The Datum Report

Occupation 2112 · Professional occupations

Biological scientists

Half of full-time biological scientists in the UK earn more than £45,382 a year, and half earn less.

Biological scientists examine and investigate the morphology, structure, and physical characteristics of living organisms, including their inter-relationships, environments and diseases.

How people enter it

Entrants usually possess a degree and some roles may require a postgraduate qualification. Entry may also be possible with an appropriate BTEC/SQA award, an HNC/NHD, or other academic qualifications. Further specialist training is provided on the job. Some employers may expect entrants to gain professional qualifications.

What the work involves

• studies the physical form, structure, composition and function of living organisms
• researches the effects of internal and external environmental factors on the life processes and other functions of living organisms
• observes the structure of communities of organisms in the laboratory and in their natural environment
• advises farmers, medical staff and others, on the nature of field crops, livestock and produce and on the treatment and prevention of disease
• monitors the distribution, presence and behaviour of plants, animals and aquatic life, and performs other scientific tasks related to conservation not performed by Job holders in MINOR GROUP 215: Conservation and Environment Professionals

Also called

Agricultural consultant · Forensic scientist · Horticulturist (professional) · Microbiologist · Pathologist

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for biological scientists, full-time employees, 2024 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 1 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Biochemists and biomedical scientists · Chemical scientists · Natural and social science professionals n.e.c. · Physical scientists · Social and humanities scientists