate rate for South East.

What is a good Legal Secretary salary?

Half of legal secretarys earn between £12,000 and £27,985. Anything above £27,985 is in the top quarter for the role.

What is the starting salary for a legal secretary?

ASHE does not record experience, so there is no official starting salary. What it does show is that the lowest-paid 10% of legal secretarys earn under £8,006 and the lowest quarter under £12,000 — the range a new entrant is most likely to be offered.

Do legal secretarys in South East earn more than the UK average?

The median in South East is £23,386 against £24,263 across the UK, 3.6% lower. ONS marks the South East figure as imprecise, so treat the gap as indicative.

Has legal secretary pay gone up in the last year?

ASHE puts the year-on-year change in the median at +0.8% for this occupation in South East. That compares the latest survey with the one before it and is not adjusted for inflation.

Is this figure official?

Yes. It comes from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, an accredited official statistic based on employer PAYE records.

Official figures show the market. Your salary shows what employers actually pay.

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