Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 22 October 2026
source“Average salary breaks through £40,000 for the first time – but stealth tax is eating your pay rise”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates Daily Mail Money's claim that the "average salary" broke £40,000 a 2/10 because the £40,911 figure matches the ONS's own headline number and the "stealth tax" framing is backed by real fiscal-drag data in the same piece, with the only quibble being that "average" technically means the median, not the mean.
The Verdict
Lightly altered. The core fact checks out against the primary source and the tax framing isn't a bolt-on, it's substantiated with real numbers from Standard Life and AJ Bell. The one nitpick is loose terminology: "average" blurs median and mean, but this is standard media shorthand, not deliberate spin.
What actually happened
The ONS's Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reported that median gross annual earnings for full-time employees hit £40,911 in April 2026, a milestone first breach of the £40,000 mark. Weekly pay rose 5.8% nominally but only 2.7% after inflation, while income tax thresholds remain frozen, pulling more earners into higher tax bands as pay rises.
Key facts
- Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees were £40,911 in April 2026, compared with £39,157 in April 2025, a 4.5% increase, and the measure the article's £40,000 claim rests on.
- Median full-time weekly earnings rose 5.8% nominally to £811.20, but according to AJ Bell's Sarah Coles, quoted in the article, real pay after inflation was up just 2.7%.
- The personal allowance (£12,570) has been frozen since 2021; Standard Life's analysis cited in the article says it would be £16,072 had it tracked inflation, a £3,502 gap, and the higher-rate threshold would be £64,274 versus the actual £50,270.
- The number of income taxpayers rose from 33 million in 2021/22 to an estimated 39.8 million by 2025/26, per the AJ Bell figures in the piece.
- Median full-time pay growth of 4.5% was actually the slowest rate since 2021, a detail the headline's "breaks through £40,000" framing doesn't dwell on but the article body does report.
What to watch for
- Watch whether Chancellor Healey's 28 October Budget addresses the threshold freeze; any extension would deepen fiscal drag further.
- The ONS's provisional 2026 figures will be revised in October 2027, so the £40,911 number could shift slightly.
- Keep an eye on whether other outlets lead with the tax-drag angle or bury it the way some competitors may, since the spread of framing on this release will show which parts were genuinely newsworthy versus optional emphasis.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
