You need to move, I know some engineers making US$12K a month.

With a family, I always go with security. You have more responsibility than just yourself, so their concern should always be the first concern.

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bummer to hear about the dilemma.

I agree with Steve and others - the benefits sound great, but you need to talk to your boss about the situation. The last thing they'll want is you either exhausting yourself with worry/ 2nd job or leaving after they've made what's probably a significant investment in you.

I would also consider the hidden costs in moving. I've moved a lot both within and between countries and 1.5k isn't going to cover everything. Even after the obvious stuff, like hiring a van/ lorry, paying for a deposit up front before you get your old one back, etc, there are literally hundreds of little money sinks. Even silly stuff like buying new cleaning liquids and the like.

I would also make an thorough list of all your expenditures - groceries (that's all of them, not just your main shop), bills, petrol, everything. You can then go through and make rational decisions about what to keep, what to trim back and what to ditch all together, even if only for the short term. We've just done the same after our health insurance coverage (I'm a Brit in the US) and tax status changed - we went from having $200 or so a month spare after everything essential to just keeping our heads above water. On the bright side, at least you won't be getting any surprise $400 health bills

Hope you work it out!

Ask yourself this, if you get the promotion and make £27K a year, that means that right now rather than having £200 to make it through the month, you're going to have about £350 to make it through the month, is that enough? If you moved, you'd have £700 a month (assuming your expenses stay constant, they may be less or a little more).
You also said "if they ever unfreeze cost of living raises", that is not something I would hold my breath on at any job right now!

At the risk of belabouring the point, but both of your salary options sound really low. You might be trying to optimize around a local maximum. Try taking a step back to explore what the broader landscape looks like. How much does somebody with your level of experience make in the UK? In the big cities? top and bottom of the range? etc. Knowing your real worth can help you structure your salary negotiations a lot better. Most people work on the basis of incremental advances (e.g. I want 3% more), but that makes no sense if you are fundamentally in the wrong range.

Google gave me this: http://www.jobadswatch.co.uk/jobstats/trends/salary
I can't find anything on the list as low as your current options (beyond grad students...).

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good points, the lack of cash is due to my constantly going over my limit and incurring up to £150 in bank charges.....a bigger pay packet would prevent this....

I also currently pay £425 rent per month, the cheapest place I've found near guildford big enough for my family is £700, and the council tax is about £50 a month more too, so that's bye bye to my extra cash....

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I live in fetcham, leatherhead so close to, and have lived in guildford before. It is a damn expensive place to live. For instance, my Ex now rents a single room in a house sharing with 4 other young professionals in guildford. Its a nice place, but not very big, and that's costing her £600 / month just for one room!

Where I live is a little cheaper for rent, but I'm of town and certainly not cheaper to buy.

I'm looking at going the other way, and moving north at the end of the year to buy a house - I could buy one in nottingham for the same price as a large deposit around here & being a builder, I'd rather something that needs work

Good luck, and if you do come down this way, drop me (and RUG) a line - we can at least sort you some epic games!

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I don't think 24k is very high, but I'd be wary of using tools like this to compare salaries, for a couple of reasons:
1. That list is for IT jobs, which as I understand is not exactly what you do
2. London will blow anything else out of the water in IT, and hugely skew the stats (it's also where lots of the jobs are). This is because of financial software. This doesn't seem to be the case for electronics, aside from the normal London weighting.

That being said, making sure you know what you should be on in the wider context should definitely a priority so I would agree with the main thrust of Helge's post. Don't just go for another job with a similar title and similar salary.

Also make sure you have a good handle on the actual difference it will make. Assuming you have a student loan, you will get 60% of any increase from either a pay rise or new job (20% tax, 11% NI, 9% loan), that's £300 per month. It'll be less if the new job's pension is contributory or you have taxable benefits like healthcare. I have absolutely no doubt your cost of living will be higher daan saaf, I have lived in several northern cities including Nottingham, and now live in Cambridgeshire which is probably roughly comparable to Guildford.

If it turns out that the short term gain is going to be negligible after moving jobs (if it costs you an extra £250 a month in rent and £50 in council tax that wipes out your entire pay increase), you should consider the long term ones. Bear in mind that you are currently being paid a lot in benefits relative to your salary: your final salary pension (!) and master's course principally. Is the master's going to increase your medium term earning potential? Are there more opportunities to move to a new job again in the future in the midlands or in guildford?

On the subject of locations, Cambridge is very "techie" and has a fair bit of electrical engineering type places because there are lots of commercial R&D functions here. It may be worth a look for jobs? A place with a high concentration of potential employers helps in terms of both stability and career opportunity. You could say the same about London, but of course the benefits aren't quite as big as would be the case for finance or IT.

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You really should try to avoid this, try to negotiate an arrangement with your bank (an overdraft)? Even a credit card would probably be cheaper, unless you have a tendency to spend beyond your means in which case you could find yourself spiralling into debt.

You could also take a look at your utility bills etc, especially mobiles (do you need all those minutes in your contract?) and energy (are you on a standard tariff?) Do you know about quidco and other cashback sites?

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If you are valued at your current employment, a frank discussion with your boss about opportunities outside (and therefore the risk of losing you and the cost to hire someone new) may be enough for them to make a decision sooner rather than later. As a leader of a team of 15 people, I make this decision at least once a year.

The important thing however is to have a realistic opinion of your worth to the company. Too often I see people having a false self worth, playing their hand, only for me to accept their resignation and thanking them for it.

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£150 in bank fees? Ouch! You really need to put a stop to that happening. Do you have an overdraft set-up on your account? If not I would recommend getting one – ideally not to generally use, but so that you if you go into it temporarily you’ll only pay small fees rather than large ones. If you do have an overdraft already, try getting extended and/or look into other banks to check if you’re getting the best deal you can.

I would echo the suggestions of others to consider emigrating abroad while your child/children are still young. Some places are going to be a lot better to live than the UK going forward and personally I plan to leave soon, hopefully for good.

This is an unconventional suggestion, but it can’t hurt to throw it in there - have you considered possibly living aboard a boat as a cheaper alternative to renting a house? The engineer and collapse author Dmitri Orlov has a slideshow on his blog from a talk he gave covering the set-up and advantages of his boat. Ryan (Man of Kent on the forums) has looked into living on a boat a lot and I may myself one day.

I did leave the UK. Young civil engineer, graduate in middle of recession, wife has contacts overseas blah blah blah.

Thing is, while the first job project went well, except for nearly killing me with overtime, I find myself unemployed again. While the cost of living here is maybe a 1/4 (or lower) then the UK, my wage is also a lot lower. There are westerners who are on stupid wages, but that's their original wage in America or Singapore, plus a bonus to make up for being sent to Vietnam.
I'm not a 50yr old hyper experienced super manager. I'm a competent graduate.

And now we're out here, we're talking a significant amount of time before we can afford to move back. Which hopefully will let the UK sort itself out a bit. The other option is to move on to Australia, but then visas, work permits, lack of access to public funds ect. Frankly, most of my wanderlust has been burnt out. We both want to just settle down.

[Begin Advertisement] As a multi-migrant myself, I can strongly recommend Canada. It's a blend of US commercial culture and European social culture (without the whole recession and financial crisis mess). And outside of starving start-ups I haven't see a EE make $30k up here (in fact, I have seen EE coop students make more than that). If you come to Quebec and get a job in technology, you won't even pay income tax for a few years (5 year gradual tax waiver for foreign technologists). [End Advertisement]

Immigration is tricky though.

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If you do check out Canada, choose your location carefully. Some areas are doing very well in your field, but others (such as Ottawa, according to Engineers I know) are not. Beyond that, make sure the location is a match for your needs. Canada is not a homogenous country and the regions differ widely in many ways (and I don't just mean Quebec).

Speaking as someone who's wandered around Canada a moderate amount - that's an understatement. The place is pretty diverse, though it's certainly possible to feel comfortable almost everywhere (with the possible exception of the one-party pseudo-libertarian state that is Alberta).

A lot of provinces are eager to attract skilled workers, though, and many have programs to encourage such (like no income tax, for example).

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firstly, I do have an overdraft, it's not huge and I want to keep it as small as possible.....

I got rid of my credit cards and consolidated my debts, which has saved me £120 a month in repayments already.... I don't want a credit card at all, I have tended to use it to live beyond my means before so I want to avoid that.

I've just written to the potential employer and told them that the increased responsibilities of the job and much higher living costs of Guildford have forced me to decline the offer, although I am open to a higher offer in terms of pay if they want to discuss it...

I have considered moving overseas, I'll look into that some more

@Frogbear, the problem is that our promotion panel convenes on set dates of the year..... the only real option available would be for a project leader to offer me a one-off bonus as a further incentive to stay until I get an answer.... it's out of the hands of even our director to give me a promotion

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