The Wildlife Trusts (federation) salary, 2026
A federation of 46 independent Wildlife Trusts; pay autonomy means band variability across trusts is wider than within RSPB.
Band-by-band ladder
The Wildlife Trusts are a federation of 46 independent charities; each sets its own pay framework, although many shadow NJC SCP for parity with local-authority partners. The central jobs board aggregates listings but advertised band ranges vary widely between trusts the same week. London Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust regularly post at the upper end; smaller county trusts at the lower end.
Icon Salary Survey 2024 reports a federation-wide median for Conservation Officer at around £28,500 with a tighter band than RSPB (federated pay autonomy compresses neither floor nor ceiling much). FTC ratio in our Wildlife Trust subset of the CJS 2026 vacancy sample was higher than RSPB at about 55 percent, reflecting heavy reliance on project funding.
Pension provision is mostly NEST at the statutory minimum (3 percent employer), although several larger trusts (e.g. Yorkshire, Wildlife Trust BCN) operate their own DC schemes with 5-8 percent employer match. The federated structure makes the question 'what does a Wildlife Trust pay' genuinely trust-specific.
Questions this page answers
- What is the Wildlife Trusts federation pay range across the 46 individual trusts?
- Which Wildlife Trusts pay top of band vs bottom of band?
- How do Wildlife Trust grades map to NJC SCP and RSPB equivalents?
- What proportion of Wildlife Trust CO posts are fixed-term vs permanent?
- How does local-trust HR autonomy affect band consistency?