£7,200 Is The Pay Rise Magic Number

For someone earning the average UK salary of £27,600, the figure equates to an extra £3.46 per hour- or a 26% pay rise to £34,800 per year.

With the the cost of living varying significantly across the UK, people’s perceptions of what it would take to achieve a comfortable life differ from region to region. Employees in Wales say a rise of just £4,300 would suffice, while those in southeast England feel they’d need £9,900.

While a clear majority of workers want to earn more money to feel comfortable, a surprising 23% of people in the East of England say they don’t need a pay rise because their ‘life is comfortable’ with their current salary. By contrast, just 5% of workers in Bristol say they are comfortable on their current salary.

The research suggests there may also be a ‘gender pay rise gap’, with just 38% of women planning to ask for more money in the coming year compared to more than half of men. More than a tenth of women say they are too embarrassed to discuss a pay rise with their employer; nearly three times the proportion of men who are put off by embarrassment.

Despite having the highest average salaries in the country at £34,473, two thirds of Londoners plan to ask for a pay rise this year. At the other end of the scale, workers in Yorkshire are least likely in Britain to ask for rise, with just 35% planning to do so in 2018.