Average UK salary. How you getting on?

[RedSquirrel111]

Thought it would be interesting to hear off the average, and not the mumsnet six figures- can't afford to live

Average UK salary for full time workers 2021 was £31,285

I'm very slightly higher on £33k with potential end of year bonus up to £2k

• live in North West
• insurance broker
• no partner or children
• own home (with mortgage)
• comfortable but a bit worried about increased cost of living.

Generally I feel quite lucky. I can't afford luxuries, but I don't worry about basic necessities - don't really budget for food costs etc.

How does your average wage look? What's the job sector? Do you struggle? What area?

I'm on about 26k I think working 4 days in teaching. I'm hoping to change schools this year and tempted to go back full time for the money. I do like my 4 days as it enables me to be around more for the children, but the pay cut is tough.

😮 wow, just read the whole thread.
Op, are you really this controlling in real life.
You have to be one of the rudest posters I have come across. I wouldn't like to cross you in real life, you are like a broken record, harping on about who can and can't reply to a public thread.
Why not just discuss other posters experiences and stop trying to control every aspect of this thread. You relentlessly attacked @ChannelTheCalmaLlama
She was nothing but polite in her responses. She explained that she is autistic and misunderstood the meaning of your original post. Why continue to bully her throughout the thread, you wouldn't allow her to make a single comment without trying to shut her down. It's exactly how a bully operates in rl. You owe that poster an apology, especially when she kindly explained the reasons for her misunderstanding and you continue to berate her.
Seriously, op, its people just like you that we can do less with in our workforce

Full time SE - 26K, this is normal for Kent in my Admin (Supervisor) role.

@douliket give over! How ridiculous.

[quote TracyMosby]@douliket give over! How ridiculous.[/quote]
Agreed. What a ludicrously long and censorious post. OP is a bit lively, but she doesn't owe anyone an apology, ffs. Catch yourself on.

AO in the Civil Service. £22011 pa. Dh retired from the Forces with a generous pension and the mortgage has been paid off, so no worries really.

@douliket if OP is the rudest poster you've ever read on here, you must have an odd definition of rude 😂

@EllaVaNight

ChannelTheCalmaLlama If you noticed I used the word was (past tense). My life is earning an average salary now so a lot more than previously and I have a partner and another child. However I've never forgotten those days and so I volunteer my (admittedly small amount of) free time helping others in the situation I was in.

Also what is a Yorkshire man sketch?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE

It was, it’s how people manage on the UK average in different areas but some posters just can’t seem to accept that!

Probably because that is not how the OP reads, or the title. It reads as if asking how people's situation compares to the average. Then asked questions about their sector, location etc.

If the OP only wanted people to respond who earn the national average, she should have said that. And maybe specified thresholds either side of that as a maximum and minimum because it's highly unlikely many people will earn exactly the average UK salary.

And as many, many posters have pointed out that is meaningless anyway without considering whether it is a dual income household and which part of the country the person lives in. Disposable income is after tax (punitive to single adult households) and essential living expenses (vary widely by location).

So if the OP had actually said what you're saying it was meant to say (it didn't) then the answers would be utterly meaningless anyway, without context. Somebody in India earns much less than you in nominal terms but may be living a life far more luxurious than yours. This kind of disparity in the cost of living exists between different UK regions also. Looking at gross earnings in isolation tells you absolutely nothing.

@Frazzled2207

£45k ish in recruitment industry, would be more if i hadn't taken a few years off while the kids were younger. I'm in the NW and i think probably about average around here for people at our stage in life (early 40s). Most people I know are teachers or nurses of similar.

we're extremely fortunate in that my dh earns about double what I do. If he earned the same as me we would be fine day to day but I would worry about saving for the future.

I have many friends who live in london on properly stupid salaries. However I'm not sure that their quality of life is meaningfully better than ours. Yes they have posher nights out but mostly have ginormous mortgages and pay shit loads of tax. I'm very happy to be in the north.

So your household income is basically the same as the poster who was attacked, and is a single parent so will pay more tax and have a much lower post-tax income. And also have to pay more for childcare. Yet you haven't been vilified in the same way. There seems to be much cognitive dissonance on the thread.

@douliket

😮 wow, just read the whole thread. Op, are you really this controlling in real life. You have to be one of the rudest posters I have come across. I wouldn't like to cross you in real life, you are like a broken record, harping on about who can and can't reply to a public thread. Why not just discuss other posters experiences and stop trying to control every aspect of this thread. You relentlessly attacked *@ChannelTheCalmaLlama* She was nothing but polite in her responses. She explained that she is autistic and misunderstood the meaning of your original post. Why continue to bully her throughout the thread, you wouldn't allow her to make a single comment without trying to shut her down. It's exactly how a bully operates in rl. You owe that poster an apology, especially when she kindly explained the reasons for her misunderstanding and you continue to berate her. Seriously, op, its people just like you that we can do less with in our workforce

It's hideous behaviour. But I expect we could all hold our breath until the end of the universe and still not hear an apology from the OP for being such a spiteful bully.

The OP literally opens with: "Thought it would be interesting to hear off the average, and not the mumsnet six figures"

Now granted, she didn't specify single or double income households, or a range either side of the average, but if there is one thing the OP tells you is that if your income is 6 figures, this thread isn't for you.

I don't see how anyone could struggle to understand that one sentence. Those that have repeatedly come on this thread to derail and complain about it have only made themselves look bad.

That seemed to be a joke about MN posters often talking about their husbands being "high earners".

I thought the thread was about how people's income compares to the average salary and how that affects them in different areas of the UK. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So two people on the average salary is a £60k+ gross income. But much less tax is charged than for one person earning £60k and doing everything at home and all childcare, alone. In some areas they'd be laughing, in others, they'd struggle. That's just the average income. Obviously many dual income households living in cheaper areas have a much higher household income than the average salary, that's why it is the average. Do you not think two ~£45k earners in the North - who get 30 hours childcare, child benefit, 20% discount on childcare, cheap mortgages, two x tax free allowances of £12k before they pay any tax on household income etc, might be better off than a single mother living in the south paying waaaay more tax and getting none of that help and also having to pay much more for housing, Council tax and food?

So someone in an expensive area and a single parent would have to earn at least around £120k- £150k on their own after all the extra tax to have a similar standard of living for their children as a single parent. If you can't see that then you are the one who is clueless.

It was a joke, yes. But it also clearly stated who the OP was hoping to hear from. It's entirely possible to do both.

As for the rest..... just stop for Christ's sake. There might have been a sensible conversation to be had on that point, but not like this.

You, Camel and others have already killed the thread. What else do you want? Because here's a newsflash for you - I bet most readers don't think it's the OP that owes apologies.

CalmaLlama, not camel.

Both my husband and I earn 30k each.

We're actually feeling the pressure of rising costs at the moment.

We pay 1450 rent (live in London). Including rent our joint bills come to around 2000. We both then have individual bills on top. Food shops are limited to 50-70 a week. We have 2 children under 5 and have no capacity to save.

However, I upgraded my car in 2021 due to my old car being dangerous as did my husband (car became undrivable due to several mechanical issues) and we are paying significant amounts to pay those off. Around 700 between us. x

I'm not sure. Given the slience I'd say most people probably think that she does.

Bullying autistic people for answering questions you asked is not a good look.

I work in the public sector and earn £26K - I live in a rented property and will never be in a position to purchase a house as have very little disposable income - I'd have to save for years to get anything close to a deposit . My partner earns around the same and we do okay, but if he worried if prices continue to rise.

Can I ask what your job is?

Yes, of course. It's a hybrid of law and accounting/ finance, I do policy work.

I left home at 17. Abusive family. I worked pretty much full time all through A levels and University, then did professional qualifications on top and worked 90-100 hour weeks throughout my 20s to get more experience quickly.

I am paid a lot for what I do because it is difficult and not many people have the expertise to do it, having put in that many hours to get both the qualifications and diverse range of experience in early life when others were out having fun. It's a niche I guess. But I worked SO hard to get to this point - between work and study I did close to 100 hour weeks all the time from 17-31, before I became disabled and stepped back a bit.

I am constantly terrified I'll lose my job somehow and not be able to provide for my children anymore, or that my health will collapse (already shakey!), because there is no safety net for us. Just me. But I do feel very lucky that we have what we have - for now - despite my husband vanishing from our lives.

Thank you so much to all of the people on this thread who have defended me. If I had understood who the OP actually wanted to reply, the parameters of who should post, obviously I would not have done so.

I never intended to upset anybody and tried to explain my misunderstanding but I can also see that many other posters "misinterpreted" the OP also because it didn't actually ask what she has subsequently said she had wanted to ask. We can only go from the actual words that are posted, we are not mind readers.

It means a lot to me that people have defended me from this totally unnecessary spitefulness and I am very grateful. It's not a competition, why can people not just be supportive to each other? I understand so many people are struggling more than us and try to help whenever I can. I think more kindness and understanding is needed because everyone's situation is different. Being a lone parent and autistic is not easy believe me! But of course I do know that others have worse struggles and I hope things get easier for everyone that has posted their difficulties.

I was replying primarily to the lovely posters who have defended me and pointed out how spiteful and unwarranted the personal attacks on me were, to thank them for being kind. And to express again what I've said several times already - because it appears to have fallen on deaf ears - that I wouldn't have responded at all had the OP been clear about the narrow demographic of people who were acceptable respondents (many posters understood the OP as I did so it wasn't worded clearly) and to wish everyone well, whatever their struggles.

I was responding now a specific post asking me a direct question and to the many post referencing my comments and the way I had been spoken about in my absence. This is a public forum. Nobody has a right to make nasty, personal comments here about people and then demand that they don't come back to thank those who pointed out how spiteful it was, or to wish everyone else well who has expressed their struggles later in the thread. I am not sure who you think you are, to be policing what people can say when actually what is being said it not half as unpleasant or aggressive as what you are posting yourself.

£38.5k from this month (up from £36k) I am in a finance role and get a bi annual bonus of £3k if we meet targets.
My Husband is self employed and earns around £1400 per month net.
We are doing ok Althougn carrying a lot of debt from when our youngest child was born when I was on maternity and my husbands business wasn't earning much. Hoping to clear these down now we are in a much better place financially. If we manage to do that we should have a disposable income of over £1000 per month after bills and expenses etc. can't wait for this day!