Business and related research professionals Pay Data UK — 2025

Business and related research professionals roles in the UK earn a median of £42,500 per year, equivalent to £22.20 per hour as of 2025. Pay increased 11.8% compared to the previous year. Regionally, pay ranges from £36,500 in West Midlands to £47,000 in London. Pay has risen over the past 4 years. The ONS national median for this occupation is £41,128/yr (3% above our computed national average).

Labour Market

Employment figures from ONS Annual Population Survey (APS). Counts are estimates; suppressed cells (small samples) are excluded from totals.

Pay by Region

Annual pay for Business and related research professionals across UK regions. The bar shows the typical pay range (25th–75th percentile); the diamond marks the median.

Source: ONS ASHE. Based on broad UK regions (NUTS1).

How Pay Has Changed Over Time

Annual pay grew by +11.8% from 2024 to 2025.

National average (NUTS1 actuals) based on ONS ASHE April snapshot. Shaded band shows 25th–75th percentile range.

Year-on-Year Pay Change

Annual percentage change in median pay for Business and related research professionals.

Percentage change from the prior year's April figure.

About Business and related research professionals

Business and related research professionals carry out a variety of research activities for the broadcast and print media, for the police and armed forces intelligence services, for national security agencies and in other non-scientific areas.

Typical Tasks and Duties

• liaises with production team to generate and develop ideas for film, television and radio programmes
• research sources for accurate factual material, finds suitable contributors to programmes or print features and deals with any copyright issues
• briefs presenters, scriptwriters or journalists as required via verbal or written reports
• provides administrative support for programme development such as booking facilities
• provides support to criminal intelligence or to military or other security operations by gathering and verifying intelligence data and sources
• presents findings in the required format, via written reports or presentations
• researches images for clients in a wide range of media using specialist picture libraries and archives, museums, galleries etc., or commissions new images
• liaises with client on the appropriate image/s to be used
• deals with copyright issues and negotiates fees
• liaises with client to understand their market research needs, establishes an appropriate quantitative and qualitative market research methodology and prepares proposals outlining programmes of work and details of costs
• manages and directs research, collates and interprets findings and presents results to clients
• discusses possible changes that need to be made in terms of design, price, packaging, marketing and promotion etc. in light of market research with appropriate departments

Entry Routes and Qualifications

Entrants usually possess a degree or equivalent qualification. Training is usually provided on-the-job, or support may be given for postgraduate study. Professional qualifications are available in some areas.

Related Occupations

Salary data is sourced from official UK pay datasets and updated periodically.