Whether you’re beginning your nutritionist career or are currently working as one, it’s important to be aware of the average nutritionist salary in the UK.
To give you a complete breakdown, we’ll cover:
- What Is The Average Salary For A Nutritionist?
- Where They Work Can Influence The Salary A Nutritionist Earns
- Niche Specialisms Can Mean A Higher Wage For A Nutritionist
- Job Location Can Change A Nutritionist’s Salary
- Earning Additional Qualifications Can Boost Your Salary As A Nutritionist
But before we get started, if you have ever wanted to pursue a career in nutrition you can take your first steps with OriGym’s Level 4 Certificate In Nutrition.
Download our course prospectus to find out more.
Complete Guide To Nutritionist Salary In The UK
Before beginning a new career or taking your current one in a different direction, it’s important to find out as much information as you can about the nutritionist salary in the UK and how you can get the most out of it regarding location and type of employment.
What Is The Average Salary For A Nutritionist?
According to Indeed, the average salary of a nutritionist is £28,691. This is based on 136 reported salaries as of January 2024:
Payscale differs slightly on this average nutritionist salary but provides the potential lowest and highest earnings for those in this career:
As you can see, they report the average salary for a nutritionist as £25,292. The lowest base salary is reported as £20,000 while the highest is £39,000. Based on these figures, this means you can expect the average potential salary to be between £25,000 and just under £30,000.
However, while we can provide estimations, it can be difficult to determine a concrete figure. It largely depends on whether someone is employed or works on a freelance basis. Further factors include employers, how many hours they put into their work each week, and how successful the service is.
The estimations are based on declared salaries of industry professionals and don’t take into account:
- Location
- Experience
- Qualifications
With this in mind, these are rough estimations based on the nutritionist salaries of others in the industry. You should use them to gain an idea of potential earnings, especially the ones on the lower end of the yearly nutritionist salary spectrum as this is where you’ll start when you first become a nutritionist.
Where They Work Can Influence The Salary A Nutritionist Earns
A nutritionist’s career salary can be impacted by different factors.
One of these is how and where exactly a nutritionist works, which can largely affect their salary and how much they can potentially earn.
#1 – Determine Your Nutritionist Salary By Being Self-Employed
The salary of a nutritionist in the UK who is self-employed greatly varies. According to Prospects, fees for those working with individuals are typically £45 to £75 for an initial consultation, then £30 to £50 for each follow-up session.
This is pretty standard for those working part-time or on a freelance basis rather than working a salaried role under another business or health organisation. However, once again this depends on certain factors.
One of the largest factors is the level of experience. Someone who is just starting out as a freelance nutritionist would charge towards the lower end of these figures while a nutritionist with years of experience would charge a higher rate.
Location also plays a part in your nutritionist salary as a freelancer which we’ll discuss in greater detail below. For example, if you’re a freelancer in London, you’ll be able to charge more than in other places around the UK. You can reach figures such as £50 per hour with a mix of experience and being based in a popular location, especially in the city centre.
When you decide on a location, you’ll want to see what your competitors are charging. You don’t want your services to be the highest priced in your area but you also don’t want to make them too cheap as this can reflect badly on the quality of your services and you’ll make less money.
Having your own business and offering nutrition packages can be a lucrative venture, such as what Susan Fruhman has done:
Susan provides three different packages depending on how long people want to commit and how much support they need following her nutrition programme. By providing packages, you’ll want them to appear as more value for money than if clients are just repeatedly purchasing one-off consultations and plans.
Working as a freelance or self-employed nutritionist also means you can decide how little or often you work. This means you have more control over your nutritionist earnings as you can work overtime if necessary.
This can be a good way to earn further income even if you have full-time employment as you can see clients around their working hours by offering consultations in the evening or on weekends.
#2 – Public Health Nutritionist Salary (UK)
If you’re working as a public health nutritionist or in a hospital, the salary you earn could be different from that of a nutritionist who works in a sports or exercise facility. Working as a public health nutritionist in the UK means you’ll likely work for the government or the NHS.
Although Glassdoor provides a general average nutritionist salary based on 430 salaries, once again there are different factors which can impact this:
While working for the government or in a hospital environment is likely to pay more, the salary above shouldn’t be used as a concrete figure. To gain a better idea, you should use the NHS Job Website tool to see a more general salary.
For example, this advert for a job as a public health nutritionist provides a salary between £20,000 to £24,000 per year:
This is a more realistic average wage for a nutritionist in this kind of role. To gain more of a general idea, you should use this tool as a good way to see what kind of employment is available within the NHS and the salary being offered.
#3 – Work In Private Healthcare To Increase Salary As A Nutritionist
Instead of choosing to work for the NHS, you may instead decide to work in the private sector to increase your average salary as a nutritionist. This means you can either be employed or set up your own business.
Most people who see a private nutritionist will likely be doing so for treatment regarding health issues or problems such as food allergies. Clients who seek private medical care will be looking for more efficient services meaning you can charge more and increase your nutritionist salary.
For example, you could work for yourself privately as Eleanor Rees has done and provide packages for clients:
As you can see, she has 3 different packages depending on the length of time and how much support clients require. Her services in these packages include full consultations, food diary assessments, and weekly check-ins.
Aside from packages, she also offers additional one-off services such as a consultation at £150 and personalised meal plans at £250. These are highly priced but as this is a private healthcare provider, Eleanor can charge this rate as there is no set salary when setting up your own business.
You may also decide to increase your salary as a nutritionist by being employed by a company. An example of this is Box Nutrition who provide a range of services around nutrition and fitness coaching:
These are only a few of the many services available for people to use. Whether you decide to work for a company or create your own nutrition business, you can either charge separately for each service or offer packages to increase your nutritionist’s salary.
#4 – Clinical Nutritionist Salary In The UK (Dietetics)
According to the Association for Nutrition (AfN), those who work in a clinical setting will work with those suffering with medical conditions ‘under the close supervision of a Dietician or other regulated health professional’.
When working in public health, nutritionists will often work behind the scenes helping with things such as constructing meal plans to assist with the prevention of diseases, rather than working directly with those who already suffer from them.
When it comes to a clinical nutritionist’s salary, Payscale reports the following:
While this isn’t a solid statistic, you can see roles such as nutrition support and health & wellness are between £20,000 and £25,000. As these are all within a similar type of role, you can be assured the base salary for a clinical nutritionist will be within this range too.
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If you’re currently looking to become a nutritionist or are simply seeking ways to increase your nutritionist salary, these articles will help:
- How To Become A Nutritionist For A Sports Team
- How To Become A Nutritionist Online
- How To Become A Sports Nutritionist
#5 – Nutritionist Salary When Working In A School
With the global battle against obesity intensifying with schools attempting to improve children’s health, many people are considering working in this environment to help.
According to the House of Commons Library:
- 9.5% of reception-age children (age 4-5) are obese, with a further 12.8% being overweight. At ages 10-11 (year 6), 20.1% are obese and 14.2% overweight.
With these surprising figures, it’s clear to see why many of those interested in a nutrition career would be passionate about starting a role in this sector.
Although we can’t provide a solid statistic for a school nutritionist’s salary, especially as this role would be classed as a government, public health, or freelance role, we can say a career and decent nutritionist salary is possible with the right experience.
Referring back to our research on the figures public health and freelance nutritionists expect to earn will provide you with a good idea of what you can expect to earn after you’ve worked in the field for a few years.
Niche Specialisms Can Mean A Higher Wage For A Nutritionist
Aside from deciding the best place to work for you, it’s important to examine other ways you can increase your salary as a nutritionist. One of the best things you can do to increase your nutritionist salary is to carve out a niche or a range of similar issues you can help clients with.
For example, Katie Angotti is a registered nutrition specialising in issues for mothers such as pregnancy through to toddler fussy eating:
Having a niche speciality such as this means she knows exactly who will be seeking her services and will have the right clients come to her help. She will be able to research other businesses similar to hers and adjust her prices accordingly.
This could also be with helping people deal with and improve various health issues and ailments such as Julieanna Hever specialises in:
Although she specialises in general weight loss and sports nutrition, she separates herself from other similar services by offering disease prevention, management, and reversal. This means she can make a difference for those struggling who are actively seeking her services.
However, if this is the route you’d like your services to take, you should make it clear this is not medical treatment. There are differences between a nutritionist and a dietician and although the roles are similar, only dieticians have the authority to treat clients suffering from serious medical issues.
While nutritionists can create meal plans and educate clients on food and nutrition, you shouldn’t be giving serious medical advice or diagnosing clients. You can provide them with advice to help alleviate health problems but shouldn’t be prescribing it as treatment.
Increase Salary As A Nutritionist With Level 4 Personal Training Courses
To increase your salary as a nutritionist you can develop your own niche with our range of Level 4 Personal Trainer Courses. For example, there is no prerequisite to enrolling on our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course, meaning you can get started providing nutrition advice to personal training clientele, athletes, and special populations.
To further help clients alleviate health issues and reach their goals, you could specialise in the area of weight loss with a Level 4 Obesity & Weight Management. However, this requires you to have completed a Level 3 Personal Training Course, which we’ll touch on in more detail later.
Job Location Can Change A Nutritionist’s Salary
A large factor affecting the average salary of a nutritionist in the UK is location. However, while at a glance it may seem like certain areas or cities pay better, this isn’t necessarily the case.
For example, the average nutritionist salary will be higher in major cities such as London. However, this isn’t because they’re valued more there but as a result of it being expensive to live in an area such as this.
As you can see, Maven Clinic is advertising for a nutritionist in London with an impressive salary range:
While this is a large nutritionist salary, for steady employment in London, this is a good example of the difference in salary between living in London and many other areas of the country.
However, if we compare this with a nutritionist job in Bath, there’s a clear difference in the salaries in both locations:
Once again, while there are different factors affecting nutritionist salaries, these two examples highlight how location plays a major part in the salary for a nutritionist in the UK.
Although salaries are higher in London, there is a lot more expense. Not only are living costs higher here but there is also limited space available. You will also find there will be less value for money in busier places, especially if you’re self-employed.
If you become a self-employed nutritionist in London and want to rent office space, this is something you need to factor in:
As you can see from the advert on Gumtree, to rent a small room in London to use for consultations in a communal office building can be up to £1,200 per month. Although this is on the higher end, a lot of similar space to rent in this area will be within this range.
While you may not need an extremely modern or luxury office space to conduct business, you’ll still want to rent a clean and welcoming space so new clients can be assured you’ll provide them with a good service.
Earning Additional Qualifications Can Boost Your Salary As A Nutritionist
A great way to increase your nutritionist salary in the UK is to consider expanding the services you provide by gaining additional qualifications. By offering more services you’ll be able to combine them to complement one another, allowing you to charge more.
#1 – Offer Personal Training To Increase Nutritionist Salary
A great way to increase your professional nutritionist salary is to become a personal trainer. As these two services complement each other and are crucial for clients to reach their goals, most will be seeking this kind of service.
You could choose to offer these services separately or incorporate nutrition into your training, such as Vicki Cumberworth has done:
As you can see, Vicki sends clients her nutrition eBook after the initial personal training consultation. This is filled with food plans and a short training plan for clients to get started on at home.
While there are many reasons people seek a nutritionist, a large majority of people are seeking these services to improve their general health. This means if you’re already their nutritionist and they’re also looking for a personal trainer, they’re much more likely to use you instead of looking elsewhere.
By completing a Level 3 Personal Trainer Course or a Personal Trainer Diploma, you’ll be fully qualified to provide both fitness training and nutrition advice to help clients achieve their short and long-term goals at a quicker rate.
To further supplement your salary as a nutritionist, you may also choose to complete a sports massage course. This means you’ll not only be providing clients with fitness training and nutritional advice but also aiding in their recovery, such as what Bodyworks offers:
Once again, by offering these different yet complimentary services means clients don’t have to go elsewhere to find these services. If they’re already using one of these services, they’ll know the quality of your business and will be more likely to consider what else you’re offering.
#2 – Become A Fitness Coach To Supplement Salary As A Nutritionist
Similar to our point mentioned above, you may also choose to become a sports massage therapist and provide clients with recovery treatments they won’t have to search elsewhere for.
You can incorporate your nutrition knowledge into your fitness coaching by providing clients with meal plans and advice to complement their training. For example, Daniel Harrod provides both in-person and online coaching, providing clients with custom-built nutrition advice:
You could follow the example of Daniel Harrod and incorporate your knowledge into training programmes or offer it as a separate service to increase your nutritionist’s salary. This means the service could be purchased alongside fitness coaching or separately.
#3 – Combine Yoga Services To Generate A Higher Nutritionist Salary
With any form of fitness, it’s important to understand how to fuel the body and how to use a healthy diet as a way to complement types of training. To increase your yearly salary as a nutritionist, you should consider incorporating yoga into your services.
For example, Libby Limon offers both yoga and nutrition services, teaching classes and providing 1-on-1 nutrition coaching:
As Libby has plenty of nutrition knowledge, she knows exactly how to help clients reach their goals using a combination of yoga and healthy eating. Having this knowledge means students will have more confidence in your abilities as you know the best way to help them.
To expand your services, there are a range of yoga teacher training courses to choose from.
By completing a Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga, you’ll be a qualified teacher and will be able to progress onto a Level 4 Diploma in Teaching Yoga and develop a specialty.
Before You Go!
Now all your questions surrounding nutritionist salary in the UK have been answered, you can begin considering the best options to get started or change the current course of your career.
OriGym’s industry-leading Sports Nutrition Course is the perfect launching pad, that can help you start a new and exciting career.
Find out how you can expand your services in the right way by downloading our course prospectus here.