Would you class £32,000 as a good salary?

For someone with a Masters at 35 no it isn’t great. But a masters is not what it was 35 years ago and that is what younger people are fighting now. When I was young only about 10% of people went to University, having a masters was very special indeed.

There will never be enough well paid jobs for everyone who graduates now. This was always going to happen with the expansion of higher education. Unintended consequences. I worked in the NHS and then a couple of years in local government and ended up in higher education, I call it the triumvrant of evil if I could have added the civil service it would have been the four horseman of the apocalypse. It’s very thankless but worthwhile being in any kind of public sector role.

But doesn’t the civil service have one of the best pension schemes around? you do need to consider this. Local government is an utter shitshow, I have a close friend who has worked within it for years, we worked together 35 years ago, her stories make my toes curl.

Looking at your geographical location what are expenses like ? We are in the North not quite as far as you if we had stayed in the SE where we both grew up it would have been much tougher.

I lived in shared housing till I was 30 only marginally better than student housing but very glad I slummed it when young, are all expenses down to you?

…a £32,000 salary in 2026 is roughly equivalent to £20,100–£20,200 in 2009.

You were 18 a long time ago, you need to take into account the average inflation rate since then.

No. It should be, but it’s just not these days. I’m 5 years younger and on 10k more and still can’t get a mortgage for what I need to own somewhere alone. It’s depressing.

It really isn't. Try the arts!

It is a lot more than minimum wage.
Unfortunately minimum wage isn’t a living wage, hence the State needing to top up.

masters

No. DS is in his first job post uni and earns almost 30k. And that is a low salary to exist on in a London flatshare for early twenties, still living like a student and buying yellow sticker food.

For a woman in her 30s, that's too low. But increasingly common.

I could live off it but I would want more, unless I loved my job and felt it was really worthwhile.

Totally depends on where you live and how much mortgage or rent you’re paying.

Also no one enters public sector for the money, it is literally the lowest paid sector.

My husband was in the civil service for a long time, and his salary evolved very little in 18 years. It was higher than yours (50k), but it was only 1 factor overall, the key benefits were job security and pension.
For someone without a degree, it was a pretty good deal!

So objectively I don't think that 32k is a very good salary for someone with a masters degree, but if it fits your lifestyle and you're not bored of the job then it has some perks you won't find anywhere else (assuming it's one of those contracts were you can't ever be made redundant).

Not a good salary given your higher education but civil service often doesn’t pay well. I held an EO role and the work pace was laughable compared to private sector. Slow, inefficient and cumbersome and most workers not making the effort you’d see in in other industries. It depends on your priorities in terms of salary and workload expectations.

I’d say that’s a shit salary, practically minimum wage isn’t - it in 2026? We’re not in 2000 any more, where £30k used to raise a family of 5 or whatever.

so no, it’s not a “good” salary regardless of the person being 21. It’s practically minimum wage and not much more. Hence, it’s an average or basic salary. In fact, it’s the type of salary that benefit claimants can receive and then get topped up via benefits. It won’t get you far down south.

To me, being on a good wage is like £65k and up. As that allows for a “good” life, not an average one. Ie 21 year olds not living with parents and having their own home.

No, I’d think it’s rather on the low side if anything.

To me that’d depend largely on where you live, and how much you’d have to pay in rent or for a mortgage on a small property.

No BUT presumably you receive approx 24% employer contribution to your defined benefit pension ? Most private sector is 3% - 5% into a defined contribution pension. So it’s more accurate to think of yourself as earning c£45k in the private sector which is what would be needed to achieve that kind of contribution (which is still not much, but better)

no

Pps have covered it, as have you yourself tbh! All depends on the variables but generally no not great. The only thing I would add is is that it's worth taking into account the other benefits of cs/ps - pension is a biggie also being able to work flexibly (if that is part of your job) and good AL.

On paper I have friends who earn more than me but when you look at the amount of unpaid overtime they're expected to do and only the legal minimum of AL their actual pay per hour is less. Whereas every single minute I do over 7.24 is credited as flexi and then taken as extra leave.

If you have older kids (who you don't have to constantly supervise) the ability to take ten mins in the morning and ten at 3pm to drop off and collect rather than doing reduced hours or paying for wraparound care is worth its weight in gold, as is time and petrol costs saved if you can wfh, flexibility in covering school holidays etc.

Its always worth keeping an eye out and job hopping - I went from an EA type role in one arms-length CS body that was capped at about £32k to another (with all the same benefits) where the scale started at £29k but am now at the top at £52k 4 years later. A colleague at the previous job also thought of applying for the same role but didn't go for it because didn't want to drop the initial £3k which seemed short sighted to me as it would be back up to the £30k within a year and from then on much more.

I think it is fine to want more. It is fine to look a potential jobs on a salary you want and apply thinking maybe it could work even if it’s a stretch. The starting point is being scared to take a risk. What if it doesn’t work? What if I fail? And those are risks. But you might not fail. You might really succeed! You won’t know if you don’t try. It is completely normal to move jobs to increase your salary. Getting the new experience and skills allows you to move to the next job for a higher salary - the point is it won’t land in your lap.

I am not saying the amount is important - but if you want to earn more just take that one next step that makes it a possibility - you probably won’t fail. And if the next one isn’t right you wait a bit for the sake of your CV then make another move. It’s the only way it works I think. Take a risk and trust yourself to deal with whatever comes next.