What to put for salary expectation?

[Paperexcelandpens]

I'm applying for an internal role and need to put a salary expectation in the job application.

I'm not sure whether to put a higher salary (but worry that it's higher than they can manage and would reject the application straight away) or put a lower salary (and potentially miss out on a higher salary that they would have paid). As it's an internal role they'll be able to see my current salary if I got the job.

Our company is also giving everyone a pay rise of 5% in the next couple of months, do I build this into my salary expectation?

Is it a promotion? Doesn't your company publish salary bands?

It's a sideways move so not a promotion. They do publish salary bands but they are £30k wide bands (eg from £30k to £60k)

Put 10% more than what your new salary will be after the 5%
Don’t undersell yourself. If they ask, do your research and see what others are paid

I had to move cities and work my way back up from a few rungs down. I've done that through getting a fixed term contract and working my way up through 3-4 different roles. From my very first application I put my salary expectation as the starting salary for the higher paid role that I to leave; it was almost 50% more than my first fixed term contract in the new organisation. 5 years later I'm on 10% more than the "desired salary". I would put down your genuine salary ambition. If you have the right skills and experience, they shouldn't rule you out because of that.

(all roles I worked up through were in the same company - so they all knew what I was earning already).

I am 95% certain you are a woman by your post. A friend’s advice to me was to think like a man when asking for pay rises. Do you have any colleagues who are as experienced as you are but male, super confident and somehow seem to always have their superiors on side? What salary would they put down? Put that figure down.

If that doesn’t work for you, think of the salary you would feel comfortable asking for and then add 10%.

If we move sideways where I work there is no pay rise. Depends on whether the rules where you work are similar.

You are looking at this the wrong way round. It's not about what they're willing to pay but what you are willing to accept to get the job.

If you think the job is worth xx and you are also worth xx then that is the salary you should put down. Make sure this is a realistic figure based on industry standard and your current pay/band as it's an internal move.

Personally, if it was me and it was a sideways move and I knew I had all the relevant transferable skills to perform the role then I’d be putting in the top of the band. Worst they can do is offer less, but there’s always a chance they won’t.

There are no rules that say if its a sideways move then there's no payrise.
I've checked online for current vacancies in my area for this role and all salary ads now say 'competitive salary' which helps nobody and means I have nothing to compare to.