Standing view · pay · Scottish Borders
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-07.
Pay in Scottish Borders has been growing. Median pay was 2,307 in February 2025, 2,357 in April, 2,440 in December 2025, 2,484 in April 2026 and 2,492 in June 2026, each recorded as favourable against the usual pattern for its month, with household income per head at 25,427 in 2024 also favourable. Running the other way, 2,329 in December 2024 and 2,358 in May 2025 were unfavourable. Six favourable readings against two, with the level clearly up on a year earlier, is what the view rests on.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Scottish Borders. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Household income per head | 2024 | improving |
| Median pay | 2024-12 | deteriorating |
| Median pay | 2025-02 | improving |
| Median pay | 2025-04 | improving |
| Median pay | 2025-05 | deteriorating |
| Median pay | 2025-12 | improving |
| Median pay | 2026-04 | improving |
| Median pay | 2026-06 | improving |