UK take-home pay calculator 2026/27
Type a salary to see what reaches your bank account after income tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension. The calculator uses the UK tax and National Insurance rates for the 2026/27 tax year, including Scotland's separate income tax bands.
Of your next £100 of salary, reaches your bank account.
| Item | Year | Month |
|---|---|---|
Your employer also pays a year in employer National Insurance on this salary. It does not come out of your pay.
Personal Allowance . Taxable income .
| Band | Rate | Income in band | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
How the calculator works out your take-home pay
Deductions come off your salary in a fixed order, and the calculator follows it. Salary sacrifice comes off first, because it lowers the salary itself. Income tax is charged on what is left above your Personal Allowance, which is £12,570 for most people. National Insurance is worked out separately, at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above that. Student loan repayments are 9% of earnings above your plan's threshold, plus 6% above £21,000 if you have a Postgraduate Loan.
On a £30,000 salary in England, with no pension or student loan, that leaves £25,119.60 a year: £3,486.00 goes in income tax and £1,394.40 in National Insurance. At £50,000 the take-home figure is £39,519.60.
The calculator works on a whole year. Payroll works one pay period at a time, which gives the same total when your pay is the same every month, so a steady salary will match. A bonus, a pay rise part way through the year or an emergency tax code will make single payslips differ even when the year ends up the same.
It does not include income from anywhere other than this job, benefits in kind such as a company car, tax codes other than the standard 1257L, Marriage Allowance, or the extra pension relief that higher-rate taxpayers claim back through Self Assessment.
Income tax, National Insurance and student loan rates for 2026/27
These are the rates the calculator uses. We keep each one with the GOV.UK page it came from and re-read those pages every night. The sources are listed at the end of this page.
Income tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
| Band | Rate | Income |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | 0% | Up to £12,570 |
| Basic rate | 20% | £12,571 to £50,270 |
| Higher rate | 40% | £50,271 to £125,140 |
| Additional rate | 45% | Over £125,140 |
Income tax in Scotland
| Band | Rate | Income |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | 0% | Up to £12,570 |
| Starter rate | 19% | £12,571 to £16,537 |
| Basic rate | 20% | £16,538 to £29,526 |
| Intermediate rate | 21% | £29,527 to £43,662 |
| Higher rate | 42% | £43,663 to £75,000 |
| Advanced rate | 45% | £75,001 to £125,140 |
| Top rate | 48% | Over £125,140 |
Scotland has six bands instead of three, and the difference cuts both ways. A Scottish taxpayer pays slightly less income tax than someone in England up to a salary of about £33,500, saving at most £39.67 a year, and more above it. The common salaries table below shows how quickly that gap grows.
The bands assume the standard Personal Allowance. Above £100,000 the allowance shrinks, so each rate starts at a lower income.
Employee National Insurance (Class 1, category A)
| Earnings a year | Rate |
|---|---|
| Below £12,570 | 0% |
| £12,570 to £50,270 | 8% |
| Over £50,270 | 2% |
Student loan repayment thresholds
| Plan | Threshold a year | Rate above it |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | 9% |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | 9% |
| Plan 4 | £33,795 | 9% |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | 9% |
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000 | 6% |
If you hold more than one undergraduate plan, one deduction is taken at the lowest threshold you have. A Postgraduate Loan is repaid alongside it, on its own threshold.
Take-home pay on common UK salaries in 2026/27
Monthly take-home pay with no pension contribution and no student loan. The last column is how much more or less a Scottish taxpayer takes home over the year.
Swipe the table sideways to see the Scotland columns.
| Salary | England, Wales, NI a month | Scotland a month | Scotland over the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £1,493.30 | £1,496.61 | +£40 |
| £25,000 | £1,793.30 | £1,796.61 | +£40 |
| £30,000 | £2,093.30 | £2,096.21 | +£35 |
| £35,000 | £2,393.30 | £2,392.04 | −£15 |
| £40,000 | £2,693.30 | £2,687.88 | −£65 |
| £45,000 | £2,993.30 | £2,960.30 | −£396 |
| £50,000 | £3,293.30 | £3,168.63 | −£1,496 |
| £60,000 | £3,779.78 | £3,633.95 | −£1,750 |
| £70,000 | £4,263.12 | £4,100.61 | −£1,950 |
| £80,000 | £4,746.45 | £4,554.78 | −£2,300 |
| £100,000 | £5,713.12 | £5,438.11 | −£3,300 |
| £125,000 | £6,504.78 | £6,042.63 | −£5,546 |
| £150,000 | £7,607.20 | £7,081.50 | −£6,308 |
Why a pay rise between £100,000 and £125,140 is taxed at 60%
In this range income tax takes 60% of each extra pound in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 67.5% in Scotland. You keep £38.00 of every extra £100 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and £30.50 in Scotland. The rest, £62.00 and £69.50, goes in tax and National Insurance.
The cause is the Personal Allowance taper. For every £2 of income above £100,000 you lose £1 of allowance, so each extra £100 is taxed at your top rate and also pulls another £50 of previously tax-free income into tax. By £125,140 the allowance has gone completely, and the marginal rate falls back.
Salary sacrifice into a pension is the usual answer, because it lowers the income the taper is measured on. On a £110,000 salary, sacrificing £10,000 into a pension reduces take-home pay by only £3,800.00 a year, while the full £10,000 goes into the pension. Check with your employer that the scheme allows it before you plan around it.
Salary sacrifice, net pay or relief at source: which pension do you have?
The three ways of paying into a workplace pension give different take-home pay for the same contribution, so it is worth knowing which one your employer uses. Your pension scheme's joining letter or your HR team can tell you in one line.
- Salary sacrifice. You give up part of your salary and your employer pays it into the pension. You pay no income tax or National Insurance on it.
- Net pay. The contribution comes out before income tax but after National Insurance.
- Relief at source. The contribution comes out of pay after tax, and the pension provider adds basic-rate tax relief on top. Higher-rate taxpayers claim the rest back themselves.
On £40,000 with a 5% contribution, take-home pay is £30,879.60 a year with salary sacrifice, £30,719.60 with net pay and £30,719.60 with relief at source. The pension receives the same £2,000 in each case. Salary sacrifice comes out ahead because it also saves National Insurance.
Salary sacrifice lowers student loan repayments too, because they are worked out on pay after the sacrifice. A Plan 2 borrower on £40,000 repays £955 a year, and £775 with a 5% salary sacrifice.
Why your payslip can differ from this calculator
The most common reason is your tax code. The calculator assumes 1257L, the code most people with one job have. An emergency code in your first weeks at a new job, a code that collects tax you owe from an earlier year, or a code reduced for a company car will all change the figure on your payslip.
The other usual causes are pay that changes from month to month, such as overtime or a bonus, and deductions this calculator does not cover, such as a season-ticket loan, a cycle-to-work scheme or union fees. If your pay is steady and your code is 1257L, the monthly figure above should be very close to your payslip; small differences come from payroll rounding each month separately.
Sources, and how to cite this calculator
Every rate and threshold on this page was checked against these GOV.UK pages on 26 September 2026:
- GOV.UK: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances
- GOV.UK: Repaying your student loan, what you pay
- GOV.UK: Scottish Income Tax
You are welcome to quote the figures on this page or link to the calculator. Please cite it as:
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