Leicestershire offers substantial cost savings on wage rates over a range of occupational categories and grades compared to London and the South East. Labour costs are also highly competitive with other locations across the country. Average salaries across Leicestershire (£18,705) are below the national average (£20,839). A move to local wage profiles for relocating to the Leicester and Leicestershire area would induce very considerable cost savings in respect of major operational overheads.
Table 1. Average Earnings | Managers &Senior
Officials | Professional
Occupations | Associate Prof &
Technical | Admin & Secretarial | All Occupations |
City of Leicester | £27,756 | £28,641 | £20,671 | £14,158 | £17,601 |
County of Leicestershire | £33,911 | £30,342 | £21,636 | £13,843 | £19,446 |
London | £50,494 | £37,963 | £32,864 | £19,272 | £28,404 |
England | £38,121 | £31,129 | £25,021 | £14,907 | £20,839 |
Source: New Earnings Survey,2003 (Workplace Based)
Average wage costs in the City of Leicester are 40% lower than London (£28,404 in London compared to £17,601 in Leicester – a £11,000 saving). Across the main occupational grades, wages in Leicester City are between 55% and 75% of the London equivalents, providing substantial cost savings to organisations which relocate (Table 1). There area potential cost saving of over £5,000 per job (27% reduction) for equivalent Admin /Secretarial jobs in Leicester compared to London (Chart 1).
There are also cost savings to be made in terms of direct civil service employment. There are local savings of around £2,800 per post on current AO and AA civil service salaries compared to London – local AO grades from £13,550 to £16,550 (£15,850 to £19,350 in Inner London) and local AA grades from £11,770 to £13,850 (£14,100 to £16,600 in Inner London).
