Dr Jekyll
I agree that the median salary is around £21,500. But this so called 'average earnings' figure is heavily distorted upwards by the very few 'mega earners' on £1 million a year (such as those in The City that the popular press loves to go on about).
The government, by constantly quoting this 'average earnings' figure of £21,500 is making a fundamental mistake, as it merely serves to p*** off the majority of the population, who are, in reality, earning a lot less than this.