UK Engineering Salary Survey
Verso's own hiring data set against official UK statistics: what engineers currently earn versus what employers are budgeting to hire one now. Two sources, never blended, always labelled - covering six core engineering disciplines.
Drawn from 2023-2026 briefing data
What engineers earn versus what it costs to hire one
For each discipline: Verso's median briefed maximum, what employers are budgeting to hire one now, against the ONS median, what people in that occupation actually earn. That gap is the real cost of hiring.
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Sponsorship floor (statutory)
Sponsoring an engineer from overseas means meeting a statutory going rate set by the Home Office, a percentile of the same ONS distribution above rather than an independent figure. A budget below it rules out sponsorship for that role. Source: gov.uk, Skilled Worker going rates. Exact floors by discipline are on each discipline's own page.
The brief headroom
Verso data - brief headroom
£10,000
The median gap between the minimum and maximum salary on the same brief: roughly 18% on top of the advertised minimum. A client's real budget typically stretches well past the headline minimum on a job advert. A candidate anchoring their expectations to that minimum is very likely underselling what the role can actually pay.
Comparator
Pick a discipline to see the briefed-vs-actual gap calculated on its own.
Electronic Design
Download chart (PNG)- 25th pct
- £55,000
- Median
- £65,000
- 75th pct
- £70,000
- ONS actual median
- £51,973
Sponsorship floor (statutory) for this discipline: £52,000. Derived from the same ONS distribution shown above, not an independent figure.
Cite this survey
Built from Verso's own briefed-salary dataset alongside ONS ASHE and Home Office Skilled Worker figures. Full source, licence and attribution details are on the methodology page.
Verso Recruitment Group. (n.d.). Verso UK Engineering Salary Survey. https://www.versorecruitment.com/salary-survey
Verso's figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; ONS and Home Office figures retain their own Open Government Licence v3.0 terms. Attribution wording for both is on the methodology page.
Frequently asked questions
Hiring manager
Is your budget still competitive?
If a briefed budget sits below the ONS actual-earnings median, or below the statutory sponsorship floor for a role you might need to sponsor, that search is going to stall. Talk to us before it does.
Talk to us about a briefCandidate
See what your discipline actually pays
Compare what employers are budgeting against what the ONS says people in your role currently earn, then see live roles in your discipline.
See live roles