Can you live of 16000 pounds annually?

no, unless you like sleeping outside tesco

I'm moving from Belgium to the UK (Greenock, small city, 30 km from Glasgow) for a customer service job. The job will be earning 16000 pounds + bonusses up to 17000 pounds. Now I'm wondering if this is a good annual salary, and if I would be able to save money. It's a small city in Scotland, not London obviously, and so expect to be cheap. I'm also prepared to get a flatmate if this isn't enough to live on.

I'm moving from Belgium to the UK (Greenock, small city, 30 km from Glasgow) for a customer service job. The job will be earning 16000 pounds + bonusses up to 17000 pounds. Now I'm wondering if this is a good annual salary, and if I would be able to save money. It's a small city in Scotland, not London obviously, and so expect to be cheap. I'm also prepared to get a flatmate if this isn't enough to live on.

Its definitely doable, if you just use the money for transport, food etc. If you're prepared to get a flatmate that's a plus as rent might pricey. I wouldn't call it a good annual salary, liveable yes, but you can't afford to be living luxuriously everyday if you know what I mean?

Ow ok, but I mean, it's Ok for starter job, and not that I need a car or every day takeaway.

Life seems to be expensive in the UK compared to mainland Europe, council tax sounds so rubbish

I have no idea how much people that work in customer service make, so I wouldn't know. After a while your salary may increase, but to what I don't know? It's okay for a starter if you want to do it, do you have any other experience in this role or?

Is that before or after tax?

It's always possible but it's not a good life.

You need to remember that UK has lots of taxes.

Council tax, bedroom tax, what's all that?

Tbh at our age you might as well get a flatmate, you don't want to be sitting at home alone all the time and rent is easily the biggest expense. I don't know what the rules are on access to benefits for EU immigrants, but with a fair wind and depending on how expensive the area is you might be able to nab a few hundred in working tax credits or housing benefit.

You can live adequately on that, particularly in the provinces. I would say you need about £9-10,000 to live, when taking into account all expenses, not having to live with flatmates, and allowing for enough diversions to keep you from getting depressed.

(It's telling that many entire families exist on minimum wage, which is £11,000 if you can get the hours.)

You won't be able to save up for anything that might improve your standing in the world though, like buying a house, moving to an economic centre, or going back to education (another thing well off people don't understand about being low-paid). So I hope you are moving into something with a decent career track to it - note that most customer service will give you almost no opportunity to advance your career.

Your taxes will be:
- 20% income tax on earnings over £10,000
- National Insurance but this is an absolute pig to work out, it kicks in earlier but the rate is less
- Council tax, let's say £1,000? Note if you live alone you will get 25% off any headline rate

Tbh at our age you might as well get a flatmate, you don't want to be sitting at home alone all the time and rent is easily the biggest expense. I don't know what the rules are on access to benefits for EU immigrants, but with a fair wind and depending on how expensive the area is you might be able to nab a few hundred in working tax credits or housing benefit.