Staff spend up to 21% of salary on travel fares

Hay Group’s latest PayNet UK Salary Tracker shows that some employees spend up to 21% of their annual salary on their journey to work, although average commuting expenditure is 8% of salary.

The average travel fare rise of 5.9% was announced in December putting the average annual season ticket at £2,028, or 8% of the median UK salary of £25,176.

Stuart McMillan, reward information consultant at Hay Group commented: “As train fares continue to rise above inflation, and salary increases remain subdued, commuting costs are set to take up more of UK employees’ pay packets.

“Employers need to be aware of this when considering reward packages, and consider benefits such as interest free season ticket loans and greater flexibility to work from home.”

Fewer than half (42%) of employers currently offer employees interest free season ticket loans.

Two thirds of these (64%) offer them to all UK staff, with most of the remainder (27%) doing so for London-based workers only.

McMillan added: “As fares rise, employers may need to consider integrating commuter benefits into total reward packages, to engage and enable staff to help them offset the additional squeeze on employees’ disposable incomes.”

Annual Salary and Season Ticket Averages By City

London
Average salary* £19,261
Average season ticket £3,266
Proportion of salary £17%

Manchester
Average salary* £15,323
Average season ticket £2,115
Proportion of salary 14%

Birmingham
Average salary* £14,949
Average season ticket £2,046
Proportion of salary 14%

Bristol
Average salary* £15,811
Average season ticket £2,083
Proportion of salary 13%

Leeds
Average salary* £14,652
Average season ticket £1,841
Proportion of salary 13%

Edinburgh
Average salary* £16,226
Average season ticket £1,846
Proportion of salary 11%

Glasgow
Average salary* £14,780
Average season ticket £1,763
Proportion of salary 12%

Cardiff
Average salary* £16,081
Average season ticket £1,262
Proportion of salary 8%

*Based on Operative level workers

Note: Hay Group’s PayNet UK Salary Tracker analyses pay and salary movements across five different employee levels in over 600 organisations, representing over one million employees. Season ticket prices are based on a sample of representative routes into eight major UK cities, based on typical short, medium and long journeys into each.