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

[Poshpuppy]

I know there are so many variables. For a 21 year old living at home it's probably a very good salary!
For a single parent who owns a home maybe not.

For me, I'm 35 and I don't feel this is a good salary for me. I'm in the Civil Service, I have a degree and master's, it's my own fault for possibly doing qualifications that haven't led to anything higher paid/more specific.
I'm an EO/Executive Officer grade which is junior. There are not many HEO/Higher Officer grades that don't require very niche experience or line management, there are also few fewer HEOs than AOs or EOs so competition is tough.

I'm looking outwards at the local council, third sector and private sector. I know money isn't everything but when you have things to pay for and any chance of saving then it does help. I think I'd feel comfortable on closer to 40k, whether this will happen is another matter.

Of course there will be people on under 30k who manage perfectly fine, it's all relative. Just wondered what anyone thought!

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.

…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.

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?

Are you against line management? Assuming youre operational, HEO team leader roles can be a great stepping stone to an SEO role where you'd likely have notably less direct reports (some dont have any). Maybe if you saw it as a temporary learning curve on your way to a higher grade. Worth looking outside your current department too and applying for roles you dont necessarily think would be a perfect fit - competition is high due to the number of EOs applying for higher grades but most areas will keep reserve lists of candidates who meet the standard at interview but aren't the highest scorers. With the way recruitment is at the moment theres probably more movement from reserve lists than new recruitment campaigns.

In terms of salary, i would struggle on it with 3 kids, but agree with ppl - there are notable benefits with flexible working etc. (I'd aleays take a lower salary with flexibility over a 9-5 on site every day job).

Not having a driving licence is also restricting me somewhat, but hopefully ill pass soon.
I've put an application in to work in a 40k role in the council, 3 posts going.

It's a good salary in that it's in line with the average UK salary.

It depends on what your outgoings are and where you live.

It's also skewed by many graduate salaries, some are hired as managers on £40k straight out of university.

I have a partner, hoping to have a family one day.

Nope i don't think its a good salary BUT you need to look holistically.

Presumably you get flexitime and also your pension.

A Private sector worker on 32k is probably putting 2.8k pa (5+3) into a pension which is DC. This is total crap compared to yours... as CS is defined benefits i believe so waaaay better

The real issue is your lack of progression within CS imo.
I would look to address that.

I know a friends husband is in CS and he loves it - hes moved up and around a lot. Does loads of the sporting stuff and is now level under scs but doesnt want to go for it as he likes the flexi time.

When NMW is around £25k, then no, £32k isn't a "good" salary for a middle aged graduate.

A lot of new graduates on graduate schemes are on that kind of money, at aged 21 and just starting out in work.

I’m in greater Manchester and earn 29.5. I do fine! It isn’t ideal and I want more but I’m a similar age, work in accounting with 5 years experience and the progression can be slow. I don’t have kids and do have a partner which helps.

Good point. My entire bonus goes to my private pension to try and bolster up.

What is your pension outlook, OP?

It’s below the average (median) full time wage of £39k so not great, no. As you say it’s quite a junior role. Is there a specific reason you don’t want to move into line management roles, it’s hard to progress in the civil service without either specific skills or management?

I'm at SO level as a fully qualified professional with 15+ years experience. The salary is ridiculously low for my experience (£40k) but I have two preschool aged kids and the flexibility and annual leave is amazing. I'm basically treating it as a part time job, I can do nursery runs, appointments, bits and bobs around the house, never have to stress about work and still get everything done. When they're both older and in school, I'll have opportunities for advancement then.

It is a good salary when you get a great pension, fully paid sick leave for a long time, more holidays than private sector, work from home. Good luck with private sector and similar benefits at the moment.

Try for HEO or even business manager roles.

What wage is your partner on?

I really thought you were going to write you had to manage on your wage.

"Literally" being used completely incorrectly there.

Public sector was generally poorer paid compared to equivalent jobs in the private sector but that's pretty old hat nowadays for several reasons

1. there are lots of ps roles that don't have any real private equivalent

2. pay in many jobs in the ps has stagnated, whereas (because of strong unions) ps have tended to have annual pay rises which, while not high, were intended to at least match the increase col

3. doesn't take into account additional benefits more commonly (obviously exceptions going both ways) found in public sector

4. most of the lowest paid jobs are private as well as the highest - agency care workers, retail, beauty, arts...

DD has recently got a role in local government that pays £28k while training.
She gets so many perks re pensions , Holiday allowance and other subsidies.

she is 25.
Her job allows for so many training opportunities and an almost guaranteed salary upgrade each year.
she actually turned down a graduate position in the CS for this reason.
she has the freedom to chose her training going forward and can do almost any post grad qualification for future progression.

I was initially quite wary of her turning down CV role, but she knows what she’s doing.

I don’t think the CS route is what it once was.

(when she finishes training she’ll be on £34K)

I work in Local Government and earn £39k ish. No degree (or even a levels actually). Have a look around maybe and look to make a change, see if you can move away from the admin side of things and it could increase your earning potential.

Objectively, no. It’s significantly below the national average, which is around 40k full time, and that includes people with no qualifications.

You do know that plenty of people do have to manage on such a wage (and less)?
So many children living in poverty.
Unemployment going up.

Civil service is not the only employer that offers WFH and flexi etc.
I really dislike people trying to make you feel bad for wanting to do better because you should be grateful for the pension.
Of course I appreciate the pension is good but that is not everyone's number 1 priority.

I’m early 50s and have spent a lot of my career in HE and third sector with some private sector in between - not sure how comparable my experience is compared to CS. I haven’t earned below £40k for about 20 years, so I’d say it’s very low. One way to increase may be to move into private sector for a while? One of my biggest regrets in one job was not making the move for internal promotion early enough, and not making it known I was keen to move up. When I moved to my current job I did both of those things and have been successful.