In the public sector if you do not have good honours, it will likely affect your CEP. In other words, your progression will likely be only average. Having said that, if you prove yourself to be very good at work and you have your supervisor/management's support, it is possible for your CEP to be upgraded in the first few years. This is not easy of course.
I only encourage those who are truly interested in a course of study to pursue a postgraduate degree. That, or if you intend to acquire specific skillsets for certain jobs. Otherwise you will only be wasting your time doing something you dislike/probably suck at.
I never quite believed that one could 'make up' for average grades at the undergrad level by pursuing postgraduate studies. I think that is rather delusional. Having a Masters or PhD doesn't mean you've suddenly become 'academically smarter'.
Moreover, unless your postgraduate degree is from a coveted program (e.g. Wharton MBA), it is not going to add much to your resume. Lab-work research type of postgraduate degrees (MEng, PhD) are only useful if you intend to pursue that line of research work. Otherwise, no real application in the outside world.
On the other hand, if you consider pursuing theoretical type of PhDs (e.g. PhD in Mathematics, Physics) that require real brainpower, these are usually pretty tough courses. Those who manage to clear through might find opportunities in the areas of quantitative finance (lucrative!), apart from academia. Again for such courses, you need a lot of talent/ brainpower to be accepted in and to do well in the first place, i.e. you most likely need to have a first.
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