By Christian Furness, published 24 January 2026
For many years, annual salary guides have been a trusted tool for salary benchmarking, helping employers and candidates understand typical pay levels across roles, industries and locations. However, salary data is not static. Over the course of a year, market conditions can shift significantly, causing even recently published guides to become outdated. This issue has become particularly pronounced in recent years, driven by factors such as the post-2008 recovery, regulatory changes, Brexit-related uncertainty between 2016 and 2020, wage disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, increased competition for skilled talent, and rising inflation and cost of living - all of which have contributed to greater fluctuations across the UK labour market.
In response, Sheridan Maine developed the Salary Health Checker - a modern, data-led alternative to the traditional salary guide. Rather than relying on historical or fixed information, the Salary Health Checker uses real-time salary data taken directly from roles actively worked on by our consultants. What’s more, our live salary insights live vacancies we are currently recruiting for, ensuring the data reflects genuine, current hiring activity in the market.
Salaries are mapped to specific job titles and locations, giving both clients and candidates access to accurate and relevant salary information. In addition to showing current market rates, the Salary Health Checker also highlights salary fluctuations over the past two years. This allows users to see how pay levels for individual roles are trending over time, supporting more informed decisions around recruitment strategy, workforce planning, budgeting and salary negotiations.
Because the data is live, dynamic and connected to real vacancies, the Salary Health Checker provides a far more reliable and transparent view of the market than a static annual salary guide. In an environment where salaries can change rapidly, real-time salary intelligence is no longer optional — it is essential for staying competitive in today’s UK job market.
