Caselton Clark are IP Inclusive EDI Charter signatories and specialist IP sector recruiters. Each year they conduct a salary survey and this year they released a special edition of their survey report, providing a comprehensive analysis of salary and benefits trends over the past 10 years. The report covers various levels of seniority across the UK and parts of Europe.
Stephen Gill, Director of European Intellectual Property Recruitment at Caselton Clark, writes:
Over the past decade, the intellectual property landscape has undergone significant transformation and growth, shaped by technological innovation, globalisation, shifting client expectations and a global pandemic (which changed the way we work and interact). Despite this, the sector still struggles with talent shortages, lack of diversity, and non-transparent compensation practices.
As specialist recruiters within the IP industry, Caselton Clark produce a salary survey each year with data from IP specialists across both the UK and Europe. The purpose of this survey is not just a benchmarking tool for salaries and benefits; it helps drive fairer, more inclusive hiring in the IP industry.
The role of salary transparency in driving change
Salary and benefits surveys can expose disparities in pay across regions, gender, and seniority. For example, German professions within the IP industry receive much higher levels of compensation as opposed to their counterparts in Italy. Likewise, paralegals in the UK are not as highly remunerated as they are in other parts of Europe, although everything must be looked at in the context of location, cost of living, etc.
Our aim with publishing this survey and its retrospective look back over the past ten years is that the data will help companies set salary levels that reflect current market rates, bring about equality and consistency and move towards building a transparent compensation framework visible to employees to build trust and remove negotiation bias – making the workplace more inclusive.
Many firms have adopted a more accommodating approach to how people work, and we have seen much more flexibility given to working parents, requests to be part time (which have increased over the years) and support with wellbeing through third party providers.
Competitive advantage through equity
Retaining top talent—both within the IP industry and more broadly—remains a constant challenge. At Caselton Clark, we advocate for aligning compensation with market rates across all diversity groups, as this not only supports retention but also strengthens a company’s ability to attract the next generation of talent and provides a more equal, level playing field for all. If you would like to read the full salary survey or gain access to any of our historical surveys from the past ten years, please visit www.caseltonclark.co.uk. You can also directly download the 2025 survey here.