The 10 highest salary increases for the year ahead

In keeping with the trajectory of the last few years, the UK labour market continues to be shaped by rapidly evolving skills demands, a turbulent economic landscape, and radical political change. Though inflation has eased, the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, while the fiscal implications of Labour’s recent budget will be challenging for many businesses to offset.

Despite this uncertain picture, however, hiring plans for the year ahead remain busy and employees are showing a renewed interest in changing jobs for those that offer more robust career progression opportunities. There is also no let up on the talent shortages that have troubled organisations in recent years, with 93% of employers saying they have faced a lack of the right skills over the past 12 months, almost no change from last year and the year before. As a result, pay is projected to increase for the most in-demand roles (are you being paid the right salary?) as employers seek to attract and retain the vital skills they need to fulfil their organisation’s most urgent priorities.

In compiling our annual Hays Salary & Recruiting Trends guide we analyse over 10,000 salaries using information gathered from job listings, job offers and candidate registrations across our UK office network. This, combined with our survey – which this year received just under 11,000 responses – presents a highly comprehensive picture of salaries, recruiting trends and insights.

Out of this research comes three vital questions:

• What’s driving salary increases?
• Where are these increases highest?
• Will pay inflation continue?

Certain sectors seeing above-average pay rises

Salaries across the UK professions in our guide rose by an average of 2.4% over the last year. While this is lower than last year’s 3.5%, certain sectors saw higher-than-average pay increases, including business support (4.7%), engineering and manufacturing (4.1%), legal (4%) and accountancy and finance (3.6%).

Whilst the list below is not necessarily a reflection of the highest paid jobs on the market currently, it does give an excellent indication of the areas seeing the most growth potential. It includes roles across engineering and manufacturing, technology, and legal.

Salaries moving upward, but pay transparency an issue

Upward salary momentum is set to continue over the coming year, with 80% of employers intending to give their employees a pay rise in 2025 – higher than the 77% who intended to the year before. However, pay transparency is a crucial issue that could negatively affect employers’ standing with staff. While 80% of professionals believe it’s important for their organisation to be transparent about how pay levels and pay rises are set, only just over half (56%) believe their employer is consistently transparent in this regard. Employees are also split about whether they think they’re paid the same as their equally capable colleagues. Less than a third (31%) believe they’re paid equally, while 34% don’t believe they are, and 35% are unsure.

This lack of clarity is also having an impact on recruitment. Over half (56%) of professionals would not consider applying for a role that doesn’t include the salary on the job description, but only 37% of employers say that their organisation always includes salary information when advertising jobs.

‘The great dissatisfaction’ could spell trouble for employers

Rising employee frustrations around career progression are also set to turn up the heat on organisations when it comes to talent retention in the coming year. According to our research, nearly half of workers (48%) believe there isn’t scope for career progression within their current organisation, a steep jump from the 32% who said the same last year. Over a third (37%), meanwhile, plan to move jobs in the next six months. If employers want to avoid a potential mass exodus in 2025, then giving employees clear visibility of their future career path at your organisation – even if you cannot currently offer a pay rise – will be essential.

For professionals who are keen to move but feeling trapped by a lack of upward mobility at their own organisation and what they perceive as a stultifying external jobs market, hiring plans may be more buoyant than they anticipate. 78% of employers say they plan to recruit in the coming 12 months, so if you’re unhappy in your current role, keeping a close eye on the latest vacancies and ensuring your CV is up to date and ready to go will put you in a good position to take advantage of new opportunities in the coming year. 

Find out more about how salaries and employment trends are changing by checking out our Hays Salary & Recruiting trends guide here.