HGV Driver Salary UK 2026: Pay by Licence Class and Region
What HGV drivers actually earn in 2026, from the two datasets that matter: ONS ASHE 2025 medians, percentiles and regional figures for large goods vehicle drivers, and the RHA Pay Report 2026 rates by licence class, with a checker that shows where any salary, weekly wage or hourly rate sits. Checked July 2026.
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How to use: the figures below are the two benchmarks that matter for HGV driver pay in 2026: the Office for National Statistics ASHE survey (April 2025 data, published October 2025, the latest release) for what large goods vehicle drivers actually earn, and the RHA Pay Report 2026 (member survey, published December 2025) for rates by licence class. Enter any salary, weekly wage or hourly rate in the checker to see where it sits. All figures gross, full-time employees, checked July 2026.
HGV driver pay in 2026: the headline numbers
ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 (provisional), occupation code 8211, large goods vehicle drivers, full-time employees, gross pay including overtime. Median annual pay rose 3.0 percent on the year. For comparison, the median across all UK full-time employees is £39,039, so the typical HGV driver now earns slightly more than the typical UK worker.
Where does your pay sit?
Percentile position is interpolated from the ONS ASHE 2025 distribution for full-time LGV drivers (annual, weekly and hourly series). Class comparisons use the RHA Pay Report 2026 national medians. ASHE weekly and annual figures include overtime; the hourly comparison is against basic rates.
HGV driver pay by licence class, 2026
| Licence class | Median basic hourly | Average basic hourly | Typical range (LQ to UQ) | Average gross weekly | Average hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 (C+E, artic) | £15.05 | £15.48 | £14.00 to £16.25 | £883 | 55 |
| Class 2 (Cat C, rigid) | £14.50 | £14.78 | £13.50 to £15.54 | £741 | 49 |
| 7.5 tonne (C1) | £13.05 | £13.60 | £12.25 to £14.68 | £656 | 48 |
| Van (Class B, to 3.5t) | £12.50 | £13.04 | £12.24 to £13.61 | £607 | 45 |
RHA Pay Report 2026, national tables (survey of 115 member firms running from 2 to nearly 1,000 trucks, November 2025, published December 2025). Basic rates exclude night-out money and bonuses. Note the weekly column: the Class 1 premium comes as much from hours worked (55 average) as from the rate itself.
HGV driver salary by region
| Region | Median salary (FT) | vs UK LGV median | FT driver jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | £44,183 | +10.7% | 10,000 |
| East Midlands | £41,045 | +2.9% | n/a* |
| East of England | £40,954 | +2.6% | 21,000 |
| South West | £40,128 | +0.6% | 16,000 |
| South East | £39,864 | -0.1% | 24,000 |
| West Midlands | £39,497 | -1.0% | 19,000 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £39,142 | -1.9% | 19,000 |
| Scotland | £38,764 | -2.9% | 15,000 |
| North West | £38,671 | -3.1% | 22,000 |
| Wales | £38,658 | -3.1% | 9,000 |
| North East | £37,746 | -5.4% | 7,000 |
ONS ASHE 2025 (provisional), Table 15, median gross annual pay, full-time LGV drivers (8211) by work region. *East Midlands job count suppressed in the release for quality reasons; its median is published. Northern Ireland is surveyed separately by NISRA and has no figure in this table. Spread from top to bottom of the country: about £6,400 a year.
The full pay ladder for LGV drivers
| Position in the pay distribution | Annual salary | Hourly (gross) | Weekly (gross) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | £28,253 | £13.41 | £587 |
| Lower quartile (25%) | £33,749 | £14.71 | £681 |
| Median (typical driver) | £39,905 | £16.25 | £800 |
| Upper quartile (75%) | £46,679 | £18.58 | £949 |
| Top 10% earn more than | £53,128 | £21.64 | £1,101 |
ONS ASHE 2025 (provisional), full-time employees, occupation 8211, gross pay including overtime. For context in other driving work: bus and coach drivers median £36,340, delivery drivers and couriers £27,854, other road transport drivers £32,892.
What is a good HGV driver salary in 2026?
The honest benchmark: £39,905 is the median for a full-time large goods vehicle driver in the latest ONS earnings survey, slightly above the £39,039 median for all UK full-time workers. Anything over £46,700 puts a driver in the top quarter of the trade; over £53,100 is top ten percent territory, which in practice means Class 1 nights, ADR or specialist work, London and East of England contracts, or serious overtime. A first job on a rigid at £33,000 to £35,000 sits exactly where the distribution says it should: around the lower quartile, with the licence progression doing the heavy lifting from there.
The frantic pay bidding of the driver shortage years has settled down. Median LGV pay rose 3.0 percent in the year to April 2025 on the annual measure, and the RHA's member survey found a median pay award of 3 percent for 2025 with just under a third of firms awarding nothing. The floor is moving too: the National Living Wage went to £12.71 in April 2026, which squeezes van and 7.5-tonne rates from below and keeps nudging the whole ladder upward.
Class 1 vs Class 2: where the gap really is
On basic rates the gap looks modest: £15.05 an hour median for Class 1 (C+E) against £14.50 for Class 2 (Cat C) in the RHA 2026 tables, a premium of about 4 percent. The real difference is the week itself. Artic work averages 55 paid hours against 49 on rigids, so average gross weekly pay runs £883 against £741, call it £7,400 a year of difference, before night-out money. Tramping adds the overnight allowance, £26.20 a night tax-free with a sleeper cab under the HMRC-agreed industry scale rate, which on four nights a week is another £5,000 or so a year that never appears in the salary figure. It is why two adverts can both say "Class 1 driver" and sit £12,000 apart in real take-home terms.
How to read a driver pay advert
- Basic rate vs earnings. A £16 basic on 45 guaranteed hours beats a £17 basic on 40 with overtime "available". Multiply out the guaranteed week before comparing.
- Overtime rules. After how many hours, and at what multiple? Time-and-a-quarter after 45 is common; flat-rate overtime on a 55-hour tramping week costs the driver thousands against a proper multiplier.
- Night out and shift premiums. The £26.20 subsistence, night shift uplifts and weekend rates decide whether the headline is real. Check what a typical rota actually pays, and check the shifts fit inside the drivers' hours rules.
- Pension and holiday basis. Holiday paid at basic when you normally work overtime is a quiet pay cut of several percent.
What this means if you buy transport
Driver pay is roughly a third of the cost of keeping a truck on the road, so these tables read straight across into haulage rates. An operator quoting Class 1 work has to recover about £883 a week in gross driver pay plus roughly 15 percent employer national insurance and pension on top, before the vehicle turns a wheel; our haulage cost calculator shows how that lands in a cost per mile. A quote that only works if the driver is paid bottom-decile money is telling you something about the operator's retention, and retention is service. The quote comparison tool lets you score that trade-off rather than defaulting to the cheapest line.
The supply picture behind the rates: ONS counts 187,000 full-time LGV driver employee jobs on the annual measure, and the RHA notes around 117,000 licence holders who could not drive commercially straight away because their Driver CPC has lapsed. When freight demand lifts, the pay tables above move first, London and the East already show it.
Frequently asked questions
How much do HGV drivers earn in the UK in 2026?
The median full-time large goods vehicle driver earns £39,905 a year, £799.90 a week or £16.25 an hour gross (ONS ASHE 2025, the latest release, published October 2025). Half of drivers earn between roughly £33,700 and £46,700; the top ten percent clear £53,100.
What does a Class 1 driver earn?
Median basic rate £15.05 an hour, average gross weekly pay £883 on an average 55-hour week (RHA Pay Report 2026). Annualised with typical overtime that is mid-forties territory, before night-out allowances. Specialist work, nights and London push well past £50,000.
What does a Class 2 driver earn?
Median basic rate £14.50 an hour and average gross weekly pay £741 on a 49-hour week (RHA Pay Report 2026). Class 2 work is more often days and home-every-night, which is the trade-off against Class 1 money.
Which region pays HGV drivers the most?
London, at a £44,183 median, followed by the East Midlands (£41,045) and East of England (£40,954). The North East is lowest at £37,746. The spread is around £6,400 a year, smaller than most people expect, because national contracts and driver mobility pull rates together (ONS ASHE 2025 regional tables).
Is HGV driving well paid compared with other jobs?
The median LGV driver now earns slightly more than the median UK full-time worker (£39,905 against £39,039) and comfortably more than bus and coach drivers (£36,340) or delivery drivers and couriers (£27,854). The hours are the caveat: much of the premium is earned through 50-plus-hour weeks.
Are HGV driver wages still going up?
Yes, but at normal speed rather than 2021 speed: median annual pay rose 3.0 percent in the year to April 2025, and the RHA survey found a 3 percent median pay award with 29 percent of firms freezing pay. The April 2026 National Living Wage rise to £12.71 keeps upward pressure on the bottom of the ladder.
Rates only make sense with the right partner
Whether you run trucks and want work that pays properly, or you buy transport and want operators who pay drivers enough to keep them, CTS matches both sides. Brief us once and we place your requirement with vetted UK operators, free for shippers, no obligation.
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