UK Take-Home Pay Calculator

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Annual gross salary:

Use annual salary before employee deductions. Include regular guaranteed pay that should be in the estimate.

PAYE tax code:

Most one-job employees use 1257L. Prefix S or C is noted, while the region selector controls the tax bands used here.

Income tax region:

Choose the region that applies to this employment income for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.

Pay frequency:

Pick the payslip interval you want to inspect. Monthly is the most common salary view.

Employee pension contribution:

Enter the employee contribution rate before relief-at-source tax relief, if that method applies.

Pension tax treatment:

This is the main reason UK take-home calculators disagree. Match the method on the payslip or scheme notes.

Pension contribution basis:

Choose full salary or the 2026/27 automatic-enrolment qualifying earnings band.

Student loan plan:

Use the plan from your starter checklist, SLC account, or payslip. Choose none if no student loan is deducted.

Deduct postgraduate loan

Postgraduate loans use 6% above the 2026/27 threshold and can be deducted with one student-loan plan.

Employee NI category:

Use category A unless the payslip or payroll record shows another employee National Insurance letter.

Apply high-income personal allowance taper

Reduces positive personal allowance by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000.

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Other annual taxable income:

Leave 0 for a one-job salary estimate.

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Blind Person's Allowance:

Enter 0 unless this allowance applies to the employee.

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Tax code annual adjustment:

Use a negative value for extra coding deductions not captured by the code text.

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Additional gross pension amount:

Leave 0 when the pension contribution is percentage-only.

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Employer pension contribution:

The legal auto-enrolment minimum employer rate is usually 3% of qualifying earnings.

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Common UK payslip items that change take-home pay estimates
Payroll item	What changes it	Common mismatch
PAYE income tax	Tax code, personal allowance, regional bands, other taxable income, and flat-rate tax codes.	Using a standard 1257L allowance when the payslip uses BR, D0, D1, 0T, K, NT, S, C, or an emergency marker.
Employee National Insurance	Pay frequency, employee category letter, salary sacrifice, primary threshold, and upper earnings limit.	Comparing an annual salary estimate with a weekly, four-weekly, or monthly payslip threshold.
Pension contribution	Employee rate, fixed contribution, full-salary or qualifying-earnings basis, and tax treatment.	Choosing relief at source when the scheme is salary sacrifice or net pay, or using the wrong contribution base.
Student and postgraduate loans	Plan type, postgraduate loan flag, pay interval, and earnings after any salary sacrifice.	Using the wrong plan or forgetting that a postgraduate loan can run alongside one student-loan plan.
Other deductions	Extra PAYE, benefits, court orders, payroll corrections, and employer-specific post-tax deductions.	Expecting a general salary estimate to match every payslip adjustment or non-tax deduction.

How to Use This Tool:

Start from an offer letter or recent payslip, then match the settings that decide each deduction base.

Enter Annual gross salary before employee deductions and type the PAYE tax code. Numeric codes, K codes, 0T, NT, BR, D0, D1, D2, D3, S, C, and common emergency markers are handled for the estimate.
Choose Income tax region and Pay frequency. The region controls the income tax bands; the frequency controls period thresholds for National Insurance and loan deductions.
Set Employee pension contribution, Pension tax treatment, and Pension contribution basis. Match the scheme wording to salary sacrifice, net pay arrangement, or relief at source.
Select the Student loan plan, switch on Deduct postgraduate loan when it applies, and choose the Employee NI category. Category A is the usual employee category unless the payslip shows another letter.
Leave Apply high-income personal allowance taper on when adjusted net income above £100,000 should reduce a positive personal allowance by £1 for every £2 over the limit.
Open Advanced for other annual taxable income, Blind Person's Allowance, a manual tax-code adjustment, a fixed pension amount, employer pension rate, other post-tax deductions, extra PAYE per pay period, currency symbol, or scenario label.
Read the warning text before relying on the result. Region-prefix mismatches, emergency-code notes, unsupported flat codes, K-code caps, relief-at-source notes, or deductions above gross pay all point to a setting that needs checking.

Use Pay Period Ledger for payslip comparison, Annual Tax Ledger for tax and NI detail, Pension Loan Ledger for pension and loan mechanics, Payroll Review for assumptions and warnings, and Pay Split Chart for the gross-pay split.

Interpreting Results:

Net take-home pay is the estimated amount for the selected pay interval. The annual net figure multiplies that period result by the number of pay periods, and the take-home percentage compares annual net pay with annual gross salary.

Do not judge a payslip check by the final net amount alone. Two wrong settings can offset each other. Compare PAYE income tax, Employee National Insurance, Employee pension cash deduction, Student-loan deduction earnings, and Other post-tax deductions to find which part of the payslip is driving the difference.

Annual Tax Ledger is the best place to inspect income tax bands, flat-code treatment, PAYE income tax, and employee NI.
Pension Loan Ledger shows whether salary sacrifice, net pay, or relief at source changed taxable pay, cash pension cost, loan earnings, or employer pension.
Payroll Review should be checked when the tax code, region, taper setting, other taxable income, or warning text changes confidence in the estimate.
Pay Split Chart explains the relative size of each deduction, but the ledger rows carry the exact values to compare with a payslip.

Technical Details:

UK employment pay is reduced through several rule sets rather than a single tax rate. PAYE income tax uses taxable employment income after any pension treatment that reduces taxable pay, then applies the parsed tax code, personal allowance, high-income taper, and selected regional bands unless a supported flat code applies. Employee National Insurance uses Class 1 employee rates for the selected pay period. Student-loan and postgraduate-loan deductions use plan thresholds and whole-pound period deductions.

The pension method is one of the main technical distinctions. Salary sacrifice reduces taxable employment pay, NI pay, and loan deduction earnings. A net pay arrangement reduces PAYE taxable pay but not NI or loan earnings. Relief at source reduces take-home cash after tax and NI, while basic-rate relief is treated as money added to the pension pot rather than as extra take-home pay.

Formula Core:

The period result starts from annual gross salary, builds separate earnings bases, then subtracts the deductions assigned to the selected pay interval.

\begin{array}{lcl} B_{pension} & = & salary or \min (\max (salary - 6240, 0), 50270 - 6240) \\ P_{gross} & = & \min (salary, B_{pension} employee rate + fixed pension) \\ A_{effective} & = & A_{before taper} - \min (A_{before taper}, \max (0, \frac{adjusted net income - 100000}{2})) \\ T_{PAYE employment} & = & \max (0, employment before allowance + other taxable income - A_{effective}) - other income after allowance \\ period net pay & = & gross period pay - PAYE - NI - pension cash - loan deductions - post-tax deductions \end{array}

For example, a £55,000 salary with a 5% salary sacrifice pension uses £52,250 as taxable employment pay before allowance and as annual NI and loan pay. After the £12,570 allowance, PAYE taxable employment pay is £39,680, which creates £8,332.00 of income tax before any extra PAYE entry.

Tax code handling used in the UK take-home pay estimate
Code pattern	Treatment	Important boundary
1257L or another numeric code	The numeric part is multiplied by 10 to estimate personal allowance.	1257L gives £12,570 before adjustments or taper.
K code	The numeric part creates a negative allowance.	PAYE is capped at 50% of gross employment pay in the estimate.
0T	No personal allowance is applied.	Regional bands still apply unless a flat code is used.
BR, D0, D1, D2, D3, and aliases	A flat PAYE rate is applied where the selected region supports the code.	Flat-code mode ignores personal allowance and high-income taper for this employment income.
NT	No PAYE income tax is charged on this employment income.	NI, pension, and loan deductions can still apply.
S, C, W1, M1, X, or NONCUM markers	Region or emergency-basis warnings are shown when relevant.	The estimate remains annual; it does not reproduce a week-one or month-one cumulative payroll run.

Income tax bands are applied to taxable employment income after allowance. Other annual taxable income occupies allowance and lower bands before employment income in this estimate, which can push the employment income into higher rates without treating that other income as a payslip deduction.

Income tax bands used for 2026 to 2027 take-home pay estimates
Region	Band	Taxable income after allowance	Rate
England, Wales, or Northern Ireland	Basic	Up to £37,700	20%
England, Wales, or Northern Ireland	Higher	£37,701 to £125,140	40%
England, Wales, or Northern Ireland	Additional	Over £125,140	45%
Scotland	Starter	Up to £3,967	19%
Scotland	Basic	£3,968 to £16,956	20%
Scotland	Intermediate	£16,957 to £31,092	21%
Scotland	Higher	£31,093 to £62,430	42%
Scotland	Advanced	£62,431 to £125,140	45%
Scotland	Top	Over £125,140	48%

National Insurance and loan thresholds used for 2026 to 2027 estimates
Rule	Threshold or rate	How the boundary is applied
Class 1 primary threshold	£242 weekly, £1,048 monthly, or £12,570 annually.	Employee NI starts above this threshold for the selected pay interval.
Class 1 upper earnings limit	£967 weekly, £4,189 monthly, or £50,270 annually.	Category A uses 8% between the primary threshold and this limit, then 2% above it.
Student loan Plans 1, 2, 4, and 5	9% above the selected plan threshold.	The deduction is floored to whole pounds per pay period, then annualized.
Postgraduate loan	6% above £21,000 annually, £1,750 monthly, or £403.84 weekly.	Can be deducted alongside one student-loan plan.
Qualifying earnings pension basis	Annual band from £6,240 to £50,270.	The contribution percentage applies only to earnings inside that band before any fixed pension amount.

Currency values are rounded for display, while student and postgraduate loan deductions are whole-pound period estimates. The PAYE model is annual, so a real payroll run can differ when cumulative tables, previous-period adjustments, director rules, or employer rounding conventions apply.

Limitations:

This is a payroll planning estimate, not personal tax, pension, or student-loan advice. Use it to compare scenarios, then reconcile the final result against the payslip and employer payroll records.

It does not reproduce every HMRC cumulative PAYE table, week-one or month-one emergency calculation, director National Insurance rule, employer rounding convention, benefit-in-kind adjustment, or mid-year correction.
Relief-at-source pension mode includes basic-rate scheme relief only; any additional higher-rate relief may be handled outside take-home pay.
Student-loan and postgraduate-loan deductions can be affected by start notices, stop notices, court orders, off-payroll working rules, occupational pension cases, and employer-specific payroll records.
If warnings appear, resolve the tax code, region, pension treatment, loan plan, or deduction setting before using the result for a salary decision.

Advanced Tips:

Use Other annual taxable income when another job or pension should use allowance and lower bands before this employment income.
Use Tax code annual adjustment only when you know the allowance adjustment that should sit on top of the parsed tax code.
Switch Pension contribution basis to qualifying earnings only when the scheme calculates contributions on the automatic-enrolment band rather than full salary.
Check Pension Loan Ledger after changing salary sacrifice, because it can lower NI pay and loan earnings as well as taxable pay.
Use Extra PAYE per pay period for a known recurring payroll deduction, not as a way to force the estimate to match an unexplained payslip difference.
Keep Pay frequency aligned with the payslip interval when checking loan and NI rows, because those thresholds are period-based.

Worked Examples:

Monthly salary offer with salary sacrifice

A £55,000 salary with code 1257L, England/Wales/Northern Ireland bands, monthly pay, 5% salary sacrifice pension, Plan 2 loan, no postgraduate loan, and NI category A produces about £3,234.25 Net take-home pay per month. The Annual Tax Ledger shows £8,332.00 of PAYE income tax and about £3,055.00 of employee NI, while the Pension Loan Ledger shows a Plan 2 deduction of £171.00 per month because salary sacrifice lowers the loan earnings base.

Plan 5 threshold check

A £26,200 salary with 1257L, monthly pay, no pension contribution, Plan 5 loan, no postgraduate loan, and NI category A sits just above the Plan 5 monthly threshold. Monthly loan earnings are about £2,183.33 against a £2,083.33 threshold, so the Plan 5 deduction is £9.00 for the month. The Pay Period Ledger net result is about £1,856.34 after PAYE, NI, and the loan deduction.

Region prefix warning

A tax code of S1257L with Income tax region set to England, Wales, or Northern Ireland triggers a warning because the S prefix points to Scottish rates. Change the region to Scotland if the S code is correct, or confirm the tax code before comparing the Pay Period Ledger with a payslip.

FAQ:

Why does pension treatment change take-home pay?

The same contribution rate can reduce different earnings bases. Salary sacrifice reduces taxable pay, NI pay, and student-loan earnings; a net pay arrangement reduces PAYE taxable pay; relief at source usually takes pension cash after tax and NI.

Why does the estimate not match my payslip exactly?

Real payroll can include cumulative PAYE adjustments, emergency-code timing, employer rounding, taxable benefits, previous underpayments, or deductions that are not part of the salary model. Compare the ledger rows to find which item differs.

Which tax region should I choose?

Use the region that applies to the employment income. England, Wales, and Northern Ireland share the same earned-income bands in this estimate, while Scotland uses separate Scottish bands. S or C tax-code prefixes are warning clues, but the region selector controls the bands.

Why is the student loan deduction a whole-pound amount?

The student-loan and postgraduate-loan paths use whole-pound per-period deductions above the selected threshold. Check the Pension Loan Ledger if the plan, threshold, or pay frequency looks wrong.

Does employer pension reduce net pay?

No. Employer pension contribution is shown in the pension rows for context, but it does not reduce Net take-home pay. The employee pension cash deduction is the amount subtracted from pay.

What should I do if warnings appear?

Open Payroll Review, read the warning text, and correct the relevant setting before using the estimate. Region-prefix mismatches, unsupported flat codes, and deductions above gross pay can all make the final net number misleading.

Glossary:

PAYE: Pay As You Earn, the UK system that withholds income tax from employment income.
Personal allowance: The amount of income a person can usually receive before paying income tax, subject to tax code and taper rules.
Salary sacrifice: A pension arrangement where the employee gives up part of salary and the employer pays that amount into the pension.
Net pay arrangement: A pension method where employee contributions reduce PAYE taxable pay before income tax is calculated.
Relief at source: A pension method where contributions are usually taken from net pay and basic-rate tax relief is added by the pension scheme.
Primary threshold: The Class 1 National Insurance threshold where employee contributions start for the pay period.
Qualifying earnings: The automatic-enrolment pension band between £6,240 and £50,270 annually in the 2026 to 2027 estimate.
Postgraduate loan: A loan deduction using a 6% rate above its threshold, and it can run alongside one student-loan plan.

References:

Income Tax rates and allowances for current and previous tax years, GOV.UK, updated 6 April 2026.
Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, GOV.UK, updated 1 June 2026.
Student loan and postgraduate loan repayment guidance for employers, GOV.UK, updated 6 April 2026.
What your tax code means, GOV.UK.
Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay, GOV.UK.
Automatic enrolment earnings thresholds, The Pensions Regulator.