Take-Home Pay Calculator (2026/27)

Work out your take-home pay

Pop your annual salary into the calculator above, add your pension percentage and student loan plan if they apply, and pick your region. It returns your yearly, monthly and weekly net pay along with a full breakdown of each deduction.

What take-home pay actually means

Take-home pay (also called net pay) is your gross salary minus everything your employer is required to deduct before paying you. For most employees the deductions are Income Tax through PAYE, Class 1 National Insurance, workplace pension contributions, and student loan repayments if you're above the threshold for your plan.

Your gross salary is the number on your contract. Your net pay is the number that genuinely reaches your account. The difference is rarely small: on a typical salary you might keep around 75–80% of the headline figure once tax and NI come off, and less again after pension.

Your 2026/27 deductions explained

The calculator stacks the deductions in the right order, which matters because pension contributions made through your payroll can lower the income that's taxed.

Income Tax

Everyone gets a tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,570. Above that, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland you pay 20% up to £50,270, 40% from £50,270 to £125,140, and 45% beyond that. Scotland uses its own bands and rates (starter, basic, intermediate, higher, advanced and top) - the Personal Allowance is the same UK-wide, but a Scottish taxpayer on a higher salary usually pays a little more. The official thresholds are published on gov.uk.

National Insurance

Class 1 NI is charged at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% on anything above £50,270. Unlike Income Tax, NI is worked out per pay period rather than across the whole year, so the calculator's annual figure is a close approximation of twelve monthly calculations.

Pension

If you're auto-enrolled, a percentage of your pay goes into your pension before it reaches you. Under a net pay or salary sacrifice arrangement this also reduces your taxable pay, which is why your take-home pay after pension often falls by less than the contribution itself.

Student loan

Repayments are 9% of income above your plan's threshold (6% for Postgraduate Loans). The plan you're on - Plan 1, 2, 4, 5 or postgraduate - sets the threshold, so two people on the same salary can repay very different amounts.

How the calculator works

The core formula is straightforward:

Take-home pay = Gross salary − Income Tax − National Insurance − Pension − Student loan

The tool first removes any salary-sacrifice pension to find taxable pay, applies your Personal Allowance, runs the remaining income through the correct tax bands for your region, calculates NI on your earnings, deducts student loan if relevant, and finally divides the result by 12 for a monthly figure and 52 for a weekly one.

Worked example: take-home pay on £30,000

Take Sarah, a nurse on a £30,000 salary in England, with no pension shown for clarity.

• Personal Allowance: £12,570 tax-free.
• Taxable income: £30,000 − £12,570 = £17,430.
• Income Tax: all £17,430 sits in the basic-rate band, so 20% × £17,430 = £3,486.
• National Insurance: 8% × (£30,000 − £12,570) = 8% × £17,430 = £1,394.40.
• Take-home pay: £30,000 − £3,486 − £1,394.40 = £25,119.60 a year, about £2,093 a month.

Now add a 5% workplace pension via salary sacrifice. The £1,500 contribution lowers taxable pay to £28,500:

• Income Tax: 20% × (£28,500 − £12,570) = 20% × £15,930 = £3,186.
• National Insurance: 8% × (£28,500 − £12,570) = £1,274.40.
• Net pay (after pension): £28,500 − £3,186 − £1,274.40 = £24,039.60 a year, roughly £2,003 a month.

So paying £1,500 into the pension only reduces your monthly take-home by around £90, because the tax and NI relief covers a chunk of it.

2026/27 rates and thresholds

Figures are from gov.uk and checked for the 2026/27 tax year. Scotland sets its own income tax bands, so use a Scotland tax calculator for a precise Scottish figure.

Pension and salary sacrifice

Salary sacrifice is one of the most efficient ways to boost net worth without a big hit to your monthly take-home. Because the contribution comes off before tax and NI, you save 20% (or 40%) tax plus 8% (or 2%) NI on every pound sacrificed. A higher-rate taxpayer effectively gives up about 58p of take-home for every £1 added to their pension. If you want to test different rates, the salary sacrifice calculator models it in detail.

Student loan deductions

If you're repaying a student loan, it comes out after tax and NI and can knock a meaningful amount off your take-home. On Plan 2, for example, you repay 9% of everything above the plan threshold. The repayment is based on income, not the size of your debt, so a pay rise increases the deduction. Always select the correct plan in the calculator - getting it wrong can over- or under-state your net pay by hundreds of pounds a year.

Common mistakes to watch

• Wrong tax code: if HMRC has you on an emergency code (like 1257L W1/M1) or a code that doesn't reflect your full Personal Allowance, your take-home will be lower than this calculator shows. Check your payslip and our tax code calculator if the figures don't match.
• Ignoring region: a Scottish taxpayer who uses England's bands will get the wrong result. Set the region correctly.
• Forgetting the £100,000 trap: earn over £100,000 and your Personal Allowance tapers by £1 for every £2, creating an effective 60% marginal rate between £100,000 and £125,140.
• Confusing gross and pensionable pay: some pension schemes only contribute on qualifying earnings, not your full salary.

This calculator gives estimates for guidance only and is not personal tax or financial advice. For anything complex, speak to an accountant or HMRC.

Related calculators

Compare your figures with our salary calculator for a full take-home breakdown, check a single deduction with the income tax calculator or the National Insurance calculator, or see your monthly net figure with the net salary calculator.

You might also need

• check if your tax code is wrong, wrong codes quietly reduce your take-home pay.
• Tax Rebate Checker, check what you could claim back.

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