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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How to Use This Tool:

Start with the salary and code shown on the offer or payslip, then match the deduction settings that payroll actually uses.

Enter Annual gross salary before employee deductions and type the PAYE tax code. The parser supports common numeric, K, 0T, BR, D0, D1, D2, D3, NT, S, and C code patterns.
Select Income tax region and Pay frequency. The frequency controls per-period National Insurance and loan thresholds as well as the ledger labels.
Set Employee pension contribution, Pension tax treatment, and Pension contribution basis. Match salary sacrifice, net pay, or relief at source to the payslip or pension scheme documents.
Choose the Student loan plan, toggle Deduct postgraduate loan if it applies, and select the employee NI category.
Use Apply high-income personal allowance taper when adjusted net income above £100,000 should reduce a positive allowance by £1 for every £2 over the limit.
Open Advanced for other taxable income, Blind Person's Allowance, tax-code adjustment, fixed pension amounts, employer pension rate, other post-tax deductions, extra PAYE per period, currency symbol, and scenario label.
Review any warning above the tabs. Warnings for emergency codes, region-prefix mismatch, relief-at-source limits, flat-code mode, K-code cap, or deductions exceeding gross pay should be resolved before using the estimate.
Read Pay Period Ledger for net pay, Annual Tax Ledger for PAYE and NI, Pension Loan Ledger for pension and loan mechanics, Payroll Review for assumptions, and Pay Split Chart for the component split.

Interpreting Results:

The headline net amount is the selected pay period's Net take-home pay. The annual net badge is the same estimate annualized, and the take-home percentage compares annual net pay with annual gross salary.

PAYE taxable pay, Employee National Insurance, Employee pension cash deduction, and loan rows explain why gross pay changed. False confidence usually comes from a wrong pension treatment or loan plan. Verify those settings against the payslip before comparing two scenarios.

Annual Tax Ledger shows which income tax bands or flat tax-code rate were used and how much employee NI was estimated.
Pension Loan Ledger separates gross pension, cash cost, employer pension, student-loan earnings, and loan thresholds.
Payroll Review lists code interpretation, allowance taper, regional bands, pension treatment, and source-review notes.

Technical Details:

The calculation starts from annual gross salary, then derives separate annual amounts for PAYE taxable pay, National Insurance pay, and student-loan pay. Pension treatment is the main splitter. Salary sacrifice reduces all three. Net pay pension reduces PAYE taxable pay only. Relief at source leaves PAYE and NI pay unchanged and reduces cash take-home by the net pension contribution after basic-rate scheme relief.

Tax code parsing controls the allowance or flat-rate path. Numeric codes multiply the number by 10 to estimate allowance, K codes create a negative allowance, 0T removes personal allowance, and BR, D0, D1, D2, D3, and NT use flat-code logic when supported by the selected region. Emergency markers are noted, but the estimate remains annual rather than cumulative week-one or month-one payroll processing.

Formula Core

Net pay is built from annual deduction models and then divided into the selected period.

\begin{array}{lcl} Pension base & = & salary or \min (\max (salary - 6240, 0), 50270 - 6240) \\ Gross pension & = & \min (salary, Pension base rate + fixed pension) \\ Taper reduction & = & \min (allowance, \max (0, \frac{adjusted net income - 100000}{2})) \\ Employment before allowance & = & \max (0, salary - pension tax reduction) \\ Other income after allowance & = & \max (0, other taxable income - \max (0, effective allowance)) \\ Taxable employment pay & = & \max (0, \max (0, employment before allowance + other taxable income - effective allowance) - other income after allowance) \\ Period net pay & = & gross period pay - PAYE - NI - pension cash - loan deductions - post-tax deductions \end{array}

PAYE income tax uses the selected region's bands unless a flat code applies. Other taxable income, when entered, occupies allowance and lower bands before the employment income in the annual band allocation.

Selected 2026 to 2027 income tax bands used in the estimate
Region	Band	Taxable income after allowance	Rate
England, Wales, Northern Ireland	Basic	Up to £37,700	20%
England, Wales, Northern Ireland	Higher	£37,701 to £125,140	40%
England, Wales, Northern Ireland	Additional	Over £125,140	45%
Scotland	Starter to intermediate	Up to £31,092	19% to 21%
Scotland	Higher	£31,093 to £62,430	42%
Scotland	Advanced and top	Over £62,430	45% to 48%

Employee National Insurance is calculated on period pay after any salary-sacrifice reduction. Category A and the grouped standard categories use 8% between the primary threshold and upper earnings limit, then 2% above the upper earnings limit. Reduced or deferred categories use the selected lower main rate.

NI per period = main rate \max (0, \min (period NI pay, upper earnings limit) - primary threshold) + upper rate \max (0, period NI pay - upper earnings limit)

Student loan deductions use whole-pound per-period estimates. Plan 1, 2, 4, and 5 use 9% above their 2026 thresholds; postgraduate loan uses 6% above its threshold and can run alongside one student-loan plan.

Rounding in real payroll can differ. This estimate rounds currency for display, floors loan deductions to whole pounds per period, and models income tax as an annual planning allocation rather than an exact cumulative PAYE table run.

Limitations:

This is a payroll planning estimate, not personal tax advice. It does not model every HMRC cumulative table, director National Insurance rule, employer rounding practice, benefit-in-kind coding change, attachment of earnings order, salary exchange contract detail, or mid-year correction.

Use the tax code, NI category, pension method, and student-loan plan from a current payslip or employer notice when possible.
Emergency tax markers are noted but not treated as true week-one or month-one cumulative payroll calculations.
Relief-at-source pension mode includes basic-rate scheme relief only; any additional higher-rate relief belongs outside the payslip estimate.

Worked Examples:

A £55,000 salary with code 1257L, monthly pay, region set to England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, 5% salary sacrifice pension, Plan 2 loan, no postgraduate loan, and NI category A produces a Net take-home pay after PAYE, NI, pension cash cost, and Plan 2 deduction. The Pension Loan Ledger shows that salary sacrifice reduces student-loan earnings in this model.

A Scottish employee with the same salary and pension method can see a different PAYE income tax row because the Scottish bands apply to earned income. The Annual Tax Ledger is the best place to compare which band slices were used.

A troubleshooting case starts with a region-prefix warning. If a tax code begins with S but the region is set to England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, update Income tax region or confirm the code before relying on the Pay Period Ledger.

FAQ:

Why do pension settings change net pay so much?

The pension treatment changes which earnings are reduced. Salary sacrifice lowers taxable, NI, and loan pay; net pay lowers PAYE taxable pay; relief at source usually reduces cash pay after tax and NI.

Which output should I compare with a payslip?

Use Pay Period Ledger for payslip comparison. Compare gross pay, PAYE income tax, employee NI, employee pension cash deduction, loan deductions, other post-tax deductions, and net pay one row at a time.

Why is my student loan rounded?

The loan deduction uses a whole-pound per-period estimate above the selected plan threshold. Check the plan and pay frequency if the Student-loan deduction earnings row looks wrong.

Does the tax code prefix choose the tax region automatically?

No. The region selector controls the bands used here. S or C prefixes are noted in warnings when they appear inconsistent with the selected region.

Glossary:

PAYE: Pay As You Earn, the system that withholds income tax from employment income.
Tax code allowance: The tax-exempt amount estimated from a numeric or adjusted PAYE tax code.
Salary sacrifice: A pension arrangement that reduces contractual salary before tax and National Insurance in this model.
Primary threshold: The per-period National Insurance threshold where employee contributions start.
Qualifying earnings: The automatic-enrolment pension band between £6,240 and £50,270 annually in this estimate.

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 7 April 2026.
Student loan and postgraduate loan repayment guidance for employers, GOV.UK, updated 6 April 2026.
What your tax code means, GOV.UK.
Automatic enrolment earnings thresholds, The Pensions Regulator.