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!

Her mom in the midlands probably isn't.

Agree with this, the CS offers a lot of progression but in a very different way to the private sector. You dont proceed through honing your craft, building a great reputation in you role and proving your loyalty, you move up by talking up your strengths as a generalist and moving departments regularly. I don't think that is a good thing btw and the higher you go the more you see that the process positively selects of bullshitters with broad but shallow knowledge, but it is the way to career build.

It might be lower than the private sector but bet your employer pensions are more than 4%…

Unless the role really is your vocation in life I struggle to understand why people work in the public sector. The pay is appalling for anyone with even a modicum of ability.

Any semi competent person should be able to at least double their pay in the private sector vs public sector.

So, getting TOIL instead of paid overtime is unbelievable to you? Why?

Flexi time is common in private and public sector.

That's more than enough then. If you both take jome £30k+

£65k doesn't allow a "good life". It covers the basics with a little left over.

Because they want to do work they think benefits others?
Because they are in jobs that don't exist (or are very limited numbers, e.g. private teachers vs state, private nurses vs NHS) in the private sector?
Because they work to live, rather than live to work?
Because actually pay is pretty crap in many, many private companies and sectors too?

Given far more people work in the private sector than public, and the average wage is still only £36k, basic economics suggests that for many jobs there really isn't that much difference!

What is your degree and masters subject/s? Do you need these for your role? Can you look at chaging to a field that pays better eg finance / banking etc?

There are lots of HEO roles that do not have line management responsibility. I am an SEO without line management responsibility and there are numerous Grade 7 roles that also do not. You need to be looking for roles you can do, not roles you can't.

It's unbelievable because in the private sector, once you are above an entry pay-grade, you are expected to work overtime until the work is done. And no, flexi time doesn't exist everywhere.

My partner stopped getting overtime in his early 40s when he was a snr manager(overtime had been paid for working after 5pm and sometimes with big projects he would be at work till 9pm.)

In a snr role, you are expected to stay until the work is done, not clock off at precisely 5pm.

One of my kids often works a 12 hr day and that's in the private sector.

In investment banking, people the same age as the OP can work 18 hr days if there is something important going on - and no 'weekends off in lieu'.

Not true at all I earn 50k salary and get overtime, my dh is a mid manager and on 71k and also gets overtime.

There do seem to be generalisations about the Civil Service. My team leader is a HEO and has regularly had to come in on days off and work extra, for £38k, he'll get TOIL but it's definitely not a case of switching off the laptop at 3 and not giving it a second thought.

Great, but AO, EO, HEO are not senior management roles. I doubt the SCS grades are getting TOIL.

Plenty of us grunts are badly paid, over worked and we stay until the job is done.

Even police officers (Constables and Sergeants) get TOIL or OT, and they sure as hell don't get to clock off on time. Nor do ambulance crews, fire service, Coastguard or any one of dozens of other front line public sector teams.

The Civil Service is by no means one homegenous mass of desk dwellers who work 7.24hrs per day and not a moment more.

It all depends on role and department. I am an SEO with no line management responsibilities and no requirement to work beyond my hours.

I feel like you have a very narrow view of what working in the Civil Service is like and don't seem to want to take on any advice that has been offered throughout this thread from experienced civil servants.

I know! I’m admin and I see that as a darned good salary. I live in Herts, so not struggling In London.

This was my thought. That's close to HEO salary for most of the country. I'm assuming a well paid department and/ or London.

EO is often considered an entry level grade, certainly if you have a master's and relevant experience. £32k is a good entry level salary, but it is not an amazing salary. If that makes sense? 10/15 years ago it was a very good salary. But everything has gone up a lot faster than public salary wages in that time.

OP, have you looked at any of the Civil Service networking and training schemes? Have you talked to anyone about career progression and where you would like to be? Have you looked at options in other civil service departments?

Whilst it’s not a good wage you get a 27% pension?

I used to work in the CS on £32,000 as an EO I have a degree from a Russell group uni. The recruitment is diabolical. They don’t recognise the person it’s how to pass a test. Great for initial sifting. Not so much for getting people who will think outside the box etc.

I’m not much better now - £34,000 in a legal job. Similar age - feels like I’ve made a poor career choice amplified with poor job market conditions.

I’d take any level in the CS because I have an autoimmune condition and the private sector isn’t as accommodating to such circumstances but alas there are far too many applying for too little roles.

Same here OP. Also degree and masters and in CS, earning around the same. Alone it wouldn't be enough, but in dual income its plenty. I dont look at private sector as I know the job satisfaction wouldn't be the same. But if you cant see a way of progressing (very common in CS with job cuts/freezes) then looking elsewhere might be a good idea.

Ex CS here .
You need to be really focused to get promoted in the CS and being flexible on location helps. Apply if you meet 70% of the essential criteria too. Try to do work above your grade eg deputise, volunteer for things like staff networks so you can network with higher grades too. Ignore the "happy on 30k" lot, plenty of them around in the CS, infuriating if you want more.
Incidentally I didn't get promoted as high as I wanted, left, and I'm now earning a lot more for a lot less stress in higher education professional services.

In London, no. Elsewhere it might be.

Depends on which generation you were born into. For older generations who bought cheap property and have little or no mortgage, £65k is decent. For younger generations with high rent/mortgage, not so much.

You may not want to hear this OP but my DH was stuck on this grade in CS for 3 years. He moved area and got 2 promotions within 2 years. You might need to move to progress.

For younger generations with more rent and more expectations generally - based on the back of many threads including the one where having nails done and regular coffees out was seem as short term stringent saving