Blue A1 is still 3.6k though. 3.8k is for A2. Orange A1 is 3.6k without bonus, hence not a good deal if you know you don't like audit and just need a job to tide over for 1 year.
At S1 onwards, Blue is 200 lower than every other firm. This is only which is covered by the 10% allowance once you have SCAQ which you can only get from S2 onwards but the culture is so bad you'd be gone by then.
Personally, I find Orange has a better environment but then again, I was at the worst department in Blue so might be just me. Blue is pretty much 99% JHK at manager and above levels and it shows in the culture. At least in Orange I can speak English in the office.