Personal assistants and other secretaries Pay Data UK — 2025

Personal assistants and other secretaries roles in the UK earn a median of £36,000 per year, equivalent to £18.10 per hour as of 2025. Pay increased 6.9% compared to the previous year. Regionally, pay ranges from £28,500 in East Midlands to £49,500 in London. Pay has risen over the past 4 years. The ONS national median for this occupation is £34,954/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 Personal assistants and other secretaries 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 +6.9% 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 Personal assistants and other secretaries.

Percentage change from the prior year's April figure.

About Personal assistants and other secretaries

Personal assistants and other secretaries provide administrative and secretarial support to individuals, departmental or management teams within organisations.

Typical Tasks and Duties

• acts as a first point of contact for a manager or team with colleagues and people from outside organisations, fields telephone enquiries, takes and passes on messages
• arranges appointments, keeps business diary, organises travel arrangements, makes reservations and organises a variety of functions
• opens, sorts, distributes and files correspondence (in hard copy and electronic) and deals directly with routine correspondence
• uses appropriate software to produce correspondence, memoranda, reports, presentations and other documents from drafts, handwritten copy or by transcribing dictation
• arranges and attends meetings, takes minutes and prepares records of proceedings
• translates documents and liaises with overseas clients and suppliers

Entry Routes and Qualifications

There are no minimum academic requirements, although entry to professional secretarial courses typically requires GCSEs/S grades. NVQs/SVQs are available in Administration at levels 2, 3 and 4.

Related Occupations

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