Salary banded job - can I negotiate?

[nownever]

I have been offered a government position which was advertised at a certain band, i.e. a scale with a lower figure and a higher one. I understand that most external candidates will start on the lower figure which I am fine with, but is it acceptable to ask if there is any room for negotiation or is that an absolute faux pas?

I very much will be taking the position, but obviously don't want to leave money on the table if there is any sort of wiggle room. The job is one which I believe would require quite niche skills (which I understand sometimes qualifies for entry above the lowest point), but I can't be 100% certain.

If deemed acceptable to query, advice as to how I can phrase this politely would be welcomed.

That’s the CS recruitment principles.

Definitely ask. Have worked in public sector HR in the past and if you ask they generally budge, particularly if you can demonstrate skills etc and also if you’d been on higher elsewhere - someone once brought their payslip in to demonstrate this so they received a higher salary. Most employers wouldn’t want employees coming into the business with a financial detriment as they may leave.

Just to be clear, they phoned / emailed to say "congratulations, we are offering you the job, salary will be XXX, if you want to accept we will send you the formal paperwork for the offer and start the pre-employment checks" and you said "yes please" ? And while you are waiting for all this to happen, you are wondering about salary and flexible working?

Sorry to be pedantic, I don't want to give you bad advice as I know this is so important!

When I hire people (in the private sector) I would expect your queries to come up before you verbally accept. If when I ring you with the offer you raise the points about flexible working and salary, I would resolve those issues first before I raise the formal paperwork and start the referencing process etc. To be honest, I would have some concerns if you raised these issues after you have verbally accepted. It wouldn't create a great impression for me.

Sorry I just re-read, you accepted the role but they haven't specified the salary. Definitely ask for more in that case!

Out of interest, was there a reason you didn't ask what the salary will be when they offered the job?

@Asiama I have not been able to speak to my LM yet, and wanted to have discussions relating to this verbally as opposed to email. Because it is a government job (and similar to some posters at the top of this thread) I presumed that I would be entering on the lowest point as I'm an external recruitment, but since starting the checks I realised it wouldn't hurt to query this. As such, I plan to do so when I am able to talk with my LM. I have not formally been offered/accepted anything yet - the offer is provisional and dependent on my passing the checks.

@Asiama it's all a bit different in the public sector, but completely agree re. approach in the private! Just to clarify, I haven't seen any paperwork or agreed anything formally yet - I just know that I am the 'preferred candidate' predicated on passing the checks I have referred to. Once that happens, then a formal offer will materialise.

Sounds all very different to the private sector. I would ask, the worst they can say is no, otherwise you will be wondering "what if". Good luck!

There is 6 spine points in my band and i started two from the top donut can be done. My LM offered me this straight away though based on my experience and I didn’t negotiate it. We go up a spine point each year automatically till you reach the top.

I've been in a banded role for 3 years. Started at the bottom, stayed at the bottom. The upper band is high but unachievable as apparently there is no money for pay rises. Colleagues who have been there longer than me are still on same salary. Same as me.

@Murinae I'm hoping that my LM will do the same as like I say, I am yet to have anything confirmed to me in terms of my exact pay or working pattern!

I know for a fact that you can negotiate higher within the band - I work for the NHS and a colleague of mine who was a contractor to begin with applied for a permanent job but only on the proviso that he was paid x amount salary - it was certainly not the bottom of the pay scale for his band.

@PullUpTerrain are you NHS? If so, I don't see how you could have stayed at the bottom of your band? There is an incremental pay rise based on your start date every year where you move up to the next Spine point automatically.

It is only with this current pay rise that it has now become dependent on your reviews and the pay rise date has moved to April (although no longer annual depending on where you are in the band). I received my pay rise on 1st April with no review etc. So it seems it is still automatic.

Sherlock not NHS. FCO, overseas - locally employed.

Why would you assume you would start at the bottom of the band?

Parts of the civil service only recruit at the bottom of the band. Worse, there is no mechanism to rise once you are employed - no "spine points" or similar.

Not public sector but banded roles at my work. I assumed same as you I had to start at the bottom. 5 years on I've found out I'm the lowest paid of our grade in the team, yet have the most experience. Should have haggled a bit!

That said, unless you have a lot of recent and directly relevant experience in the field, I doubt they would appoint you at the top of the scale or anywhere near

You'll really need to justify that you are significantly above any candidate that would normally start at the bottom to have a chance.

Also, dont just go by your gross salary but by your net one. Local government have excellent pension scheme that mean that after contribution, you are not forcibly worse off than you were before.

I recently started a new civil service job and negotiated up to the top of the band. It was a shortage, specialist role with a market adjustment on it already so that helped, but always ask. Unapologetically.