Wage Calculator UK (2026/27)

What the wage calculator does

Use the wage calculator above to convert your pay into the period that's useful to you. It takes a starting figure - say £14 an hour or £600 a week - scales it to an annual amount, then applies the 2026/27 tax bands and National Insurance thresholds to show your deductions and what's left. You get hourly, weekly, monthly and yearly views side by side, so a part-time shift worker and a full-time salaried employee both get a number they recognise.

It works UK-wide. If you live in Scotland the income tax bands differ, so use the dedicated Scotland tax calculator for the exact Scottish rates - the rest of this page uses the rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Hourly, weekly and monthly wages explained

The same wage can be described in several ways, and the conversions trip people up. Here's how the hourly wage calculator links them together:

• Hourly to weekly: hourly rate × hours worked per week. £14 × 37.5 hours = £525 a week.
• Weekly to annual: weekly wage × 52. £525 × 52 = £27,300 a year.
• Annual to monthly: annual ÷ 12. £27,300 ÷ 12 = £2,275 a month (gross).

A weekly wage calculator uses 52 weeks, even though a year is technically 52.14 weeks. Most UK payroll runs on 52 weekly or 12 monthly periods, so that's the convention here. If your hours vary week to week, enter an average for a representative estimate.

Your 2026/27 deductions

Two main deductions come out of an employee's wage before it reaches you:

Income Tax

Everyone gets a tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,570. Above that, you pay 20% on the next slice up to £50,270 of total income, then 40% above that. The allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 you earn over £100,000, disappearing entirely at £125,140.

National Insurance (Class 1)

As an employee you pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% on anything above. Unlike Income Tax, NI is calculated per pay period, not cumulatively across the year - so an annual estimate is a close approximation rather than the exact figure on a single payslip.

Other things can also be taken off your gross wage: workplace pension contributions, student loan repayments and salary sacrifice arrangements. The core calculator focuses on tax and NI; for pensions and student loans use the fuller take-home pay calculator.

How the calculator works

The formula in plain English is:

Take-home pay = Gross wage − Income Tax − National Insurance

Step by step, the tool:

• Converts your wage to an annual gross figure.
• Subtracts the £12,570 Personal Allowance to find taxable income.
• Applies 20% and 40% to the taxable slices.
• Applies 8% and 2% NI to earnings above £12,570.
• Subtracts both from gross and divides back down to weekly, monthly and hourly take-home.

Worked example - an hourly wage after tax

Take Priya, a care assistant earning £14 an hour over a 37.5-hour week. Seeing the gap between her hourly rate and what hits her account is exactly why people reach for a wage calculator after tax.

• Weekly gross: £14 × 37.5 = £525
• Annual gross: £525 × 52 = £27,300
• Taxable income: £27,300 − £12,570 = £14,730
• Income Tax: £14,730 × 20% = £2,946
• National Insurance: £14,730 × 8% = £1,178.40
• Annual take-home: £27,300 − £2,946 − £1,178.40 = £23,175.60
• Weekly take-home: £23,175.60 ÷ 52 = £445.68

So Priya's headline £14 an hour becomes an effective £11.88 an hour after tax and NI.

Second example - a weekly wage

Tom is paid a flat £600 a week. Annual gross = £600 × 52 = £31,200. Taxable income = £31,200 − £12,570 = £18,630. Income Tax = £3,726 (20%). NI = £1,490.40 (8%). Take-home = £25,983.60 a year, or about £499.68 a week.

2026/27 rates & thresholds

Figures are for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, checked for 2026/27 against gov.uk Income Tax rates. Scotland sets its own income tax bands.

Take-home from your wage: what to watch

A few things commonly catch people out:

• Emergency tax codes. A new job or missing P45 can put you on an emergency code, over-deducting tax. Check your code on your payslip and use a income tax calculator to compare expected deductions.
• Overtime and bonuses. Extra pay in one month can push you briefly into a higher band on that payslip, which often evens out over the year under cumulative PAYE.
• Part-year working. If you start mid-year, your unused Personal Allowance carries forward, so early payslips may show less tax than the annual estimate suggests.
• Scotland. Scottish taxpayers have starter, basic, intermediate, higher, advanced and top rates - the rest-of-UK 20%/40% maths above won't match a Scottish payslip.

Common mistakes

• Multiplying a weekly wage by 4 instead of using £weekly × 52 ÷ 12 for the monthly figure - that under-counts by roughly a month a year.
• Forgetting pension contributions, which reduce both take-home and taxable pay.
• Assuming NI works exactly like Income Tax - it's worked out per pay period, so irregular pay produces slightly different NI than an annual average.
• Confusing gross (before deductions) with net (after) - the wage your employer quotes is almost always gross.

These estimates are for guidance only and aren't personal tax or financial advice. For anything affecting a major decision, check your payslip or speak to HMRC.

Who should use this calculator

“Wage” and “salary” are used interchangeably in conversation but describe different employment arrangements, and the difference carries legal consequences. A wage is paid for time actually worked; a salary is a fixed annual sum paid regardless of the hours a particular week demanded.

That matters most for National Minimum Wage compliance. Waged workers are checked on actual hours in each pay reference period, so unpaid extra time is a straightforward breach. Salaried staff are assessed differently, which is why unpaid overtime is common in salaried roles and unlawful in waged ones. Wages also attract statutory rules on deductions that salaried arrangements handle differently.

What this calculator assumes

• Wages are calculated from the rate and hours you enter, then annualised for tax.
• Income Tax, National Insurance and any student loan are applied to the result.
• A standard tax code applies.
• Scottish rates apply where selected.

Limitations — what it does not cover

• National Minimum and Living Wage rates, which differ by age and are checked per pay reference period rather than annually.
• Unlawful deductions. Employers cannot deduct from wages without a contractual right or your written consent — till shortages and breakages included.
• Overtime and shift premiums, which depend entirely on your contract.
• Guaranteed hours and zero-hours arrangements, where earnings vary week to week.
• Statutory sick and holiday pay for waged workers, calculated on averaged earnings.
• Agency work, where the contractual chain affects who owes what.

Related calculators

Once you know your wage after tax, compare it against a full annual figure with the salary calculator, check a pay-by-the-hour breakdown with the hourly rate calculator, or see your weekly figure in detail with the weekly pay calculator.