jobfacts

Office manager

Office managers — SOC 2020 4141

Office managers plan, organise and co-ordinate the activities and resources of offices within commercial, industrial and other non-governmental organisations and public agencies. (National and local government office managers are classified to unit group 3561: Public services associate professionals.)

Also calledManagerAdministration managerInsurance office managerPrinting office managerTicket agency managerAdmin managerand 35 more titles
Typical full-time pay£38,6002025 Provisional
People in the job155,000across the UK
Demand for workersCritical
New adverts a month1,200↓ 8.6%on last year · 157th of 412

Pay

ONS · ASHE 2025

Half of full-time office managers earn between £31,200 and £50,500 a year.

What full-time office managers earn, 2025
£38,600 typical£25,400lowest 10%£31,20025%£50,50075%£62,500top 10%
Middle half (£31,200–£50,500)
Show as table
Lowest 10% earn less than£25,400
Lowest 20% earn less than£29,900
25%£31,200
Median£38,600
75%£50,500
Top 20% earn more than£53,100
Top 10% earn more than£62,500
Typical pay by regionUK median £38,600
London£47,300
South East£40,900
Wales!£39,300
North West£38,100
Scotland!£37,500
South West£35,900
Yorkshire and The Humber£35,800
East of England£34,800
North East!£34,700
East Midlands!£34,400
West MidlandsNot published by ONS–
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
UK median, £38,600
London£47,300
South East£40,900
Wales£39,300 (small sample)
North West£38,100
Scotland£37,500 (small sample)
South West£35,900
Yorkshire and The Humber£35,800
East of England£34,800
North East£34,700 (small sample)
East Midlands£34,400 (small sample)
West MidlandsNot published by ONS
Typical pay over 3 years
  • 2023 £35,000
  • 2024 £37,400
  • 2025 Provisional£38,600
↑ 10% since 2023Provisional figures are revised when ONS publishes the next year’s survey.

Jobs and demand

ONS · Textkernel adverts · DfE

About 1,200 jobs for office managers are advertised each month. The Department for Education rates demand for workers as critical.

New job adverts a month, Jan 2017 to Aug 2026
New advertsMonth not published by ONS (2 in all)
Show as table
Aug 20261,347
Jul 20261,255
Jun 2026Not published
May 20261,365
Apr 20261,183
Mar 2026Not published
Feb 20261,091
Jan 20261,346
Dec 2025754
Nov 20251,324
Oct 20251,380
Sept 20251,414
Aug 20251,300
Jul 20251,463
Jun 20251,576
May 20251,545
Apr 20251,165
Mar 20251,628
Feb 20251,529
Jan 20251,384
Dec 2024907
Nov 20241,379
Oct 20241,472
Sept 20241,489
Aug 20241,411
Jul 20241,660
Jun 20241,492
May 20241,702
Apr 20241,672
Mar 20241,460
Feb 20241,465
Jan 20241,758
Dec 20231,252
Nov 20231,241
Oct 20231,382
Sept 20231,279
Aug 20231,557
Jul 20231,714
Jun 20232,334
May 20232,225
Apr 20231,846
Mar 20232,119
Feb 20232,106
Jan 20232,382
Dec 20221,921
Nov 20222,527
Oct 20222,542
Sept 20222,382
Aug 20222,387
Jul 20222,797
Jun 20222,646
May 20223,035
Apr 20222,286
Mar 20222,843
Feb 20222,580
Jan 20222,685
Dec 20212,133
Nov 20212,462
Oct 20212,452
Sept 20212,446
Aug 20212,233
Jul 20212,388
Jun 20212,189
May 20211,972
Apr 20211,663
Mar 20212,170
Feb 20211,371
Jan 20211,269
Dec 20201,192
Nov 20201,154
Oct 20201,358
Sept 20201,286
Aug 20201,124
Jul 20201,164
Jun 2020895
May 2020780
Apr 2020982
Mar 20201,796
Feb 20202,486
Jan 20202,146
Dec 20191,651
Nov 20192,023
Oct 20192,157
Sept 20191,938
Aug 20192,073
Jul 20192,372
Jun 20192,323
May 20192,286
Apr 20191,697
Mar 20191,991
Feb 20191,957
Jan 20192,098
Dec 20181,339
Nov 20181,986
Oct 20181,912
Sept 20181,928
Aug 20181,757
Jul 20181,946
Jun 20181,994
May 20181,823
Apr 20181,783
Mar 20182,143
Feb 20182,014
Jan 20182,248
Dec 20171,479
Nov 20171,967
Oct 20171,973
Sept 20171,982
Aug 20172,026
Jul 20171,880
Jun 20172,189
May 20172,147
Apr 20172,082
Mar 20172,547
Feb 20172,148
Jan 20172,737
Is there a shortage of office managers?
Critical

The Department for Education rates demand as not high, elevated or critical, using five indicators. This is its 2025 assessment; in 2024 it was elevated.

  • Visas grantedAbove usual
  • Online job advertsUsual
  • Wage growthAbove usual
  • Pay against similar jobsWell above usual
  • Hours workedAbove usual
Vacancies hard to fill because of skills
21%against 27% for all jobs
Broader groupFigure for administrative occupations, which includes office managers. DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024.
Where the most jobs are advertisedadverts a quarter
London877
Birmingham107
Manchester89
Bristol, City of65
Leeds62
Nottingham52
Glasgow City51
City of Edinburgh46
Liverpool38
Oxford38
London is published as one area. Averages leave out quarters ONS withheld.
Where office managers are most concentratedShare of local job adverts, compared with the UK.

Recruitment from abroad. 30 sponsored work visas were granted for this job from July 2025 to June 2026, most to people from India, Pakistan, China, ranking it 162nd of 313. Home Office

Who does it

ONS · Annual Population Survey · April 2025 to March 2026
Age of office managers
n/p
15%!
26%
32%
23%
3.8%!
!Small sample: treat with cautionn/p: too few in the survey to publish
Show as table
16–24Not published
25–3415% (small sample)
35–4426%
45–5432%
55–6423%
65+3.8% (small sample)
Highest qualification
Degree or equivalent34%
Higher education below degree7.9%
A levels or equivalent28%
GCSEs or equivalent23%
Other qualifications!4%
No qualifications!2.1%
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
Degree or equivalent34%
Higher education below degree7.9%
A levels or equivalent28%
GCSEs or equivalent23%
Other qualifications4% (small sample)
No qualifications2.1% (small sample)

Main employers: general public administration activities (5.7%), primary education (3.4%), regulation of the activities of providing health care, education, cultural services and other social services, excluding social security (3.2%), other social work activities without accommodation nec (2.9%).

How to get in

Hold a degree
34%
as their highest qualification
Apprenticeships
None
none leads directly into this work

Routes in

You can get into this job through:

University

You could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:

  • business management
  • human resource management
  • public administration

Once you've completed your studies, you could apply for a trainee manager position, for example through a company's graduate training scheme.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

College

You could take a course at college that would teach you some of the skills and knowledge needed to apply for an assistant office manager position.

Courses include;

  • business studies
  • business administration
  • T Level in Management and Administration
Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for a T Level

Apprenticeship

You could apply to an organisation for a place on a Business Administrator, or Team Leader, Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.

These typically take between 1 and 2 years to complete. They combine workplace learning and time spent with a training provider.

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

Work your way up

You could work as an office assistant or team supervisor in a company, then move on to become a manager through work-based training and promotion.

Registration and professional bodies

Career tips

Employers will expect you to be well organised, have excellent communication skills and a good working knowledge of the main business software packages.

Professional and industry bodies

You could join the Institute of Administrative Management for professional development and training opportunities.

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

The work

ONS · ESCO · O*NET

Typical tasks

  • plans work schedules, assigns tasks and delegates responsibilities
  • advises on the handling of all correspondence and enquiries relating to accounts, sales, statistical and vacancy records
  • ensures that procedures for considering, issuing, amending and endorsing insurance policies are adhered to
  • plans, organises and co-ordinates the activities and resources of other offices not elsewhere classified including box offices, other ticket offices and accommodation bureaux

Skills

  • recruit employees
  • analyse staff capacity
  • present reports
  • train employees
  • analyse call performance trends
  • create solutions to problems
  • manage staff
  • perform data analysis
  • apply information security policies
  • create a work atmosphere of continuous improvement
  • forecast workload
  • measure call quality
  • measure customer feedback
  • supervise work

Knowledge

  • call quality assurance management
  • information confidentiality
  • call-centre technologies
  • call routing
  • customer service
  • accounting techniques
  • teamwork principles
  • characteristics of products

Suits people who like

  • Organising and following procedures
  • Leading and persuading

Outlook

DfE · Skills Imperative 2035
Broader groupThese projections are for administrative occupations, a group of 20 jobs that includes office managers.
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.