Recent UK actuarial graduate adverts with published salaries were broadly in the £31,000–£38,000 range, while recruiter guides show salaries rising substantially through qualification.
At the qualified level, published recruiter ranges vary significantly by practice area. In one 2026 guide, newly qualified ranges ran from around £65,000 in pensions at the lower end to more than £100,000 at the upper end of general insurance.
These are salary-guide ranges, not guaranteed salaries. Location, employer, practice area, experience and bonus all matter. Recruiter guides are also built from the placements those firms made rather than from an audited survey; Selby Jennings says its own guide "should be used as a reference point only".
Examples of advertised graduate salaries, checked July 2026
| Employer | Advertised 2026-cycle graduate pay | How solid |
|---|---|---|
| Lloyd's of London | £38,000, 24-month scheme with IFoA study support | Lloyd's own careers page |
| Government Actuary's Department | £37,768 plus roughly £10,941 employer contribution to the Civil Service DB pension | Job-listing figure; GAD publishes no salary itself |
| Standard Life plc (Phoenix Group until March 2026) | Minimum £36,000 | 2026-cycle advert |
| Hastings Direct | £36,000, reviewed as exams pass | 2026-cycle advert |
| Aviva | £34,200, plus a pay rise for every exam pass | 2026-cycle advert |
| Broadstone | Up to £31,000 (Bristol, York) | Employer advert |
The recruiter guides agree with that spread. Selby Jennings' 2025 Europe Actuarial Compensation Guide puts graduate and junior analysts at £35,000–£40,000 in the London Market and £32,000–£40,000 in the rest of the UK. Goodman Masson's 2026 UK Salary Guide runs £33,000–£50,000 at junior level across the three main practice areas (full table below).
Two figures you will meet elsewhere need care. LCP's "£36,000–£60,000" is a job-board estimate, not a figure LCP publishes. A £42,000 Lloyds Banking Group graduate salary shows up in search results from a listing that had been taken down when we tried to open it in July 2026, so treat it as unconfirmed. Lloyds Banking Group is a retail bank and Lloyd's of London is the specialist insurance market. The two are easy to confuse, so check which one you mean.
GAD's employer pension contribution also shows why headline salary is not the whole package. Compare pension, study support, bonus and other benefits as well as base salary, and find the employer pension percentage in every offer pack before you compare headline figures.
How does pay change as you progress?
Recruiter guides often segment student actuaries partly by exam progress, although individual employers set their own salary policies. The usual bands are junior at 0–4 of the thirteen subjects, part-qualified at 5–9, nearly qualified at 10–13, then newly qualified (a Fellow of 0–1 years) and qualified (2–5 years post-qualification, "PQE" in job adverts).
Goodman Masson's 2026 ladder, three practice areas side by side:
| Level | General insurance | Life | Pensions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior (0–4 exams) | £35k–£50k | £33k–£47k | £33k–£45k |
| Part-qualified (5–9 exams) | £50k–£65k | £45k–£64k | £50k–£55k |
| Nearly qualified (10–13 exams) | £65k–£85k | £58k–£76k | £55k–£65k |
| Newly qualified (0–1 years) | £85k–£110k | £73k–£90k | £65k–£75k |
| Qualified (2–5 years PQE) | £105k–£155k | £85k–£125k | £80k–£90k |
| Senior qualified | £150k+ | £120k+ | £100k–£140k |
Qualified in that table means the IFoA has admitted you as a Fellow: thirteen subjects, sat or exempted, plus at least 36 months of recorded Personal and Professional Development (PPD), which no exam speed shortens. The exams run in two main sessions a year, April and September, and resits are normal.
The step into newly qualified is the one to watch. On Goodman Masson's general insurance bands it is £65,000–£85,000 to £85,000–£110,000. Selby Jennings adds that the gap between nearly and newly qualified is narrowing in general insurance, because the zero-to-two-years post-qualification segment is the most sought-after in that market and counter-offers are now standard.
What each pass adds
Many actuarial employers link salary progression to professional exam progress, although the exact policy varies by firm. The example below comes from one UK employer's policy we have seen, checked July 2026, and shows how that policy rewards individual exam passes.
| Subjects | Rise per pass under this policy |
|---|---|
| CS1, CM2 | £1,000 |
| CS2, CM1 | £1,500 |
| CB1, CB2 | £750 |
| CB3 | £250 |
| CP1 | £3,000 |
| CP2 | £1,000 |
| CP3 | £750 |
| Each Specialist Principles subject | £3,000 |
| The Specialist Advanced subject | £3,500 |
These figures should not be read as a standard tariff across the profession. Employers set their own salary policies, and some use different amounts, progression bands or annual reviews instead.
Where increases work this way they are permanent additions to base salary, paid through payroll, so each one compounds into every later percentage rise. Under this particular policy, the increases total approximately £11,500 through the Associate subjects and £21,000 through the full Fellowship route. Exemptions are often treated differently, with rises staggered across sittings or capped, so ask at offer stage whether increments per pass are written down and whether exemptions earn the same.
The salary calculator puts the published bands behind a picker: set a track, level and region and it returns salary, bonus and total range together, with the source named on screen.
How big is the London premium?
Roughly £10,000–£30,000 depending on level, on Selby Jennings' 2025 numbers.
| Level | London Market (GI/specialty) | Rest of UK, personal lines GI | Rest of UK, life |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part qualified | £50k–£65k | £40k–£55k | £45k–£60k |
| Nearly qualified | £70k–£85k | £55k–£70k | £60k–£75k |
| Newly qualified | £85k–£100k | £65k–£85k | £70k–£90k |
| 2–4 years PQE | £100k–£130k | £80k–£110k | £85k–£120k |
| Manager | £130k–£180k | £90k–£125k | £100k–£140k |
| Head of function | £160k–£220k | £130k–£160k | £140k–£180k |
| Chief Actuary | £220k–£350k+ | £180k–£250k | £180k–£280k |
The premium is small at graduate level. The difference grows at senior levels, particularly in London Market general insurance. Compare that premium with housing, commuting and the type of work you actually want.
Which practice area pays most?
In the Goodman Masson ranges shown above, general insurance is highest at most levels, followed by life and then pensions at qualified levels. General insurance pay is pulled up by specialty and Lloyd's risk, the weight of capital modelling, and the fact that much of that work sits in London. Pensions offers regional offices, client contact from year one or two and a well-used route into life insurers through bulk annuities.
To see what the work behind those numbers looks like, Inside General Insurance covers pricing, reserving and capital in the Lloyd's and company markets; Inside Pensions covers DB valuations, the funding code and the endgame market.
Do bonuses change the answer?
They move the top of the range far more than the bottom. Selby Jennings' indicative recruiter-guide ranges, as a percentage of salary:
| Level | Indicative bonus |
|---|---|
| Graduate / student | 0%–10% |
| Nearly or newly qualified | 10%–25% |
| Post-qualified | 10%–30% |
| Head of department | 30%–50% |
| Chief Actuary | 35%–100%, plus long-term incentives or equity |
These are indicative ranges rather than guaranteed market norms. A graduate's total pay is knowable to within a few thousand pounds and may include no bonus at all. A Chief Actuary's swings by six figures with performance.
What about contracting?
Contract actuarial work becomes relevant later in a career and can carry high day rates, but contractors give up parts of the permanent package such as paid leave, employer pension and job security.
For someone choosing a graduate role, permanent salary and study support are far more relevant.
An illustrative first-year study package
This is an example using the stated fees and 30 study days, not a standard package every employer provides. It assumes a £36,000 salary and published prices.
| Component | Cost to the employer |
|---|---|
| CS1 and CM1 exam entries at £375 each (IFoA schedule effective 1 July 2026) | £750 |
| Two ActEd Combined Materials Packs, about £287 and £321 (prices current 13 April 2026) | £608 |
| Four live tutorial days at £136 | £544 |
| IFoA student subscription (2026/27 rate from 1 October 2026) | £290 |
| 30 paid study days at £36,000 ÷ 260 working days | About £4,150 of paid time |
Roughly £2,200 of cash plus about £4,150 of paid working time: call it £6,300, near 17% of salary. Later subjects cost more. CP1 alone is £786 to enter under the July 2026 schedule, and the straight-through bill for all thirteen entries is £5,906 before a single resit. On UK graduate schemes the employer covers almost all of it.
So a £38,000 offer funding at least two attempts per exam with 30-plus study days can be worth more than a £42,000 offer with one funded attempt and no protected study time. Ask every recruiter: how many attempts per exam do you fund, how many study days per sitting, what happens after a fail, and are increments per pass written down.
How much should you trust these figures?
Recruiter guides reflect the roles and candidates those recruiters see, while aggregator averages can mix locations, seniority levels and practice areas. Treat every range as a dated reference point rather than a guaranteed market rate.
One figure to avoid: several sites cite an "IFoA 2024 salary survey" with Fellow medians of £95,000 nationally and £118,000 in London. We could not find any such survey on the IFoA's own site, so do not present those numbers as an IFoA fact.
Everything here carries a date because the inputs move: IFoA exam fees changed on 1 July 2026, subscriptions change every 1 October, and 2027-cycle graduate adverts land between August and October 2026. Check the live source before you quote anything in an application.
What should you do with these numbers?
In an interview, cite a range with its source and move on to study support: Goodman Masson's 2026 guide puts junior general insurance roles at £35,000–£50,000, and what matters more at offer stage is how many exam attempts the package funds. One big number reads as unresearched, and a wrong one is worse.
Compare the numbers for yourself
The salary calculator lets you compare sourced ranges by practice area, career stage and location.
If you are deciding whether the profession is right for you, the Become an Actuary course covers salary alongside exams, study support and the application process.