UK Take-Home Pay 2026/27: how tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan are worked out

Take-home pay in the UK is your gross salary minus four things: Income Tax, employee National Insurance, your pension contribution and any student loan repayment. In the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) the first £12,570 of a salary is free of both tax and National Insurance. The next £37,700 is taxed at 20% and carries 8% National Insurance. Pay above £50,270 is taxed at 40% with 2% National Insurance, and there is a sharper band above £100,000. On £35,000 with no pension or student loan, that leaves £28,719.60 a year, or £2,393.30 a month. Every figure in the tables below was produced by our UK take-home pay calculator from the rates HMRC publishes for employers.

Take-home pay at eleven salaries

The table is for an employee in England, Wales or Northern Ireland on the standard 1257L tax code, under State Pension age, with no pension contribution and no student loan. The last column is the share of a further £1,000 of pay that goes in deductions.

Gross salary	Income Tax	National Insurance	Take-home per year	Per month	Share kept	Taken from the next £1,000
£20,000	£1,486.00	£594.40	£17,919.60	£1,493.30	89.6%	28%
£25,000	£2,486.00	£994.40	£21,519.60	£1,793.30	86.1%	28%
£30,000	£3,486.00	£1,394.40	£25,119.60	£2,093.30	83.7%	28%
£35,000	£4,486.00	£1,794.40	£28,719.60	£2,393.30	82.1%	28%
£40,000	£5,486.00	£2,194.40	£32,319.60	£2,693.30	80.8%	28%
£50,000	£7,486.00	£2,994.40	£39,519.60	£3,293.30	79%	38.2%
£60,000	£11,432.00	£3,210.60	£45,357.40	£3,779.78	75.6%	42%
£80,000	£19,432.00	£3,610.60	£56,957.40	£4,746.45	71.2%	42%
£100,000	£27,432.00	£4,010.60	£68,557.40	£5,713.12	68.6%	62%
£125,140	£42,516.00	£4,513.40	£78,110.60	£6,509.22	62.4%	47%
£150,000	£53,703.00	£5,010.60	£91,286.40	£7,607.20	60.9%	47%

Three steps stand out in the last column. Up to £50,270 a pay rise loses 28% (20% tax plus 8% National Insurance). Above that it loses 42% (40% plus 2%). Between £100,000 and £125,140 it loses 62%, which is more than the 47% taken above £125,140. The £50,000 row shows 38.2% only because the next £1,000 straddles the £50,270 line.

Income Tax: the allowance, the bands and the £100,000 taper

The standard Personal Allowance is £12,570, which is what the tax code 1257L stands for. Income above it is taxed in bands. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the basic rate of 20% covers the first £37,700 of taxable income (salary from £12,571 to £50,270). The higher rate of 40% runs from there to £125,140, and the additional rate of 45% applies above £125,140.

Take the £60,000 row. Taxable income is £60,000 − £12,570 = £47,430. The first £37,700 at 20% is £7,540. The remaining £9,730 at 40% is £3,892. Together that is £11,432.

Above £100,000 the allowance shrinks. GOV.UK puts it this way: the allowance goes down by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000, so it is zero at £125,140. Each extra £1,000 in that range is taxed at 40% (£400) and also exposes £500 of previously tax-free income to 40% tax (£200). Add 2% National Insurance and £620 of the £1,000 is gone. On £110,000 the allowance is down to £7,570 and the tax bill is £33,432.

Adjusted net income is taxable income less certain reliefs, and pension contributions are one of them. That makes the taper band the place where pension saving is cheapest. The calculator shows that sacrificing 10% of a £110,000 salary (£11,000) brings pay down to £99,000, restores the full allowance and cuts take-home from £72,357.40 to £67,977.40. So £11,000 goes into the pension for £4,380 less in your pocket.

If you pay tax in Scotland

Scottish taxpayers have the same £12,570 allowance and the same National Insurance, but six Income Tax bands. On salary with the standard allowance they are 19% from £12,571 to £16,537, 20% to £29,526, 21% to £43,662, 42% to £75,000, 45% to £125,140 and 48% above. The calculator has a Scotland option, and a tax code starting with S switches to it automatically.

Gross salary	Take-home, England, Wales or NI	Take-home, Scotland	Difference in Scotland
£30,000	£25,119.60	£25,154.53	£34.93 more
£35,000	£28,719.60	£28,704.53	£15.07 less
£50,000	£39,519.60	£38,023.55	£1,496.05 less
£60,000	£45,357.40	£43,607.35	£1,750.05 less
£100,000	£68,557.40	£65,257.35	£3,300.05 less

The gap opens between £43,663 and £50,270, where Scotland charges 42% and the rest of the UK still charges 20%. In the taper band the calculator shows 69.5% of the next £1,000 going in deductions in Scotland.

National Insurance

Employees pay Class 1 National Insurance at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 a year, and 2% on anything above. Payroll applies the limits to each pay period: £242 and £967 a week, or £1,048 and £4,189 a month.

On £60,000 the sum is (£50,270 − £12,570) × 8% = £3,016, plus (£60,000 − £50,270) × 2% = £194.60, so £3,210.60 for the year.

You stop paying Class 1 National Insurance when you reach State Pension age. Tick the State Pension age box in the calculator and a £30,000 salary gives £26,514.00 of take-home pay instead of £25,119.60. Your employer pays its own National Insurance at 15% on your earnings above £5,000 (£4,500 on a £35,000 salary). That does not come out of your pay, so it is not in the tables.

Pension contributions: three ways to pay, three results

How a pension contribution is taken matters as much as its size. The calculator asks which method your scheme uses, and your payslip or scheme booklet will say. Here is a 5% contribution at two salaries.

How the pension is paid	Take-home on £40,000	Take-home on £60,000
No pension contribution	£32,319.60	£45,357.40
Relief at source	£30,719.60	£42,957.40
Net pay arrangement	£30,719.60	£43,557.40
Salary sacrifice	£30,879.60	£43,617.40

Relief at source. The contribution comes out of pay that has already been taxed. You pay 80% of it, and the provider claims the other 20% from the government and adds it to your pot. On £40,000, a 5% contribution is £2,000: £1,600 from your pay and £400 claimed by the provider.

Net pay arrangement. The full £2,000 is taken before Income Tax is worked out, so your tax falls by £400 instead. For a basic-rate taxpayer the result is the same £30,719.60.

The two methods part ways for higher-rate taxpayers. A net pay arrangement gives 40% relief straight away, so on £60,000 it leaves £600 a year more in your pay packet than relief at source. Under relief at source you have to claim the extra relief from HMRC yourself, through Self Assessment. The calculator shows an estimate of that claim next to the result and leaves it out of take-home pay. Treat that figure as an estimate, not as HMRC’s calculation.

Salary sacrifice. You give up part of your salary and your employer pays it into the pension. The lower salary saves National Insurance as well as tax: £160 a year on £40,000 (8% of £2,000) and £60 on £60,000 (2% of £3,000). Student loan repayments fall too, because they are worked out on the same pay as National Insurance. Two cautions: a sacrifice cannot take your cash pay below the minimum wage, and from April 2029 only the first £2,000 a year of sacrificed pension contributions will stay free of National Insurance.

One limit of the calculator: it applies your percentage to your whole salary. Many workplace schemes work on a band of “qualifying earnings” instead. We have not verified that band for 2026/27, so it is not built in. If your scheme uses it, your payslip will show a smaller contribution than the calculator does.

Student loan repayments

Repayments are 9% of pay above your plan’s threshold, taken through payroll alongside tax.

Plan	Yearly threshold	Rate	Repayment on £35,000
Plan 1	£26,900	9%	£729.00
Plan 2	£29,385	9%	£505.35
Plan 4 (Scotland)	£33,795	9%	£108.45
Plan 5	£25,000	9%	£900.00
Postgraduate Loan	£21,000	6%	£840.00

A Postgraduate Loan is repaid on top of an undergraduate plan. Someone on £35,000 with Plan 2 and a Postgraduate Loan repays £1,345.35 a year and takes home £27,374.25. Employers record these deductions in whole pounds each pay period, so a year of payslips can differ from the annual figure by a few pounds.

How to check this against your payslip

1. Open the UK take-home pay calculator and enter your Gross annual salary.
2. Set Where you pay Income Tax and copy the Tax code from your payslip. If it is not 1257L, your allowance is different and so is your tax. K codes, BR, D0, D1, NT and 0T are understood.
3. Enter Your pension contribution and choose How your pension is paid.
4. Pick your Student loan plan and tick the Postgraduate Loan box if it applies.
5. Compare the monthly column of the pay breakdown with your payslip, line by line.

The calculator works on a full year of steady pay, so expect differences in a month with a bonus, overtime or a pay rise, and in your first year in a job. It does not model National Insurance category letters other than A, Marriage Allowance, taxable benefits that are not in your tax code, or income outside your job such as dividends, savings interest and rent. For those, your P60 and HMRC’s own records are the reference.

Related tools

• UK take-home pay calculator: your own salary, tax code, pension and loan, with tax shown band by band.
• Take home pay calculator: subtract deductions you already know from a gross salary, in pounds or another currency.
• Percentage change calculator: turn a pay offer into a percentage rise, before or after tax.
• Budget planner: split your monthly take-home pay between needs, wants and savings.
• UK Stamp Duty calculator: the tax on a home purchase in England or Northern Ireland.
• VAT calculator: add VAT to a price or take it out.

Rates and thresholds checked against GOV.UK on 13 October 2026. This is general information, not tax advice. If your tax code looks wrong or your income is not straightforward, check with HMRC or a qualified adviser.