£16,271 Below Average wage?

Buffman · 4 Mar 2015 at 19:59

I can appreciate being fixed to location for family etc but have you cast the net wider? I graduated recently and that seems fairly low pay wise (however I did engineering and not IT)

Deus Ex · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:06

For the north east, £14 k gross is enough to be reasonably comfortable, especially when you have an nhs pension building.

Schlong&Stable · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:15

Deus Ex said:
For the north east, £14 k gross is enough to be reasonably comfortable, especially when you have an nhs pension building.

o_O

14k gross... comfortable?

Bear · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:26

Electroshadow said:
If you want to earn more early on I suggest go contracting you should easily double your wage and once you have a couple 6 month contracts under your belt you can up your charge rate.

Take civils. My last contract paid 25k to perm employees but contractors got 30quid plus and hour.

I know it people that earn 400 to 500 day rates albeit in or around London.

People that hire contractors want people highly skilled, not people lacking experience. They want to give you work and for you to hit the road running. I earn approx £500 a day in Edinburgh as a contractor so it's not just limited to London, in fact I've known people with specialist skills on £1k a day in London.

drumlegend · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:37

Deus Ex said:
For the north east, £14 k gross is enough to be reasonably comfortable, especially when you have an nhs pension building.

Well it would just be over £14k take home, not gross

Stewy · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:38

Thompson_NCL said:
I am not sure £16k is a viable living wage, even in the North East. I earn about £30k and am hardly living in the lap of luxury.

r u srs.

You can easily live in Leeds on ~14k+ really, live well for ~22k and live like a king on 30k+.

DAnDan · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:15

JOSH86 said:
I live in surrey and earn around £25k, that is considered a very low wage in this area.

I think they take the whole of England into account when they do these types of surverys. In the NE that could be a perfectly viable living wage, however with rent prices etc down here hat wouldn't get you very far.

Currently living in Surrey on £14k as a PhD student. Luckily it's tax free, so still able to get by alright. Not helped by the living costs around here though!

silversurfer · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:34

My old landlady bought her house for 10k, an old coal miner's house with no central heating.
A bargain but not near any major town, where as in london I think you could easily pay in 1 year 10k in rent for something smaller then a two bedroom house no problem

shifty_uk · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:35

I think I need to reassess my finances if anyone here is living comfortably on <16k.

edit: that's on the basis that you guys are referring to a single person/income household.

Housey · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:45

Stewy said:
r u srs.

You can easily live in Leeds on ~14k+ really, live well for ~22k and live like a king on 30k+.

You know some poor kings.

helpimcrap · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:46

I live in Midlands and earn about £18k a year and get by fine - my yearly outgoings including my mortgage/sky etc are about £6k.

I can't ever moan about paying tax/N.I. because I cost the NHS about £1m. lol.

DAnDan · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:47

shifty_uk said:
I think I need to reassess my finances if anyone here is living comfortably on <16k.

edit: that's on the basis that you guys are referring to a single person/income household.

So I'm on £14k, but tax free, so effectively a fair bit more. I get by with enough left to put a few thousand in a savings account each year. But this is in a house share with three other people.

Living alone on this much would be basically impossible down south, or a horrible quality of life if you managed it.

Dureth · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:57

Stewy said:
r u srs.

You can easily live in Leeds on ~14k+ really, live well for ~22k and live like a king on 30k+.

£30K is roughly around £1800 a month take home. In Hampshire (not even THAT close to London, just down South) a 1 bed flat costs ~£600 a month in rent. A 3 bed terrace or small semi detached would be ~£1000 a month in rent. Add on council tax of £120 a month, gas and electric of ~£70 a month, water ~£25 a month, TV license ~£15 a month, car costs (insurance, mot, tax servicing) ~£100 a month and you are left with £470 to buy food, clothes, a mobile phone contract, maybe a sky subscription, save for a replacement car or household goods. £30K does not get you very far AT all down south. It is enough to comfortably get by but without much if any safety net for when things might go wrong.

Janesy B · 4 Mar 2015 at 22:03

Spook187 said:
The wages in this country is a joke for many, doesn't even cover the cost of living, Great bloody Britain

We have it so much better than some countries. You could work full time in Portugal and only get €427.46 before tax, with our minimum it's €1389!

Spook187 · 4 Mar 2015 at 22:14

Janesy B said:
We have it so much better than some countries. You could work full time in Portugal and only get €427.46 before tax, with our minimum it's €1389!

Yes of course you are correct, maybe we have it better in some ways, but still large chunks of our salary goes on the cost of living, i do alright at the moment but i have had very dark days before i feel for people with nothing left after they pay it all out on living costs

flinco · 4 Mar 2015 at 22:39

I'm on a £25k grad scheme in the Midlands. Life is comfortable enough, saving at least a third of my income. I prefer to live in a house share with an en-suite rather than throwing away another £300 a month though. Should be on £27.5k in 18 months then aim to jump ship to at least £32k, if 2 years of grad scheme experience is sufficient.

Nitefly · 4 Mar 2015 at 23:17

Dureth said:
£30K is roughly around £1800 a month take home. In Hampshire (not even THAT close to London, just down South) a 1 bed flat costs ~£600 a month in rent. A 3 bed terrace or small semi detached would be ~£1000 a month in rent. Add on council tax of £120 a month, gas and electric of ~£70 a month, water ~£25 a month, TV license ~£15 a month, car costs (insurance, mot, tax servicing) ~£100 a month and you are left with £470 to buy food, clothes, a mobile phone contract, maybe a sky subscription, save for a replacement car or household goods. £30K does not get you very far AT all down south. It is enough to comfortably get by but without much if any safety net for when things might go wrong.

Flat share much bro?

theMilitant · 5 Mar 2015 at 00:34

Bear said:
People that hire contractors want people highly skilled, not people lacking experience. They want to give you work and for you to hit the road running. I earn approx £500 a day in Edinburgh as a contractor so it's not just limited to London, in fact I've known people with specialist skills on £1k a day in London.

If you don't mind my asking, what kind of contracting work do you do? And is it difficult in your experience to maintain constant employment as a contractor? I'm contemplating possibly going down the contracting route at some point in the future, but would like a lot more experience first.

dowie · 5 Mar 2015 at 00:48

You'll often already know if there is a valuable contractor market for your skillset.

Angilion · 5 Mar 2015 at 02:42

Thompson_NCL said:
I am not sure £16k is a viable living wage, even in the North East. I earn about £30k and am hardly living in the lap of luxury.

I earn £14K and I'm living comfortably enough for me and I have saved £2000 as a buffer for potential emergencies.

What constitutes a viable living wage varies tremendously depending on circumstances. I am very lucky (I was able to buy a house for £28K, years back when prices were very different indeed) and I have made choices which greatly reduce my spending (no car, no children, no holidays, no smoking, no drinking, etc).

Sure, I'd like the national average wage. It would significantly improve my life. But my current income is viable for me as long as nothing goes seriously wrong.