The Datum Report

Occupation 8214 · Process, plant and machine operatives

Delivery drivers and couriers

Half of full-time delivery drivers and couriers in the UK earn more than £27,854 a year, and half earn less.

Delivery drivers and couriers collect, transport and deliver goods using a range of vehicles, including bicycles and motor vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes in weight.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements. Entrants must possess a clean car driving licence. In order to drive vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes, entrants must pass an additional test for a category C1 licence. Minimum age restrictions apply according to the weight of vehicle and whether the driver holds a Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence). NVQs/SVQs in relevant areas and at various levels are available.

What the work involves

• checks tyres, brakes, lights, oil, water and fuel levels and general condition of the vehicle
• drives vehicle from depot to loading/unloading point
• assists with loading/unloading and obtains receipts from customers for goods collected/delivered
• drives vehicle to destination in accordance with schedule
• maintains records of journey times, mileage and hours worked
• undertakes minor repairs and notifies supervisor of any mechanical faults

Also called

Courier-driver · Cash in transit driver · Customer service team member (delivery service) · Delivery driver · Meals on wheels driver · Parcel delivery driver · Van driver

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for delivery drivers and couriers, full-time employees, 2023 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

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

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. 11 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

Bus and coach drivers · Driving instructors · Heavy and large goods vehicle drivers · Road transport drivers n.e.c. · Taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs