Not for anyone with those skills. As a contractor in London they'd be looking at something between £70k and £150k+.

Makes me wonder wether our security services really are recruiting the best they can find, or just the best they can afford.

Despite what everyone is saying here, the median salary in the uk is 26K. 40K puts you in the top 20% of earners. 100k would put you in the top 1%.

Although people are quite right in saying that on 40K you probably couldn't pay the rent in London.

Not at all a good salary - they will most likely get developers that have tried out some of these technologies and they will have to train on the job - people with these skills are sought after (£50K+ outside of London). Guess most important will be your personality profile, math skills and willingness / ability to quickly acquire skills.

Problem is that government organisations in the UK (and elsewhere) have to "grade" the post / position they are hiring for. The grade then defines the maximum salary they can pay on permanent positions.

Outcome of that is that there are armies of contractors where the posts then can be graded similarly but the pay can be much higher.

There are different advantages. GCHQ / CESG (and probably other services) are ASD-Friendly, especially if you're a mathematician or cryptographer. The pension is okay. There's some job stability.

Nah, this isn't a good salary, unless you're a junior. You can earn double this if you're a half decent developer with 4/5 years experience and working for a well-known company in London.

There are good benefits from being a government employee aside from the salary especially for the police which I think MI6 would be part of. For example, great pensions and possibly very easy loans.

Anywhere other than London, it's alright for a mid-level developer. In London, it's awful.

Not very intelligent for an Intelligence Service - they'll get people who aren't very good, and/or are looking for a way in to the SIS citadel.

The loss of performance/ability is going to cost a lot more than the nominal salary savings.

Actually, the pay band ranges from a Band B to Band C in the civil service. Band B is entry (not junior though) and Band C is just below senior. ~40K for a Band C civil service software developer in London is about average.

It's in London, so no.

Nope, can barely pay the rent.