How to Work Out Your Minimum Salary for a New Role
This article is part of the Pay, Package and Work-Life Balance guide.
Your minimum salary for a new role is the number below which a job move makes no financial sense. Calculate it by adding your current base salary to all benefits with a cash value: vehicle allowance, pension contribution, overtime and bonus. That total is your baseline. Any new role must meet or exceed it before the conversation is worth having.
Your minimum salary for a new role is not what you would like to earn: it is the number below which a move does not make financial sense. Having this number clearly in mind before any recruitment conversation is one of the most practically useful things you can do.
How do you calculate your minimum salary?
Start with your current total compensation:
- Current base salary
- Plus vehicle allowance or company car value (typically £4,000–£8,000 for a mid-range vehicle)
- Plus employer pension contribution value
- Plus any regular overtime or bonus you can rely on
- Plus any other benefits with a cash equivalent
This is your current financial baseline.
Your minimum for a new role should be at least equal to this baseline, unless you are knowingly trading some financial value for non-financial improvement (less travel, better hours, better culture).
What costs should you account for when moving jobs?
Moving jobs has a financial cost: potential gap between roles, travel changes, parking costs, the cost of new work clothing or equipment if relevant. Factor these into your minimum.
What should you do once you have your minimum salary?
Once you have your minimum, use it as a hard filter. Do not enter a recruitment process for a role that cannot meet it: your time is valuable and the negotiation will end in frustration for both sides.
State your minimum clearly to Optio and to any recruiter you work with. It saves time and produces better outcomes. Candidates who register with Optio can include their minimum as a structured criterion, which means Optio only surfaces roles that meet it from the outset. For more on how Optio uses this data, see how Optio works.
Frequently asked questions
Should my minimum salary match my current take-home pay?
Your minimum should match your current total compensation, not just take-home pay. Include pension, vehicle allowance, and any reliable overtime or bonus. Take-home pay after tax is a useful reality check, but the pre-tax total compensation figure is what you should use for comparisons between offers.
Can I set a minimum below my current salary if I want to move for other reasons?
Yes. If you are trading salary for better hours, less travel or improved culture, your minimum may be lower than your current package. The important thing is to set the threshold deliberately, not to accept less by default during a negotiation.
What if a role I want cannot quite meet my minimum?
Return to the total compensation calculation and identify whether other elements of the offer compensate for the shortfall. A role with lower base salary but better pension, less travel or more predictable hours may exceed your minimum in real-value terms even if the base figure is lower.
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