Labourer Day Rates in the UK (2026): What Labourers Earn and What Contractors Pay

Search for a labourer’s day rate and you will find figures anywhere from £100 to £360. The honest answer is that no official body publishes labourer day rates in the UK — not the ONS, not HMRC, not CITB. What the official data does give you is a set of firm benchmarks, and they sit much closer together than the internet suggests.

In 2026 the legal minimum for a labourer aged 21 or over is £12.71 an hour — £101.68 for an 8-hour day. The construction industry’s own pay agreement sets a higher floor: from 20 July 2026, the CIJC Working Rule Agreement minimum for a general operative is £13.18 an hour, or £105.44 a day. And the Office for National Statistics puts the median pay of employed construction labourers at £13.50 an hour (£108 a day) in April 2025, with groundworkers and skilled trades on £15.70 to £16.98.

This guide sets out those figures, explains why self-employed day rates look higher, and shows what a contractor actually pays when a labourer comes through an agency.

Labourer Pay in 2026: The Official Benchmarks

Three sources set the floor and the middle of the market for employed labourers:

• The National Living Wage — the legal minimum. From 1 April 2026 it is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8 for under-18s and apprentices. Every labourer paid through PAYE must get at least this.
• The CIJC Working Rule Agreement — the pay and conditions agreement between construction employers and the Unite and GMB unions. It is a voluntary collective agreement rather than law, but it is the industry’s published minimum for employers who follow it. The latest rates took effect on 20 July 2026, lifting the general operative rate from £12.71 to £13.18.
• The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings — what employees in each occupation were actually paid, from employer payroll records. It is the best official guide to the going rate, with one limit: it covers employees only, not the self-employed.

CIJC minimum pay rates from 20 July 2026, with the legal minimum for comparison

CIJC Resolution and Promulgation IR.2026.2, basic minimum rates. The Working Rule Agreement’s standard week is 39 hours — 8 hours Monday to Thursday and 7 on Friday. The 8-hour day figures are our calculation.

The four skill rates sit between the general operative and craft rates and apply to operatives carrying out work the agreement classes as skilled. Apprentices have their own scale, from £8.29 an hour in the first year.

What Groundworkers and Skilled Trades Earn

The ONS survey shows what employees in each occupation were actually paid. These are medians — half earned more, half less — for April 2025, before this year’s minimum wage rise, so 2026 pay will typically be higher.

Median hourly pay by construction occupation, April 2025 (employees)

ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025, Table 14.6a (hourly pay excluding overtime), provisional. SOC 2020 codes: labourers 9129, painters 5323, groundworkers 9121, mobile machine operatives 8229, plasterers 5321, bricklayers 5313, carpenters 5316, supervisors 5330. Employees only — the survey does not cover the self-employed.

Two things stand out. The gap between a labourer and a groundworker — £2.50 an hour, or £20 a day — is roughly what moving from general labouring into groundworks is worth. And the survey shows a far smaller London premium than many guides claim: the median for elementary construction occupations in London was £13.63, against £13.85 across the UK, and for construction trades £17.03 against £16.79. Self-employed rates in London may behave differently, but for employed site workers the capital pays little more.

Why Self-Employed Day Rates Look Higher

Most day rates quoted on forums and in price guides are for self-employed subcontractors paid under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), and they are not comparable with PAYE pay. A self-employed labourer’s day rate has to cover things an employer would otherwise pay:

• Holiday. A PAYE worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year — for irregular hours, 12.07% of the hours they work. A subcontractor’s days off are unpaid;
• Pension and sick pay. No employer contributions and no statutory sick pay;
• Tax and National Insurance. The contractor deducts 20% under CIS — 30% if the subcontractor is not registered, 0% with gross payment status — as an advance payment towards the subcontractor’s own tax and National Insurance;
• Tools, PPE, travel and insurance, plus the unpaid days between jobs.

That is why self-employed day rates sit above the PAYE figures in this guide — and why consumer price guides show such wide ranges. Checkatrade, for example, quotes £112 to £360 a day for a labourer, as a ballpark of prices charged to homeowners rather than what labourers take home.

One warning for both sides: the label does not decide employment status. HMRC’s CIS guide is clear that the scheme does not apply to employees, and that it is for the contractor to consider each worker’s status — the fact that someone has worked self-employed before is irrelevant. HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool gives its view, and HMRC will stand by the result as long as the information given is accurate.

What Pushes a Labourer’s Rate Up

• The right card. A CSCS Labourer card needs the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test plus the Level 1 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment or an approved equivalent. Holding a card is not a legal requirement, but CSCS notes that most principal contractors and major housebuilders require one — so without it, most commercial sites are closed to you. Our CSCS card guide covers the routes.
• Tickets and trades. On the ONS figures, groundworkers, plant operatives and tradespeople earn about £2 to £3.50 an hour more than general labourers. Plant tickets and trade qualifications are how labourers make that move.
• Hours and allowances. Overtime, travel and subsistence are paid on top on many commercial jobs — the Working Rule Agreement, for example, sets a subsistence allowance of £53.69 a night from 20 July 2026.
• Reliability. Contractors rebook labourers who arrive on time, with their PPE and a valid card. Steady rebookings are worth more over a year than a slightly higher rate with gaps between jobs.

If you hold a current card and want steady site work, you can register with Trade Force UK free of charge — labourers with in-date Labourer cards can also see our CSCS labourer jobs page.

What Contractors Pay for Agency Labour

When a labourer comes through an agency on PAYE, the agency is the employer for pay purposes. It pays the worker’s wage plus the costs the law adds on top, and its charge rate to you covers both, plus its margin. At the CIJC general operative rate, a full-time 39-hour week breaks down like this:

Employment cost of a general operative on £13.18 an hour, 39-hour week, 2026/27

Our calculation using 2026/27 rates from HMRC and The Pensions Regulator, for a worker aged 21 or over, paid weekly, with holiday pay rolled up at the statutory 12.07%. Excludes the agency’s margin and any overtime, travel or subsistence.

So a general operative costs about £16.97 an hour — £135.74 for an 8-hour day — before the agency adds its margin. The law adds roughly 29% on top of pay. A quote for a full-time adult labourer at this pay rate that comes in close to £16.97 leaves the agency almost nothing to run on, and is worth a question about how the numbers add up.

Costs can also change after 12 weeks. Under the Agency Workers Regulations, an agency worker who has spent 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with you is entitled to the same basic pay and working conditions as your comparable direct employees — so if your own operatives are paid more, the agency rate rises from week 13. For the full breakdown of agency charges, margins and temp-to-perm fees, see our group’s guide to temporary staff charge rates.

Three Rules Contractors Must Get Right in 2026

• CIS fraud rules tightened on 6 April 2026. HMRC can now remove gross payment status immediately where a business knew, or should have known, that a payment was connected to fraud — making it liable for the lost tax plus a 30% penalty, and barring it from reapplying for five years instead of one.
• Umbrella company PAYE. Since 6 April 2026, where labour is supplied through an umbrella company, the agency contracting with you — or you, if there is no agency — is responsible for making sure PAYE is operated correctly, and HMRC can recover any underpayment from them.
• Employment status. Paying someone under CIS does not make them self-employed. Consider status for every worker and keep a record, because your monthly CIS return includes a declaration that you have done so.

If you need labour on site, send us your requirement — we supply CSCS-checked labourers and tradespeople across the UK.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average labourer day rate in the UK?

There is no official average day rate. For employed labourers, the ONS median was £13.50 an hour in April 2025 — £108 for an 8-hour day — and the CIJC minimum for a general operative is £13.18 an hour (£105.44 a day) from 20 July 2026. Self-employed day rates are higher because they must cover holiday, pension, tax, tools and travel.

What is the minimum a labourer can be paid in 2026?

From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over — £101.68 for an 8-hour day. The minimum is £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8 for under-18s and apprentices.

What is the CIJC general operative rate for 2026?

£13.18 an hour from 20 July 2026, or £514.02 for the Working Rule Agreement’s standard 39-hour week. The craft rate is £16.40 an hour (£639.60 a week), with four skill rates between £13.30 and £15.61 an hour.

How much does a groundworker earn per day?

The ONS median for employed groundworkers was £16.00 an hour in April 2025, which is £128 for an 8-hour day. Self-employed groundworkers charge more because their day rate has to cover their own holiday, pension, tax and costs.

Do self-employed labourers get holiday pay?

Genuinely self-employed subcontractors do not get statutory holiday pay — it has to come out of their day rate. But being paid under CIS does not settle the question: if the working relationship is really employment or worker status, holiday pay rights follow.

How much does it cost to hire a labourer through an agency?

At the CIJC general operative rate of £13.18 an hour, holiday pay, employer National Insurance and the minimum pension contribution take the cost to about £16.97 an hour — £135.74 for an 8-hour day — before the agency’s margin, for a full-time 39-hour week in 2026/27.

The Bottom Line

Ignore the headline ranges. For employed labourers the official numbers cluster tightly: a £12.71 legal minimum, a £13.18 industry minimum and a £13.50 median. What moves a labourer up is the card, the tickets and the step into groundworks, plant or a trade — worth £2 to £3.50 an hour on the ONS figures. And for contractors, an agency labourer on the industry minimum costs about £17 an hour before any margin, because the law adds roughly 29% to pay.

Related reading: CSCS Card Guide UK · How to Get Construction Work in the UK · The UK Construction Worker Shortage