ARA’s Salary Recommendations
The ARA is committed to supporting and promoting the archives, records management and archive conservation professions.
Salaries should reflect the skills, expertise and qualifications required to perform the duties of the post regardless of employer, sector or job title. We regularly review salaries across the sector in order to give you a guide on what to look for and expect.
The recommendations are designed to help employers set salaries for archive, recordkeeping and conservation posts. For ARA members, the recommendations are a useful advocacy tool when raising the issue of pay with employers and funding bodies.
Due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances the Pay Review Group were unable to produce salary guidance in 2023 and 2024.
We have therefore undertaken an exercise to create a new set of salary scales that take into account inflationary rises across the two intervening years. To do this we applied the 2023 average inflation rate to the 2022 scale to produce a new 2023 scale. We then applied the 2024 average inflation rate to this new scale to produce the 2025 recommendations below.
Given the two year gap in producing these recommendations we also undertook a ‘reality check’ against average public and private sector pay rises awarded during this period and are confident that the recommended scale for 2025 is reasonable and fair.
It is important to remember when benchmarking against other similar jobs and when negotiating increases that there can be big differences in total remuneration packages that go beyond just annual salaries, for example: more generous pension schemes, the amount of holiday days given (and whether they are inclusive or exclusive of bank holidays), additional perks such as health insurance, subsidised travel etc. This should also be taken into account when comparing existing salary scales with these recommendations.
Salary Recommendations 2025
| Level | Salary | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Para-professional | £25,903/€25,995 minimum | Eg: support staff, performing some tasks independently. Possibly working towards qualification as a Foundation Member of the ARA and/or towards a degree/diploma. |
| Lower Management Level 1 |
Starting in the range of £33,478 -£39,678 or €35,447-€41,356 | Eg: responsible for a discrete area of work/delivers on short term targets. Basic level of responsibility. Recently completed a specialist degree and/or qualified as a Foundation Member of the ARA. |
| Lower Management Level 2 |
Level 2: £39,678 or €41,356 minimum | Eg: manages some resources, people and/or services; possibly working towards qualification as a Registered Member of the ARA. |
*All figures are gross and do not include London weighting.
For more details including rates of inflation and average pay increase rates please see the pdf version of this guidance here.
Guidance for freelancers
ARA recognises that increasing numbers of professionals are working independently on a freelance, contract or agency basis, often at an hourly or daily rate. The Guidance for Freelancers has been updated shortly. It is designed to help inform those considering a move into freelance work. An additional resource for those considering a change to a freelance career can be found in the Going-Freelance Guide. However, ARA advises members to undertake detailed research according to their own specific circumstances before committing to contract work.
Trainee roles
Graduate traineeships, apprenticeship and internships are not explicitly included in the recommendations.