This year, the Professional Gardeners’ Guild has recommended a 4% increase in salaries across the range.
The guild reasons that this reflects a 3.6% rise in the Retail Prices Index (RPI), a 3% rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), a 3.9% rise in the CPI including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) (figures from the Office for National Statistics) and average pay growth of around 5% for the private sector (figures from the National Institute of Economic & Social Research) together with a 6.7% rise in the National Living Wage.
Although the rise is 1.1% down on the previous year, the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development states that the overall labour market remains resilient, despite planned increases to National Insurance contributions and to the National Living Wage that come into force in April.
With buoyant garden trade in 2025, garden centres have generally had a good year, while growers, as ever struggling to manage demand and capitalise on it, have sometimes found things tougher.
So, HortWeek would like to get a sense of what pay rises have been handed out to the different sectors. Please let us know in this 100% confidential survey.
