jobfacts

Local government administrative occupations

SOC 2020 4112

Local government administrative occupations undertake a variety of administrative and clerical duties in local government offices and departments.

Also calledLocal government officerPolicy officerFinance officerAdministration officerBenefits officerClerical officerand 128 more titles
Typical full-time pay£30,9002025 Provisional
People in the job157,000across the UK
Demand for workersNot high
New adverts a month1,100↑ 207%on last year · 166th of 412

Pay

ONS · ASHE 2025

Half of full-time local government administrative occupations earn between £26,400 and £36,200 a year.

What full-time local government administrative occupations earn, 2025
£30,900 typical£23,800lowest 10%£26,40025%£37,300top 20%n/ptop 10%
Middle half (£26,400–£36,200)n/p: top 10% not published by ONS
Show as table
Lowest 10% earn less than£23,800
Lowest 20% earn less than£25,600
25%£26,400
Median£30,900
75%£36,200
Top 20% earn more than£37,300
Top 10% earn more thanNot published
Typical pay by regionUK median £30,900
West Midlands!£34,800
Scotland!£31,400
Wales!£31,200
South East!£31,000
South West£30,400
Yorkshire and The Humber£29,100
North West£28,900
East Midlands!£27,100
North East!£26,500
East of EnglandNot published by ONS–
LondonNot published by ONS–
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
UK median, £30,900
West Midlands£34,800 (small sample)
Scotland£31,400 (small sample)
Wales£31,200 (small sample)
South East£31,000 (small sample)
South West£30,400
Yorkshire and The Humber£29,100
North West£28,900
East Midlands£27,100 (small sample)
North East£26,500 (small sample)
East of EnglandNot published by ONS
LondonNot published by ONS
Typical pay over 3 years
  • 2023 £27,600
  • 2024 £30,300
  • 2025 Provisional£30,900
↑ 12% since 2023Provisional figures are revised when ONS publishes the next year’s survey.

Jobs and demand

ONS · Textkernel adverts · DfE

About 1,100 jobs for local government administrative occupations are advertised each month. The Department for Education rates demand for workers as not high.

New job adverts a month, Jan 2017 to Aug 2026
New advertsMonth not published by ONS (3 in all)
Show as table
Aug 2026Not published
Jul 20266,884
Jun 2026Not published
May 2026548
Apr 2026435
Mar 2026Not published
Feb 2026409
Jan 2026434
Dec 2025246
Nov 2025402
Oct 2025473
Sept 2025446
Aug 2025425
Jul 2025461
Jun 2025421
May 2025464
Apr 2025379
Mar 2025365
Feb 2025378
Jan 2025346
Dec 2024241
Nov 2024365
Oct 2024378
Sept 2024334
Aug 2024433
Jul 2024487
Jun 2024433
May 2024530
Apr 2024487
Mar 2024435
Feb 2024497
Jan 2024560
Dec 2023344
Nov 2023399
Oct 2023364
Sept 2023365
Aug 2023424
Jul 2023517
Jun 2023575
May 2023583
Apr 2023488
Mar 2023592
Feb 2023619
Jan 2023716
Dec 2022525
Nov 2022710
Oct 2022707
Sept 2022671
Aug 2022651
Jul 2022711
Jun 2022624
May 2022707
Apr 2022630
Mar 2022682
Feb 2022602
Jan 2022770
Dec 2021516
Nov 2021592
Oct 2021601
Sept 2021599
Aug 2021553
Jul 2021549
Jun 2021482
May 2021500
Apr 2021415
Mar 2021494
Feb 2021381
Jan 2021341
Dec 2020280
Nov 2020283
Oct 2020344
Sept 2020325
Aug 2020295
Jul 2020283
Jun 2020244
May 2020198
Apr 2020208
Mar 2020449
Feb 2020592
Jan 2020546
Dec 2019395
Nov 2019567
Oct 2019663
Sept 2019641
Aug 2019637
Jul 2019685
Jun 2019641
May 2019495
Apr 2019335
Mar 2019504
Feb 2019469
Jan 2019517
Dec 2018293
Nov 2018471
Oct 2018419
Sept 2018440
Aug 2018453
Jul 2018490
Jun 2018446
May 2018460
Apr 2018348
Mar 2018421
Feb 2018509
Jan 2018508
Dec 2017338
Nov 2017439
Oct 2017417
Sept 2017459
Aug 2017422
Jul 2017339
Jun 2017435
May 2017472
Apr 2017547
Mar 2017494
Feb 2017352
Jan 2017457
Is there a shortage of local government administrative occupations?
Not high

The Department for Education rates demand as not high, elevated or critical, using five indicators. This is its 2025 assessment.

  • Visas grantedUsual
  • Online job advertsUsual
  • Wage growthAbove usual
  • Pay against similar jobsAbove usual
  • Hours workedUsual
Note: uncertain in multiple indicators: change in hourly wage, online job advert density.
Vacancies hard to fill because of skills
21%against 27% for all jobs
Broader groupFigure for administrative occupations, which includes local government administrative occupations. DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024.
Where the most jobs are advertisedadverts a quarter
London240
Birmingham31
Manchester31
Bristol, City of20
Glasgow City18
Buckinghamshire16
Leeds16
North Yorkshire15
Winchester14
Cornwall13
London is published as one area. Averages leave out quarters ONS withheld.
Where local government administrative occupations are most concentratedShare of local job adverts, compared with the UK.

Recruitment from abroad. Fewer than 10 sponsored work visas were granted for this job from July 2025 to June 2026. Home Office

Who does it

ONS · Annual Population Survey · April 2025 to March 2026
Age of local government administrative occupations
6.3%!
19%
21%
25%
24%
6%!
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
16–246.3% (small sample)
25–3419%
35–4421%
45–5425%
55–6424%
65+6% (small sample)
Highest qualification
Degree or equivalent37%
Higher education below degree6.8%
A levels or equivalent31%
GCSEs or equivalent18%
Other qualifications!2.5%
No qualifications!2.5%
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
Degree or equivalent37%
Higher education below degree6.8%
A levels or equivalent31%
GCSEs or equivalent18%
Other qualifications2.5% (small sample)
No qualifications2.5% (small sample)

Main employers: general public administration activities (50%), other social work activities without accommodation nec (9.4%), public order and safety activities (7%), regulation of the activities of providing health care, education, cultural services and other social services, excluding social security (3.5%).

How to get in

Hold a degree
37%
as their highest qualification
Apprenticeships
1
from level 4
Apprenticeships take
1 year
typically

Routes in

You can get into this job through:

University

You may need to do a degree or a job-specific qualification, depending on the department you want to work in.

Subjects include:

  • town planning
  • urban design
  • historic building conservation
  • housing
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

College

You could do a college course in a subject like business and administration before applying directly for this role.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

Apprenticeship

You could apply to do an apprenticeship. The exact apprenticeship will depend on your duties.

Examples include:

  • Business Administrator Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship
  • Public Service Operational Delivery Officer Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship

These usually take between 1 and 2 years to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship

Other ways in

Work your way up

You could start in local government as an administrative assistant, providing support to council departments.

You could then work your way up to more senior positions through training and promotion on the job. Experience in office work would be useful.

Apply directly

You can apply for jobs directly if you've got the right skills and experience. Some local authorities may ask for a minimum of 4 GCSEs, A levels, or equivalent qualifications, depending on the vacancy.

For certain jobs, you may need a degree or specific professional qualification in an area like town planning or public policy.

Experience of working in customer service and using common computer packages like Word and Excel, are also valued by employers, and could help your career prospects.

Other routes

You may be able to join a local authority's Local Government Graduate Programme if you've got a second class degree or higher. Most subjects are acceptable.

You could also get into this job through an internship.

Registration and professional bodies

Further information

You'll find details about careers in local government through the Local Government Association.

Routes in are from the National Careers Service job profile for local government officer. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Apprenticeships

1 for this job

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

The work

ONS · ESCO · O*NET

Typical tasks

  • computes cost of product/services and maintains and balances records of financial transactions
  • prepares and checks invoices and verifies accuracy of records
  • receives and pays out cash and cheques and performs closely related clerical duties
  • updates and maintains data, correspondence and other records for storage or despatch
  • arranges, classifies and indexes publications, correspondence and other material in libraries and offices
  • performs other clerical duties not elsewhere classified including preparing financial information for management, proof reading printed material and drafting letters in reply to correspondence or telephone enquiries

Skills

  • align content with form
  • apply grammar and spelling rules
  • communicate by telephone
  • communicate with customers
  • deliver correspondence
  • disseminate internal communications
  • disseminate messages to people
  • facilitate access to information
  • file documents
  • fill out forms
  • handle delivered packages
  • handle mail
  • maintain correspondence records
  • organise business documents

Knowledge

  • company policies
  • information confidentiality
  • accounting techniques

Suits people who like

  • Organising and following procedures
  • Practical, hands-on work

Outlook

DfE · Skills Imperative 2035
Broader groupThese projections are for administrative occupations, a group of 20 jobs that includes local government administrative occupations.
Change in jobs, 2020 to 2035↓ 12%about 381,000 fewer jobs
Workers needed by 20351 millionincluding people replacing those who retire or leave

Sources

Pay
ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
People in the job, who does it
ONS, Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026
Job adverts
ONS, online job adverts (Textkernel), to Aug 2026
Demand, skill shortages
Department for Education and Skills England, Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey
Outlook
The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE
Routes in
National Careers Service job profiles
Apprenticeships, qualifications
Skills England occupational maps
Skills, interests
ESCO classification of the European Commission; O*NET data, U.S. Department of Labor (CC BY 4.0, modified)
Visas
Home Office, immigration system statistics

Figures as of 10 October 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey: Department for Education and Skills England. Immigration system statistics: Home Office. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Source: The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE.

This service uses the ESCO classification of the European Commission.

This service includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This service has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. CC BY 4.0 licence.

jobfacts is independent. It is not part of, affiliated with or endorsed by the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Education, Skills England, the National Careers Service, the Home Office, the European Commission or the U.S. Department of Labor.