Take-home pay

How it works

Starting from your salary before tax, the calculator takes off income tax, employee National Insurance, any student loan repayment and your pension contribution, and shows what’s left a year, a month and a week, at 2026/27 rates.

Paying into a pension from take-home pay (relief at source), you pay 80% of the contribution and the pension adds 20%; higher-rate relief is counted too. With salary sacrifice, the contribution comes off your salary before income tax, National Insurance and student loan repayments are worked out.

It also shows what you’d keep of the next £1,000 of pay — the figure that matters for a pay rise or a bonus. Money going into your pension counts as yours.

The 2026/27 rates it uses

• Personal allowance: £12,570, reduced by £1 for every £2 of income over £100,000, and gone at £125,140.
• England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 20% to £50,270, 40% to £125,140, 45% above.
• Scotland: 19% to £16,537, 20% to £29,526, 21% to £43,662, 42% to £75,000, 45% to £125,140, 48% above.
• National Insurance: 8% on pay from £12,570 to £50,270, and 2% above.
• Student loans: 9% of pay above £26,900 (Plan 1), £29,385 (Plan 2), £33,795 (Plan 4) or £25,000 (Plan 5); 6% above £21,000 for a postgraduate loan.

A worked example

On a £45,000 salary in England, paying 5% into a pension from take-home pay, with no student loan: income tax is £6,486, National Insurance £2,594, and you pay £1,800 into the pension (£2,250 goes in). Take-home pay is about £34,120 a year — £2,843 a month.

Through salary sacrifice instead, the same £2,250 goes into the pension and take-home pay rises to about £34,300, because you save National Insurance too. At £110,000, by contrast, you’d keep only about 38p of each extra pound.

Questions people ask

What is the £100k tax trap?

Between £100,000 and £125,140 your personal allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 you earn, so that slice of pay is taxed at about 60%, plus National Insurance. Paying more into a pension can bring your income back under £100,000.

Why is my payslip different?

Payroll works tax out each pay period using your tax code, which may include adjustments for benefits, past underpayments or a new job. A bonus month can look very different too. Over a full year it should come out close.

Are Welsh rates different?

Wales can set its own rates, but for 2026/27 they’re the same as England’s and Northern Ireland’s. Only Scotland is different.

Does it include my employer’s pension contributions?

No — only what comes from your pay. Whatever your employer adds goes into your pension on top, without changing your take-home pay.