How to ask for a pay rise, and what to do if the answer is no

7 minute read · Updated 2026-08-26

Knowing how to ask for a pay rise is mostly about preparation and timing, not confidence. UK managers rarely refuse because they dislike the request; they refuse because it arrives without evidence, at the wrong point in the budget year, or aimed at someone who cannot approve it. Fix those three things and the conversation gets much easier.

Find out what the job actually pays

Start with the market, not with your household bills. Your employer is buying a role, so build a picture of what that role is advertised at right now:

Search current adverts for your exact job title within a sensible travel distance and note the ranges. Ignore the outliers at both ends.
Check whether your sector has a published structure. The NHS uses Agenda for Change, where a band 5 nurse sits roughly in the low thirty thousands and a band 6 in the high thirties to mid forties depending on experience point. Local government uses NJC pay scales, and many manufacturers and hauliers negotiate collectively.
Factor in the whole package: pension contribution above the auto enrolment minimum, overtime rates, shift premiums, a van, a fuel card, private medical cover, and how much annual leave you get above the statutory 5.6 weeks.
Check the legal floor. Nobody aged 21 or over can be paid below the National Living Wage, and the rates rise each April, so if you are near the bottom of the scale part of any increase is simply the law catching up.

Write one sentence you could defend: Roles at my level and location are being advertised at X to Y, and I am currently on Z. Screenshots of live adverts are legitimate evidence, so long as they are genuinely comparable jobs.

Build the case on what you deliver

Length of service is a weak argument on its own. What persuades a manager is a short list of things that are true, checkable and worth money to the business. Spend an hour going back through the last twelve months and collect:

Work you now do that was not in the job description when you started, especially anything you took over from someone who left.
Qualifications gained: an NVQ Level 3, SMSTS, a forklift licence, CIPD Level 3, an accountancy exam, a Driver CPC block completed.
Measurable outcomes you can attribute to yourself: audits passed, complaints resolved, downtime reduced, accounts retained, new starters trained.
Cover you provide: supervising in the manager's absence, being the named first aider or fire marshal, holding the on call phone.

Three or four concrete items beat a long list of vague ones.

When and how to ask for a pay rise

Most UK organisations set pay in an annual cycle tied to their financial year, and a large number use April, which lines up with the tax year and the National Minimum Wage uplift. Others run to a calendar year or to a September budget. Ask your manager when the pay review actually happens and get your case in six to eight weeks before that, when the budget is being written rather than after it has been signed off.

Other reasonable moments: after a successful project completes, at the point you take on a formal extra responsibility, when you complete a qualification the employer asked you to do, or at your appraisal. Avoid the week of a redundancy consultation, a bad set of results, or your manager's own crisis.

What to say in the meeting

Ask for a short meeting specifically about your pay and development, so nobody is ambushed. Then keep the structure simple: what you have taken on, what the market pays, what you are asking for, and a genuine question at the end.

For example: Over the last year I have taken on the rota and the agency bookings as well as my own caseload, and I finished my Level 3 in March. Comparable roles locally are advertised between thirty two and thirty five thousand. I am on twenty nine and a half, and I would like to move to thirty three. Is that something you can support?

Give a specific number rather than asking what is possible, because a number gives the manager something to take upstairs. Then stop talking and let them respond. Ask for the outcome and the reasoning in writing, whatever it is.

If the answer is no

A no is often a not yet, and the useful follow up question is: what would need to be true for this to be a yes, and when can we review it? Push for something specific and dated rather than a vague promise. If the money genuinely is not there, ask about alternatives that cost the employer less: a change of job title, a funded qualification, flexible or compressed hours, extra annual leave, a bonus tied to a defined outcome, or a mileage and expenses arrangement that reflects your travel.

If you are being paid materially less than colleagues doing equal work and you believe the reason relates to sex, race, disability, age or another protected characteristic, that is a different issue from a pay negotiation. Equal pay and discrimination complaints have strict time limits, so speak to ACAS or a solicitor early rather than waiting to see if it resolves itself. ACAS also offers free advice on pay disputes generally.

And if the honest answer is that your employer cannot pay the rate and your skills are worth more elsewhere, start looking while you are still employed. Applying from a job is easier than applying from unemployment, and an external offer is a far more powerful position than an argument.

Next step: benchmark yourself against live vacancies in your field, keep your CV current by uploading the latest version, and if you decide the answer is a move rather than a rise, read our guide to changing career in the UK.