Electrician Salary 2026: PAYE vs Self-Employed

The cleanest national benchmark is the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Its provisional 2025 data for full-time employee jobs in the “electricians and electrical fitters” occupation records median gross annual earnings of £39,647 and median hourly earnings of £19.20.

Those figures describe employee jobs, before Income Tax and employee National Insurance. They are not a quotation rate, a subcontractor day rate, business turnover or an owner’s take-home pay. The National Careers Service gives a broader guide of £26,000 for a starter to £45,000 for an experienced electrician, normally across 37 to 45 hours a week.

Both are useful reference points, but neither predicts an individual offer. Location, overtime, shift work, site allowances, responsibility and the exact role all change the package.

A salary is only one part of an employed role. Compare the written offer rather than the headline number:

• basic hours and the rate for overtime, nights or call-outs;
• paid holiday, pension contributions and sick-pay terms;
• whether the employer supplies the van, fuel, tools, test equipment and PPE;
• travel time, lodge or subsistence payments where relevant;
• training, card renewals and professional fees; and
• supervisory responsibility and the route to the next grade.

The JIB publishes national standard hourly rates and allowances for participating employers. Those are negotiated rates under its agreement, not a national market average, so use them as a contract benchmark only where the JIB rules apply.

A day rate can look much larger than an employee’s daily salary because it may need to cover gaps between assignments, unpaid leave, pension, insurance, tools, travel, accounting and the risk of late payment. The engagement also determines how tax is handled.

Before comparing a contract with employment, write down the expected paid days, not 52 perfect weeks, and subtract every cost you must now carry. Confirm the employment-status and off-payroll position from the actual working arrangement; a label on an advert does not settle it. HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax service can help, but complex cases deserve professional advice.

There is no comparable official national “salary” for self-employed electricians. A useful comparison follows four different numbers:

1. Turnover: everything invoiced before costs.
2. Gross profit: sales less direct job costs such as materials and subcontract labour.
3. Business profit: what remains after overheads such as van, insurance, software, tools, training and accountancy.
4. Personal take-home: what remains after the relevant tax, National Insurance, pension provision and drawings or salary/dividends.

Quoting £70,000 of annual turnover as a “£70,000 salary” skips most of the calculation. It also ignores non-billable time spent surveying, travelling, quoting, collecting materials, doing certificates and chasing payment.

Your own job history is more useful than an internet earnings range. Each month, record:

• payments actually received, not merely invoices raised;
• materials and other direct costs against the job that caused them;
• overheads for the month;
• hours on site and hours spent on travel or admin; and
• unpaid, disputed and written-off work.

Then compare business profit with all hours worked. That effective hourly figure shows whether a busy diary is producing a healthy business.

Tradehand keeps the quote, job, receipt photos, costs, invoice and payment history together. Revenue and costs roll into per-job and monthly margin views, while the office team handles enquiries, updates and payment chasing. That does not guarantee an income; it makes the numbers and the admin behind it visible enough to improve.

Use your records to find the constraint before choosing a fix. If good enquiries are missed, improve response and qualification. If quotes are won but margin is weak, revisit scope, labour assumptions and materials. If completed work is profitable but cash is late, tighten invoicing and follow-up. If the effective hourly return is low, reduce travel and admin before simply adding more jobs.

Further training can expand the work you are competent to undertake, but a course is not automatically a pay rise. Check local demand, the full training and scheme cost, supervision requirements, insurance and how many suitable jobs you can realistically win. Our electrician qualification routes guide separates the core competence pathway from later specialisms.