How to Talk About Salary as a New Graduate

Not sure how much you should be earning in your first graduate job? This guide covers the current graduate salary landscape, your rights around pay transparency, and practical tips for negotiating your offer with confidence. Learn how to research salary bands, read job adverts like a pro, and understand what your take-home pay will actually look like.

Brandan Kaul

How to Talk About Salary as a New Graduate

If you are starting your first graduate job search, you are probably wondering what salary to expect. The short answer is that it depends on your sector, your location, and the employer, but having a reliable baseline helps you spot a fair offer when you see one.

The median graduate starting salary in 2025 is 32,000 GBP, unchanged from the year before ^[1]. Among the UK's top 100 graduate employers, the median rises to 35,000 GBP, up from 30,000 GBP five years ago ^[2]. For context, the median gross annual earnings for all full-time UK employees is 39,039 GBP as of April 2025 ^[4], so graduate salaries sit a little below the national median at the start, but the gap closes over time.

Graduates see a median salary of 50,000 GBP after three years, a 56% increase from their starting salary ^[1]. And five years after graduation, the median first-degree graduate earns 33,300 GBP, which rose 2.3% in real terms since 2022-23 ^[3].

How sector affects starting salary

Where you start your career makes a big difference to your pay packet. The sector variation is wide ^[2]:

Investment banking: 55,000 to 65,000 GBP base salary
Magic Circle law firms: 56,000 GBP
Management consulting: 49,500 to 52,000 GBP
Aldi graduate area manager: 50,000 GBP
Civil Service Fast Stream: approximately 31,554 GBP
Engineering: 28,000 to 35,000 GBP

If you have a first-class degree, 89.4% of graduates are in employment, with 71.5% in high-skilled roles. For those with a 2:1, it is 88.5% (69.8% high-skilled), and for a 2:2 it is 86.3% (64.7% high-skilled) ^[5].

The hiring picture right now

It is worth knowing that the graduate recruitment market has tightened. Hiring at top employers has fallen 24.5% since 2022, with a further 0.5% decrease expected for 2026 ^[7]. Broader entry-level hiring is down 5% ^[7]. This means competition is stronger, so being well-informed about salary helps you make confident decisions when an offer does come.

Graduate hiring at top UK employers has fallen 24.5% since 2022. ^[7]

There is also a documented gap in salary expectations. 51% of female respondents expected to earn more than 30,000 GBP after graduation, compared with 63% of male respondents. Men were twice as likely as women to expect earnings above 50,000 GBP, and women's starting salary expectations were 15% lower than men's ^[6]. This gap is linked to systemic factors such as subject choice and career aspirations, not simply individual confidence, and it is one reason pay transparency matters for everyone.

Know Your Rights Around Pay

Before you start negotiating, it helps to understand what protection you have under UK law. Many graduates are not aware of their legal rights around discussing pay, and employers are not always upfront about them.

Pay secrecy clauses are not enforceable

If your contract includes a clause saying you cannot discuss your salary with colleagues, you should know that Section 77 of the Equality Act 2010 makes such clauses unenforceable when the discussion is a 'relevant pay disclosure', that is, when you are trying to find out whether there is a connection between pay and a protected characteristic such as sex, race, or disability ^[8]. You are protected from victimisation if you make or seek such a disclosure.

Equal pay law

Under the Equality Act 2010, men and women are entitled to equal pay for 'equal work', meaning the same work, similar work, work rated as equivalent, or work of equal value ^[12]. This covers basic salary, wages, pension, working hours, annual leave, overtime, redundancy pay, sick pay, performance-related pay, and benefits.

Gender pay gap reporting

Employers with 250 or more employees must report their gender pay gap data every year ^[9]. This data, published on the Gender Pay Gap Service, shows the mean and median hourly and bonus pay gaps, plus pay quartile breakdowns ^[9]. Action plans are currently voluntary but are expected to become mandatory from spring 2027.

Salary in job adverts

There is currently no legal requirement for UK employers to include salary ranges in job adverts ^[10]. However, a 2025 government consultation proposes changing this, which would require employers to publish pay information in adverts or provide it in writing before interviews ^[10]. For now, existing non-statutory government guidance encourages employers to include pay information, make it clear if pay is negotiable, and publish promotion and reward criteria ^[11]. You can always ask.

How to Research Salary Before Applying

Knowing what a fair salary looks like for your target role means doing a bit of homework. The good news is that several free, reliable tools are available.

The Gender Pay Gap Service

Every large employer's gender pay gap data is publicly available on the Gender Pay Gap Service (gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk) [16]. You can search for any employer with 250 or more employees and view their mean and median pay gaps, bonus gaps, and pay quartile data. This gives you insight into how pay is distributed across the organisation, useful context before you even apply ^[13].

ONS data

The Office for National Statistics publishes the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which provides authoritative industry-level pay data broken down by sector ^[15]. You can benchmark salaries for your target industry using two-digit and four-digit SIC industry codes.

Prospects job profiles

Prospects.ac.uk offers detailed job profiles with sector-specific salary information, helping you understand typical pay ranges for different roles ^[18]. They also have practical advice on how to discuss salary expectations during interviews.

What other employees think

A global Glassdoor survey found that 70% of employees believe salary transparency is good for employee satisfaction, and 72% believe it is good for business ^[17]. UK employees aged 25-34 are more likely to understand compensation at all company levels (69%) than those aged 45-54 (55%) ^[17]. The appetite for openness about pay is clearly there.

How to Read Pay Bands in Job Adverts

When a job advert includes a salary range, you can use the Gender Pay Gap Service to look up that employer's pay distribution data, giving you a fuller picture of how the organisation values its people ^[13].

Prospects recommends the following approach when reading pay bands ^[14]:

Check if a salary is listed in the job description
Research similar roles and industry averages using Prospects job profiles
If asked for salary expectations, do not give too wide a range
State that you are willing to be flexible and negotiate

'My research suggests most graduate entrants earn between X and Y.' ^[22]

Having a specific, well-researched figure in mind makes you appear professional and prepared, and it helps you recognise when an offer is genuinely competitive.

How to Negotiate Your Salary

Negotiating your first salary can feel daunting, but employers expect it, especially for graduate roles. You are not being pushy; you are being professional.

Prepare your case

Acas advises that you can ask for a pay rise if it is not already guaranteed by your contract or a collective agreement, and you should give reasons why you believe a rise is appropriate ^[19]. The same logic applies when accepting a job offer: prepare your case with research and evidence.

Put it in writing

Acas recommends putting any salary negotiation request in writing, a letter or email, including the change you are asking for, the reasons why, and when you would like it to happen ^[20]. Check the employer's policies first to see if there is a set process. If the employer agrees, they must put any changes to main terms in writing within one month ^[20].

Know your rights

Asking for a pay rise is unlikely to be a fair reason for dismissal. Employees with two years of service who are dismissed may be able to claim unfair dismissal ^[21]. It would be automatically unfair if dismissed after asking for a legal right such as the minimum wage.

Consider the total package

Your salary is only part of the picture. Prospects advises thinking about the total package: pension contributions, training opportunities, flexible hours, and other benefits ^[22]. A slightly lower starting salary with excellent pension matching and generous training budget could work out better in the long run.

When negotiating, you can ask about:

The most likely route to a salary rise
Pension contribution levels
Training and development budgets
Flexible or hybrid working arrangements
Relocation costs or other one-off benefits [18]

Prospects also recommends getting any revised offer in writing before you accept ^[22].

Your Employment Contract and Pay Terms

Your employer must provide a written principal statement on or before your first day of work. This must include the amount and frequency of your pay, working hours, holiday and sick pay, notice period, and probation period ^[23]. Certain terms such as pension arrangements, collective agreements, and disciplinary procedures can be provided within two months.

If your employer verbally agrees to a change in your pay, that agreement is usually legally binding, but it is best practice to have everything in writing to avoid disputes ^[24]. Changes to main terms must be put in writing within one month.

What You'll Actually Take Home

A 32,000 GBP salary sounds good on paper, but understanding tax and National Insurance helps you budget realistically.

Income Tax

Every UK employee has a Personal Allowance of 12,570 GBP on which no income tax is payable (frozen until at least 2026-27) ^[25]. You then pay:

Basic rate (20%): on earnings from 12,571 GBP to 50,270 GBP
Higher rate (40%): on earnings from 50,271 GBP to 125,140 GBP

Most graduates in their first job will only pay the basic rate of 20% on earnings above 12,570 GBP. Note that Scotland has different income tax bands, so check the separate rates if you are working there ^[25].

National Insurance

Class 1 employee National Insurance is ^[26]:

8%: on earnings between 12,570 GBP and 50,270 GBP
2%: on earnings above 50,270 GBP

A worked example: 32,000 GBP salary

For a graduate earning the median starting salary of 32,000 GBP:

This is a rough illustration. Your exact take-home pay will depend on your pension contributions, student loan repayments (Plan 2, Plan 5, or Postgraduate Loan), and any other deductions. This is not personal financial advice, for independent money guidance, visit MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk).

Putting It All Together

Knowing how to talk about salary is a skill, and like any skill it gets easier with practice. Start by researching your target roles using the tools mentioned above. Know your rights under the Equality Act. Prepare what you want to say. And remember: asking for fair pay is not rude or greedy, it is a normal part of professional life.