Salary & Pay
UK Take-Home Pay Calculator
See what actually reaches your account after Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan, with every band shown, for the 2026/27 tax year. Covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Tax year 2026-27
Covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands, so the tax figures here do not apply to a Scottish taxpayer. National Insurance and student loan repayments are the same UK-wide. See the Scottish rates.
What reaches your account
Take-home pay, monthly
£2,393.30
After Income Tax, National Insurance and any pension or student loan.
What you keep
- A year
- £28,719.60
- A month
- £2,393.30
- A week
- £552.30
What comes out
- Pension contribution Net pay: your contribution is deducted before Income Tax, but not from National Insurance or student-loan earnings.
- —
- Income Tax
- £4,486.00
- National Insurance Charged on gross pay, so a pension contribution does not reduce it.
- £1,794.40
- Student loan
- —
- Total deductions
- £6,280.40
The two rates
- Effective rate The share of your whole salary lost to deductions.
- 17.9%
- Marginal rate The share of the next £1 going to deductions, including any pension and loans.
- 28%
On a salary of £35,000 you keep £28,719.60 a year, or £2,393.30 a month, after £6,280.40 of deductions. That is an effective rate of 17.9% across the whole salary. Figures are for the 2026-27 tax year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands.
The working, band by band
Income Tax bands use taxable income after your net-pay pension deduction and Personal Allowance. National Insurance bands use gross earnings before those deductions. Student loan repayments also use gross earnings.
Income Tax
| Band | Taxable income | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic rate | £0 – £37,700 | 20% | £4,486.00 |
No Income Tax is due because income after your net-pay pension deduction is within the Personal Allowance.
National Insurance
| Band | Gross earnings | Rate | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main rate | £12,570 – £50,270 | 8% | £1,794.40 |
No National Insurance is due because this salary is below the Primary Threshold.
What this calculates
This works out your net pay (what lands in your account) from a gross annual salary, for the 2026/27 UK tax year. It applies the Personal Allowance, the three Income Tax bands, employee National Insurance, and any pension or student loan repayment, then shows each deduction separately with the band it came from. The figures are for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands, so a Scottish salary will not match this page.
How it works
net = gross − income tax − National Insurance − student loan − pension
pension = gross × employee net-pay contribution percentage
allowance = £12,570, reduced by £1 for every £2 above £100,000 after pension
taxable = max(0, gross − pension − allowance)
income tax = 20% on the first £37,700 of taxable income
+ 40% on the next £87,440 (up to £125,140 taxable)
+ 45% on taxable income above £125,140
NI = 8% of gross between £12,570 and £50,270
+ 2% of gross above £50,270
loan = rate × max(0, gross − plan threshold), before pension deductions
9% undergraduate; 6% postgraduate; both can applyThis calculator uses a net-pay pension arrangement. Your employee contribution is deducted from gross salary before Income Tax. The Personal Allowance then comes off what remains, and only the balance is taxable: the 20% band applies to the first £37,700 of taxable income, not the first £37,700 you earn. Tax relief reduces the take-home cost of contributing; it does not make the tax saving greater than the contribution. A net-pay contribution can also restore some or all of a tapered Personal Allowance. National Insurance and student loan repayments both use gross earnings before this pension deduction. Undergraduate and postgraduate loans run concurrently. The displayed effective and marginal rates include any pension and loan deductions as well as tax and NI; they are deduction rates, not Income Tax rates alone.
A worked example
A £60,000 salary in England, no pension contribution and no student loan.
The Personal Allowance of £12,570 comes off first, leaving £47,430 taxable. The first £37,700 of that is taxed at 20%, giving £7,540. The remaining £9,730 falls into the higher rate and is taxed at 40%, giving £3,892. Income Tax is therefore £11,432. National Insurance is charged on gross pay, not on the taxable figure: 8% of the £37,700 between £12,570 and £50,270 is £3,016, and 2% of the £9,730 above £50,270 is £194.60, giving £3,210.60. Total deductions are £14,642.60, leaving take-home pay of £45,357.40 a year, or £3,779.78 a month. The effective rate is 24.4%, well below the 40% band the salary reaches, which is the gap this page exists to show.
What this assumes
- The figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own Income Tax bands and rates, and this page does not apply them.
- You are an employee under State Pension age, paid through PAYE, on National Insurance category letter A, the category most employees are on.
- You have the standard Personal Allowance of £12,570 and no adjustment from a tax code, marriage allowance, or a benefit in kind such as a company car.
- The pension field uses a net-pay arrangement: your employee contribution is deducted before Income Tax, but does not reduce National Insurance or student-loan earnings. Enter it as a percentage of the whole gross annual salary, excluding employer contributions. Qualifying earnings are not calculated automatically.
- Your salary is the same for the whole tax year. A mid-year pay rise or a change of job produces a different result in practice.
- Income is employment income only: no dividends, savings interest, rental or self-employed profit, each of which is taxed under its own rules and ordering.
What it does not model
- It does not apply Scottish Income Tax. If you are a Scottish taxpayer, the Income Tax figure here is wrong, though National Insurance is the same UK-wide.
- It does not model relief at source. Under that method, you pay after tax and National Insurance and the provider adds basic-rate tax relief; further relief may need to be claimed. Do not enter a relief-at-source payment as a net-pay contribution.
- It does not model salary sacrifice. Sacrifice reduces contractual gross pay itself and can lower National Insurance and student-loan earnings as well as Income Tax; the pension field here does not.
- It does not add employer pension contributions, calculate qualifying earnings, or include separate HMRC payments for pension tax relief.
- It does not read your tax code. A code other than the standard one, an underpayment being collected, or emergency tax will all change what you actually receive.
- It does not handle a second job or multiple employments, where the Personal Allowance is split across employers and the result depends on how the codes are allocated.
- It does not calculate bonuses in the month they are paid. A bonus is taxed for the year, but PAYE deducts it in one period, so a single payslip can look far worse than the annual figure.
- It shows employee National Insurance only. Employer contributions are a cost to your employer and never appear on your payslip as a deduction.
- It does not model benefits in kind, student loan Plan 3 (postgraduate doctoral), the High Income Child Benefit Charge, or the tapering of the annual pension allowance.
Questions
Does this work for Scotland?
No, not for Income Tax. Scotland sets its own bands and rates, and they differ enough that the Income Tax figure on this page would be wrong by a meaningful amount. National Insurance and student loan repayments are the same across the UK, so those parts still apply. The Scottish rates are published at gov.uk/scottish-income-tax.
Why is my take-home pay lower than this says?
The most common reasons are a tax code that is not the standard one, a salary sacrifice arrangement, a benefit in kind such as a company car or medical insurance, or an underpayment from an earlier year being collected through your code. A bonus or overtime in a single month also pushes that month's deduction up. Your payslip will show your tax code. If it is not 1257L, this page's assumptions do not match your situation.
Why does a pension contribution not reduce my National Insurance?
The pension field models net pay: your employee contribution is taken before Income Tax, but National Insurance and student loans still use gross earnings. Relief at source is different: you pay after tax and NI, and the provider adds basic-rate relief, with further relief sometimes claimed separately. Salary sacrifice instead reduces contractual gross pay. Neither alternative is modelled here. Check with your employer which arrangement you use; GOV.UK explains the methods in the sources below.
What is the 60% tax trap between £100,000 and £125,140?
The Personal Allowance is withdrawn by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000. For the employment-only income modelled here, a net-pay pension deduction reduces that income first and can restore allowance. Where the 40% band and allowance taper both apply, an extra £100 of taxable earnings can incur £40 tax directly plus £20 from lost allowance: an effective 60%, before NI. The displayed marginal deduction rate also includes any pension and loan repayments, so it is not necessarily 62% when those inputs apply.
Do I repay an undergraduate and a postgraduate loan at the same time?
Yes. They run concurrently, not consecutively. An undergraduate plan takes 9% of gross earnings above its threshold and a Postgraduate Loan takes a further 6% above £21,000, so someone with both can repay 15% of part of their earnings. Ordinary net-pay pension deductions do not reduce either repayment base. This calculator lets you select both.
Is National Insurance the same for everyone?
No. This page assumes category letter A, which covers most employees. Letters B, E and I pay 1.85% below the Upper Earnings Limit instead of 8%, and letters C, K and S pay nothing. These cover circumstances such as being over State Pension age or holding certain deferments. Your category letter is on your payslip next to your NI number.
Sources
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (HMRC) (opens in a new tab)
The England, Wales and Northern Ireland taxable-income bands: 20% to £37,700, 40% to £125,140, and 45% above £125,140.
- Pension tax relief (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The distinction between relief through payroll and relief at source, including claims for further relief.
- Workplace pensions: managing your pension (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
Net-pay contributions before Income Tax, relief-at-source contributions after tax and NI, and checking the method with your employer.
- Adjusted net income (HMRC) (opens in a new tab)
The income used for the Personal Allowance taper and how pension relief affects it.
- Special rules for student loans (HMRC) (opens in a new tab)
Loan deductions use the same gross earnings as employer secondary Class 1 National Insurance, before ordinary net-pay pension deductions.
- Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The £12,570 Personal Allowance, the 20/40/45% band rates and their thresholds, and the withdrawal of the allowance above £100,000.
- National Insurance rates and categories (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The 8% main rate and 2% rate above the Upper Earnings Limit, the £242 weekly Primary Threshold and £967 weekly Upper Earnings Limit, and the category letters.
- Repaying your student loan: what you pay (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The Plan 1, 2, 4 and 5 thresholds at 9%, and the £21,000 Postgraduate Loan threshold at 6%.
- Income Tax in Scotland (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
Confirmation that Scotland sets separate Income Tax bands, which this calculator does not apply.
- Formula reviewed
- Formula version
- 3
This number moves whenever the formula changes, so a correction cannot be made silently.
Formula version 3 corrects the higher-rate taxable-income ceiling to £125,140. The standard Personal Allowance must not be subtracted again from this limit. This corrects Income Tax and take-home pay for affected higher-income salaries.
Formula version 2 corrects student and postgraduate loan repayments to use gross earnings before the employee pension deduction. The pension input is now explicitly labelled net pay, matching its Income Tax treatment. With pension set to zero, this correction does not change take-home pay.
Worked out for one salary
The same arithmetic, already run for the salaries people look up by name. Each page shows what a pay rise is worth at that point and what a student loan costs there.
- £30,000 after tax What does £30,000 leave after tax, and why is a student loan repayment so small at this salary?
- £35,000 after tax What does £35,000 leave after tax, and how far is it from the higher-rate threshold?
- £42,000 after tax How much room is left below the 40% band on £42,000, and what happens when a rise crosses it?
- £50,000 after tax Why is £50,000 the most consequential salary in the UK system, and what does the next £1 cost?
- £70,000 after tax What does £70,000 leave after higher-rate tax, and what does it mean for Child Benefit?
- £80,000 after tax What does £80,000 leave, and how close is it to the 62% band that starts at £100,000?