Commute, coffee, after-work drinks: Londoners spend the most money on work-related expenses
How much did you spend on your lunch today?
What about after-work drinks? And getting home?
If you’re making daily trips to a trendy new sandwich bar every lunchtime, it might be time to rethink your spending: according to new data, Londoners have the priciest work-related outgoings in the UK.
While the average Brit spends £205 a month on work-related expenses, that wouldn’t even get Londoners to work and back if they have a morning coffee, according to CV-Library’s research, which shows they spend £425 per month.
This is how costs breaks down across the UK:
| London | £425 per month |
| Bristol | £360 per month |
| Brighton | £350 per month |
| Cardiff | £305 per month |
| Leeds | £294 per month |
| Liverpool | £270 per month |
| Edinburgh | £254 per month |
| Birmingham | £210 per month |
| Glasgow | £200 per month |
| Manchester | £170 per month |
That means Londoners can expect to splash out £5,100 a year on work drinks, lunches, stationery and, of course, the all-important daily caffeine hit.
That’s quite a dent in anybody’s wage, but surely we go to work to earn money, rather than spend it?
Commuting was the biggest expense across the UK, followed closely by lunch, then morning coffees were the next biggest drain on budgets, followed by work socials and the cost of post-it notes and other stationery.
In the capital, workers spend an average of £175.50 per month on travel and £30.50 per month on coffee.
Check below for the London breakdown in full:
| Commuting | £175.50
|
| Lunch | £50.50 |
| Clothes | £50.50 |
| Stationery | £5.50 |
| Social events | £15.50 |
| External meetings | £50.50 |
| Office snacks | £15.50 |
| Coffee | £30.50 |
| Colleagues' gifts | £5.50 |
| Treating co-workers | £25.50 |
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said the data should at least help people budget better by seeing what they spend their money on most.
“It’s important to take these expenses into consideration when you’re looking for a job. That way, you can choose the location, salary and role that’s going to be most financially beneficial to you,” he added.
Over two-thirds of staff want their employers to soak up at least some of these costs, CV-Library learned.
But Biggins said: “If they’re offering a competitive enough salary, this should cover a number of these expenses anyway. Some costs such as travel can be unavoidable, but professionals must also be frugal to ensure they’re not needlessly spending their wages.”
If your expenses are too high for your salary, CV-Library also outlined some of the UK’s highest salaries.
| IT | £44,180 |
| Construction | £43,150 |
| Engineering | £35,700 |
| Accounting | £34,570 |
| Automotive | £32,680 |