Civil Service job ad salary range?

[newhomein2025]

Hello - I’m hoping for some advice re an advertised salary for a role. It says:
‘Salary £25,235 - £28,131
Our starting salary is £25,235 with the maximum salary on this
scale being £28,131 as of January 2025 (subject to future pay awards).’

If your current salary is £28800, and you have lots of transferable experience, could you expect to receive the rate of £28,131? Or does everyone start on £25,235? Thanks.

Sounds like an AO scale and as far as I'm aware you start at the bottom. You then get an annual increment until you reach the top of the scale or get promoted.

It's been a while since I've had any direct experience so someone else will confirm.

Unless you're moving from another government department you'll start at the lower end. Experience isn't taken into account.

Generally speaking it’s bottom of the salary, but it isn’t impossible to negotiate coming in from the outside, I’ve heard of it happening, but might be tricker if it’s not a role with a particular specialism though. Worth noting you don’t progress through the range like you do in other organisations either, only the annual cost of living price rises.

I'm CS and have found from personal experience and from talking to others that even though there is a salary range, expect to start at the bottom. There also doesn't seem to be many opportunities to move up the pay scale on a particular grade so the only way to get a decent payrise is promotion, meaning people promote for money not skills.

If it is less than you are currently on, look at the other benefits to see if they balance it out, ie pension, wfh opportunity, job progression, sick pay. One thing I have noticed is that personal development is a big thing with lots of opportunities And wfh is a big pull.

Good luck with what ever you decide

Oh unless it’s one of the devolved nations’ scales, they progress through the scale I believe.

It’s very unusual to get anything other than the bottom.

If it's a specialist role you can negotiate even though the rules say you can't.

Occasionally you can negotiate. Very much depends on budgets too. I lost out on a job because I was top of my pay band and they couldn’t afford that. Annoyingly, I was hating my job at the time and would have taken a pay cut if offered the chance.

Hi - thanks everyone, really appreciate the input. It’s in Scotland if that’s helpful. But I might get in touch with them and check. And that’s a good point re balancing up the other benefits. It’s quite an entry-level role but sounds like lots of opportunities for training. I’m considering a career change so need to see if I can afford it.

Once you’re in the civil service you can’t negotiate on salary. You’ll always find yourself at the bottom of the pay scale unless you do any specific training that comes with a salary uplift.

However, when you join the civil service form the private sector there is the possibility of negotiating on salary. I did this and managed to get the top of the pay scale due to having some specific skills and experience that they wanted. It’s definitely worth a try OP.

For AO recruitment there’s usually a campaign for several vacancies - they usually open the interview by stating you will start at the bottom of the scale and ask if you wish to continue on that basis. I would be very surprised if they were open to negotiating on that level of entry when there are usually many many candidates with similar experience. I would look at applying for HEO roles where your experience would be more relevant

Be a bit wary as there are no increments so in reality you'll start on the bottom and probably still be there in 5 years. I'm about £200 off the bottom of my pay scale after the best part of 10yrs.

@CoastalCalm Thanks - what is AO and HEO please?

In my arm of the civil service you start at the bottom of the scale and if you want to go up within the scale you need to demonstrate evidence of why. You don’t just get increases for being there a certain level of time, you have to be pro-active.

Is it for the Scottish Government? If so the rules are different and they do have pay progression, if it’s one of the core departments jsut based in Scotland it’ll likely not have progression.

AO is Admin Officer which someone suggested might be the grade you’ve applied for based on salary - then they go EO executive officer , HEO , higher executive , SEO , senior executive then G7 - all have salary bands set within civil service but those bands do vary by organisation eg HMRC bands are traditionally better paid than say Home Office

Budget for the bottom line, I'm HMRC and have never heard of anyone negotiating salary below senior civil service. There is scope now to move up the pay scale, just not what it was before.

Thanks, everyone - sounds like I probably can’t afford to take this one, as it only really works if there’s an opportunity for promotion and a decent salary increase after a couple of years. It’s a whole different world - really useful to get all your advice.

You can apply for a promotion if you want a pay increase after a couple of years. That’s how it works in the civil service.

Interesting comments, I joined CS as admin last year and was awarded middle of the advertised pay scale.

You always start at the lowest bracket if you are new to civil servant. They don’t just give you payrises after passing probation etc they have a pay award where all grades get a rise when it’s award. The bracket is there for those transferring across govt

There is nothing to stop you applying for promotion as soon as you start the civil service but I’d wait until you’re through probation. There are always opportunities, you just need to get the behaviours and practice writing personal statements etc

That's really confusing about not having increments. How do you reach the top of the pay scale then? In local government we have increments you get them after the first 6 months then yearly so you will end up at the top of the scale after being there awhile.

There are no annual increments any more. (But possibly there are in Scotland, I’m not sure!)

I’ve heard external candidates can negotiate salaries for some jobs but it’s unlikely at that grade.

The bands exist because if you transfer from a role at the same grade in another department that pays more for the same grade, you’ll retain your salary rather than going down to the minimum.

How do you reach the top? You don’t, in most cases!