CAREER PROFILE

What does a Occupational Therapist actually do?

The honest version — real salaries, real hours, real entry routes. From the CourseThread Career Atlas.

Starting salary — log in
Mid-career salary — log in
37.5–40 hrs
Typical week
AI: Low
AI vulnerability

The short version

Occupational therapists rebuild people's ability to live their lives — function, adaptations and routines, not exercise. HCPC registration via an OT degree, pre-registration MSc or apprenticeship is the gate.

The pitch: one of the most holistic careers in healthcare, spanning hospitals, mental health, social care and housing — and demand is structural, driven by discharge targets and an ageing population. The catch: nobody knows what you do, and a large slice of the job is paperwork fighting for under-resourced equipment and services.

Entry routes that actually work

  • BSc occupational therapy (3 years) — standard route.
  • MSc pre-registration (2 years) — for graduates of related degrees.
  • Degree apprenticeship — employed route via NHS trust or local authority.

Read the full guide — free

The complete Occupational Therapist profile — salary by year, honest day-in-the-life, AI vulnerability breakdown, and the exit-path map — is in the Career Atlas. Log in to read it online or download the PDF.

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Free account. No card. The Atlas is free to read and download.

Inside the full guide

Money & progression — salary bands by level, sources cited
Day in the life — a real Tuesday, not the brochure version
AI vulnerability — what AI does, can't do, and how the role is changing
Exit paths — where people go at 2, 5, and 10 years

Compare with

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