Insurance salaries struggling to keep up with inflation

Insurance salaries are struggling to keep pace with the rate of inflation, according to recruitment firm Reed’s latest research.

The firm found that the average advertised salary within the insurance sector rose by just 3.1% throughout 2022 – in comparison, the Office for National Statistics said costs for consumers rose by 9.2% in the 12 months up to December 2022.

Reed analysed 6.6m advertised job salaries posted on its recruitment website over the last three years to create the comparison as part of its suite of annual salary guides.

Leanne Appleton, insurance and financial services expert at Reed, said: “The insurance and financial services sectors, as with many others, have been faced with some huge challenges over the past year but continue to show resilience as we enter 2023.”

Overall however, Reed noted that the insurance sector was “on track” for a busy and profitable trading year.

Appleton added that the insurance sector had demonstrated “remarkable flexibility and resilience” in overcoming in a range of obstacles over the past 12 months following the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic fallout from global conflict.

Reed’s analysis also looked at other metrics associated with the insurance and financial services jobs market – in terms of hybrid working, it found that 47% of those surveyed for the research said that hybrid was ideal, while only 22% favoured being fully remote.

On the other end of the spectrum, 19% of surveyed respondents said that working full-time in an office would be ideal.

This was based on the recruitment business’ survey of 5,000 UK workers in Q1 2023.

London insurance salaries

In its most recent survey, Reed found that the average salary for an insurance claims manager fell from a 2022 figure of £59,600 to £42,100 – this year’s figure was more in line with a 2021 average salary of £42,600.

For next year, Reed predicted that average salaries for insurance claims handlers could reach £44,400.

Insurance underwriters’ average advertsied salaries also fell from £51,100 in 2022 to £48,400 in 2023.

On the other hand, average insurance handlers’ salaries rose in the most recent research to £40,300 compared to £34,800 last year.

Insurance risk managers roles advertised in 2023 were posted with an average salary of £103,600 – up from £93,900 last year.

This represents a 10.3% increase on average for this job role across the last 12 months.

Appleton continued: “Due to current economic concerns, professionals believe there’s plenty of risk in the jobs market, with a mindset that only sees them move when opportunities are competitive, enticing and progressive.

“Throughout the sectors, we have seen a demand for roles where an industry qualification is required, such as paraplanner, loss adjuster, financial advisor and chartered financial planner.

“However, the sectors continue to struggle with more experienced workers leaving the industry than joining it, leading to a desire to be innovative when attracting experienced professionals.”