You mean ASTAR actually make an offer to you already but then ask you how much you want? Doesn’t sound like the typical gov way of doing things…

Agree with above poster, ASTAR is an average payer by public sector standards, but definitely not as high as paying managers >10k, there must be some miscommunication between TS and ASTAR. IIRC degree grads are promoted to managers within 3-4 years so average pay for managers is likely 4.5-5k.