ONS figures for April to June 2026 show regular wage growth edged up from 3.4 per cent to 3.5 per cent, while total pay including bonuses fell back from 4.3 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
Regular pay growth across Great Britain reached 3.5 per cent in the three months to June 2026, the Office for National Statistics reported this week — a slight rise on the 3.4 per cent recorded in the previous three-month period. Total earnings including bonuses told a different story, slipping to 4.1 per cent compared with 4.3 per cent in the three months to May 2026, the figures show.
Both measures cover gross pay before tax and deductions, calculated as a seasonally adjusted year-on-year average. The ONS notes that nominal regular earnings growth has been relatively stable across four consecutive three-month periods, following a year of steadily slowing increases.
For Kent households, the picture is complicated by the fact that the ONS publishes no separate wage data for the county — so local trends must be inferred from the national figures. Workers in sectors where bonuses make up a meaningful share of pay, such as those commuting to London in financial or professional services roles, or senior positions in logistics and construction, will feel the cooling in total pay growth more directly. Public-sector employees at Kent County Council, Medway Council, schools and NHS Kent and Medway organisations are more likely to be shaped by national public-sector pay settlements, which analysts say have been running ahead of private-sector regular pay growth.
Private-sector regular pay growth has weakened to multi-year lows, according to labour market analysts commenting on the data. Yet the headline 3.5 per cent figure is a nominal one — what it means in real terms depends on inflation and local costs. Kent residents face particular pressures on housing, rail and motorway commuting, and energy, which may not move in line with the national average.
The Bank of England and HM Treasury both watch these figures closely when assessing whether wage inflation is cooling fast enough to support decisions on interest rates.
Source: @ONS