Annual Salary
£26,000 to £45,000
Average UK salary in 2024 was £37,430
(source Office for National Statistics)
Swap to Design & planning or Property management or go back to all job sectors or go to green jobs
Swap to Design & planning or Property management or go back to all job sectors or go to green jobs
Electricians install power, lighting and renewable technologies in buildings. They also inspect and repair electrical control systems and machinery.
Average UK salary in 2024 was £37,430
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: on call; as customers demand
There will be
1.8% fewer Electrician jobs in 2029.
As an electrician, you could:
We've identified this as a potential green job
For an electrician to be a green job, you could:
Find out more about green careers
You may need to wear protective clothing.
You could work on a construction site, at a client's business or at a client's home.
Your working environment may be cramped and at height.
You can get into this job through:
You could start a college course to get some of the technical knowledge and skills that may help you get onto an apprenticeship, or find a trainee position with a company.
Courses include:
Even with a qualification, you will still need practical experience in the workplace, along with further on-the-job training, to become fully qualified.
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
You can apply to do an apprenticeship with an electrical company, such as:
Apprenticeships are open to all ages.
You can also train to become an electrician through an apprenticeship in the armed forces.
You'll usually need:
If you've worked as an electrician and do not yet have a level 3 qualification, you may be able to get your skills and experience recognised through the Experienced Worker Assessment.
There are 2 assessment routes available, with one requiring at least 3 years' experience and the other needing 5 years.
You may be able to get a job as an electrician if you've got experience and relevant qualifications from a related career, for example in building services or electrical engineering.
You'll need to:
It's very important to check what training courses are offering before signing up. Electrical Careers give advice on how to choose the right training and qualifications to become a qualified electrician.
You can find out more about how to become an electrician from:Electrical Careers; Go Construct
You can also get more information about working in solar energy from Solar Careers UK.
With experience, you could work in:site supervision; estimating and contract management; electrical project design; training apprentices in a further education college
You might also become self-employed and set up your own electrical business.
You can find out more about becoming an electrician from Electrical Careers and Go Construct.
Electrician skills are important to retrofitting domestic and commercial buildings.
Retrofit careers
Retrofitting includes a wide variety of jobs and skills that help to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings. When a property has been retrofitted it can retain heat for longer. This increases the comfort of a home whilst also lowering energy usage which can result in lowered energy costs and carbon emissions.
There are a wide variety of retrofitting jobs requiring lots of different skills including working in the construction industry.
For example in the West of England area Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) indicate that over 250,000 homes in the West of England require retrofitting. That’s a huge amount of retrofitting work over the next few years to meet the region’s net zero targets.
These pathway maps show how you can get into retrofit as an Electrician in the West of England and are relevant for most regions within England.
Electricians are needed to install and EV charging points for electric vehicles, and to install and service smart meters, heat pumps and solar panels (PV) to help make the move to low carbon transport and buildings in the West of England.
Electrical skills are in demand for retrofit. Have a look at these pathway maps to see different routes into working in retrofit.
Click here to find a local provider
Click here to search for a local apprenticeship
For more information on the different routes you can take to get into working as an electrician, take a look at the 'Routes into this job' section above and visit Electrical Careers to learn more about Electrician Plus.
Click here for an explanation of the different course and apprenticeship levels.
For more local employment opportunities see the 'Live job vacancies by region' section above.
You'll need: