To find salary offered an insult?

I love how earnest the higher salary experts are on here, attempting to explain life in London to us 95 percenters , whilst the OP is using terms like Dcoroner 😂.

I fcking love Mumsnet, please don't ever change.

Yes but then the OP may get another raise and then another one.

But that isn’t the company’s issue is it that is a personal tax one

Yep. I think people don’t realise with the clawback of personal allowance and loss of childcare allowance actually makes this a lot more work for only a tiny bit more pay.

I'm glad someone else has already pointed out:

It's not a race to the bottom..!

There are so, so many posts along the lines of, "I work in the NHS/HE/Local Govt. (delete as applicable) and only earn £30k managing 50 staff!"

If ever there's a comment on how great pubic sector pensions are when there's another strike looming, the chorus of "It's not a race to the bottom!" is never far away.

Regarding the difference in net household income @Willowtree5 might gain from the extra £20k, it could actually be pretty much zero.

If you earn £105k and pay 5% into your pension (assuming standard tax code) your taxable income is under £100k and you net £69,576

At £125k with same 5% pension you net £77,176 but you're well over the £100k taxable income level.

So that's £7,600 extra net, but at that point you've lost the free childcare, which could be pretty much the same as the extra pay.

Sounds a reasonable increase, but remember it's only 8k after tax. I'm sure they will counteroffer you, and when they do, I'd be asking about a healthy pension contribution, assuming you don't need the extra ££ per month.

Depending on what you already pay into a pension, you could potentially bang in 15k into a pension with minimal effect on take-home pay,

You already jumped the shark with 'Dmanager', you don't need to over-egg it.

Exactly what I was thinking

You can see why it’s lower for women by looking at replies on this thread.

Good for you for negotiating. Did so myself recently and gained an extra 10K by doing so.
My friend who works in HR in a top London law firm says that men always negotiate. But women often just accept. So hoorah for us women who negotiate!

I second this.

Perhaps you are just thinking about a small subset of people involved in finance.

For example, the group "Financial managers and directors" which, as the name suggests, largely consists of job titles such as, Finance Director, Head of Corporate Finance, Group Finance Manager, Chief Finance Officer, Director (insurance company), Director (financial services company) etc.

Yes, for these people, the median salary in London in 2023 was £95,500.

But not everybody is a director or senior manager.

Incidentally, splitting the figures by sex shows a median salary for men of £101,800 and for women it was £84,100

OP - if you find a salary offer which is part of a negotiation an 'insult' and 'going to finish you off', you perhaps need to grow up and earn that huge salary by negotiating back not kicking off to a group of strangers on the internet. I would have expected at a £100k salary you would have had the resilience and understanding to know this is a negotiation.

The op obviously doesn’t work in these sectors? So how is that in any way relevant

Why does that matter?

London is either so expensive to live that you cannot possibly cope on anything under £100k as many poster suggest on MN….or it’s not.

By asking what area of London you are suggesting that people are living in expensive areas and therefore trying to live a lifestyle that they struggle to afford - in which case it’s nothing to do with how much you’re earning but you’re simply living above your means and therefore you do not need a salary of £100k, you just want it so you can afford a luxury lifestyle.

"They must include paralegals and other juniors in this."

Well, of course! These people also work in law as well. Or don't you stop to think about people like that?

"I don’t know anybody in legal or finance on such low salaries."

That clearly shows the bubble that you live in.

A quick look at recruitment sites like Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed etc show adverts like this:

A litigation solicitor for a firm in North Finchley - £40k-£50k

Immigration Appeals Solicitor in EC2A £50k-£60k

Residential Conveyancing Solicitor in SE London - £55k-£70k

Commercial Litigation Solicitor in Harrow £50k-£75k

Court of Protection Solicitor in the City £40k-£55k

Legal Counsel - Construction Litigation in the City £60k

Litigation Solicitor in Holborn £45k-£50k

Private Client Solicitor £50k-£65k

@Another2Cats No. People who actually work in finance in London work for a financial institution that either employs a lot of people and/or which manages or services a lot of assets. At those types of places, even 21 year old grad trainees will be on £35-60k starting salaries.

While people who do bookkeeping for an SME in Croydon or Barnet, on maybe 30-40k might consider themselves to be “working in finance” it is as relevant to the topic at hand as saying Toto Wolff’s salary is typical for the used car trade.

They must include paralegals and other juniors in this. I don’t know anybody in legal or finance on such low salaries. Maybe 10 years ago.

It’s different in all workplaces. I work in a well paid profession, I’m on more than the OP. Salaries are linked to our grades, and there’s a range within the grades but within limits. Going up a grade is what gets you a notable salary increase of eg 20%. Within the grade you might have people management, you might not. It’s not something that necessarily causes a grade change and def isn’t something we can get more base salary on. We’re all paid well enough to be flexible across a range of roles and accountabilities.

"And btw £125k is an extremely average salary in finance/law, especially in London."

I'm sorry, but you really are mistaken here.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the median salary for "Finance Professionals" and "Finance Associate Professionals" in London was £58,600 per year in 2023. The 80th percentile (ie the amount that 80% of people earn less than, so only 20% of people earn more than this) was £88,400.

These figures cover 148,000 people working in these jobs in London.

Somehow, I don't think that the median salary has increased from £58k to £125k since 2023.

In addition there are also 58,000 people working in London in "Administrative Occupations: Finance". These people also work in finance and their median salary was £33,900 and the 80th percentile figure was £45,600.

Once you add those people in as well (they also work in finance) then the overall average drops even further.
.

You also mentioned the law. For "Legal Professionals" in London their median salary in 2023 was £59,800 and for "Legal Associate Professionals" was £39,000. This covers 64,000 people working in London as "Legal Professionals". It should be noted that not everybody works for a Magic Circle firm or a big American firm.

(Source: ONS Earnings and hours worked, region by occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 15. 23 Dec 2024)

Yeah, this. The first rule of negotiation is “never accept the first offer”.

I frequently remind myself of the advice "Do everything with the confidence of a mediocre white man". Would said fictitious man accept the first offer? I think not. It's fine to go back and say you are disappointed with the offer given the additional time and responsibilities involved.

And yes, per previous posters and the tax situation, you don't see much if the rise in that bracket so fight for every extra £. Good luck.

Just don’t put yourself in harms way