UK Salary Calculator 2026/27

How your take-home pay is calculated in 2026/27

Your take-home pay is what is left after income tax, National Insurance and any student loan or pension deductions. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the first £12,570 you earn is covered by the personal allowance and is tax free. The basic rate of 20% then applies to taxable income up to £37,700, which is earnings up to £50,270. Between £50,271 and £125,140 the higher rate of 40% applies, and anything above £125,140 is taxed at the additional rate of 45%.

There is one trap worth understanding. Once your adjusted net income passes £100,000, the personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 over that figure, so it disappears entirely at £125,140. Because you lose allowance while also paying 40% on the income that caused it, every extra pound between £100,000 and £125,140 is effectively taxed at 60%. Paying more into a pension under a net pay arrangement reduces adjusted net income and can claw that allowance back, which is why the calculator lets you model pension contributions.

Employee National Insurance

Employee Class 1 National Insurance is charged at 8% on earnings between the primary threshold of £12,570 and the upper earnings limit of £50,270, then at 2% on everything above that. Unlike income tax, National Insurance for most employees is worked out separately for each pay period rather than across the year as a whole. A monthly-paid employee is assessed against a £1,048 monthly threshold and a £4,189 monthly upper limit, so twelve months of thresholds comes to £12,576 rather than £12,570. That is why our figures can differ by a few pounds from calculators that simply use annual thresholds, and why irregular earnings — overtime in one month, nothing the next — can produce more National Insurance than an even salary of the same annual value.

Scottish income tax rates 2026/27

Scotland sets its own rates and bands for earned income, using the same £12,570 personal allowance and the same taper above £100,000. There are six bands:

• Starter rate 19% on £12,571 to £16,537
• Basic rate 20% on £16,538 to £29,526
• Intermediate rate 21% on £29,527 to £43,662
• Higher rate 42% on £43,663 to £75,000
• Advanced rate 45% on £75,001 to £125,140
• Top rate 48% above £125,140

National Insurance is not devolved, so a Scottish employee still pays 8% up to £50,270 and 2% above it. That creates an awkward overlap between £43,663 and £50,270, where Scottish taxpayers pay 42% income tax at the same time as 8% National Insurance. Scottish rates also apply to earned income only — savings and dividend income is taxed at UK-wide rates wherever you live.

How pro-rata pay works

Pro rata simply means "in proportion". A part-time salary is the full-time salary scaled down to the hours actually worked, using this calculation: full-time salary ÷ full-time hours per week × your hours per week. The full-time hours figure matters more than people expect. The same 25-hour week is a larger share of a 35-hour contract than it is of a 40-hour one, so always confirm what the employer treats as full time before comparing offers.

Worked example: part-time hours

A role is advertised at £32,000 for a full-time 37.5-hour week, and you want to work four days, or 30 hours. £32,000 ÷ 37.5 = £853.33 per weekly hour, and £853.33 × 30 = £25,600 a year. Your holiday entitlement is pro-rated in the same proportion, so 28 days full time becomes 22.4 days. On £25,600 the take-home is roughly £21,950 a year, about £1,829 a month, once income tax and National Insurance are taken.

Worked example: term time only

Term-time roles need a second step, because you are paid for fewer weeks as well as fewer hours. Take the same £32,000 full-time salary, 25 hours a week, worked over 39 weeks of the year. First scale the hours: £32,000 ÷ 37.5 × 25 = £21,333. Then scale the weeks, remembering that paid holiday is usually included in the weeks figure: £21,333 × 39 ÷ 52 = £16,000. That figure is normally spread across twelve equal monthly payments so income is even through the school holidays, which is why your monthly payslip will not obviously match either the term-time weeks or the full-time rate.

Because pro-rata salaries are often well below the personal allowance and National Insurance thresholds, part-time workers frequently keep a much higher percentage of their gross pay than full-time colleagues. The pro-rata mode above shows the exact split. If you are looking for part-time or flexible work locally, browse our current jobs in High Wycombe.

Holiday pay for temporary and hourly workers

Almost every worker in the UK is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, including agency and temporary workers. For workers with irregular hours or who only work part of the year, entitlement is accrued at 12.07% of the hours actually worked. That percentage is not arbitrary: a year has 52 weeks, 5.6 of which are holiday, leaving 46.4 working weeks — and 5.6 ÷ 46.4 = 12.07%.

For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, rolled-up holiday pay is lawful again for irregular-hours and part-year workers. It is only compliant if it is paid in every pay period as it is earned, itemised separately on the payslip so the worker can see it, and paid in addition to normal pay for the hours worked. Rolled-up holiday pay also does not count towards National Minimum Wage, so the underlying rate must meet the minimum on its own before the 12.07% is added.

This is where a lot of confusion arises when comparing temporary assignments. A rate of "£13.00 plus 12.07% holiday" is worth £14.57 an hour in total, whereas "£13.00 inclusive of holiday" means the £13.00 is all you receive and holiday is taken out of it. The two are genuinely different amounts of money, which is why the hourly rate mode above asks you to say which treatment applies. If you take on temporary staff and want the arrangement handled correctly, see our temporary staff service in High Wycombe.

National Minimum and Living Wage rates from April 2026

These rates take effect on 1 April 2026. Note that this is not the same date as the start of the tax year on 6 April, so there is a short window each spring where new wage rates apply under the previous year's tax thresholds. At £12.71 an hour, a 37.5-hour week works out at £24,784.50 a year before any rolled-up holiday pay.

What an employee actually costs an employer

Gross salary is only part of the cost of a hire. Employers pay Class 1 secondary National Insurance at 15% on all earnings above the secondary threshold of £5,000 a year, which is far lower than the employee threshold and means employer NI starts almost immediately. On top of that, auto-enrolment requires a minimum employer contribution of 3% of qualifying earnings — the band between £6,240 and £50,270 — within a total minimum contribution of 8%.

In practice a £30,000 salary costs a little over £34,000 a year once employer National Insurance and a minimum pension contribution are added, before recruitment, equipment, training or cover for absence. The employer cost mode above breaks this down and also gives a cost per hour, which is the most useful figure when comparing a permanent hire against temporary cover.

Eligible businesses can claim the Employment Allowance of £10,500 against their total employer National Insurance bill. It is a business-level annual allowance rather than a saving per employee, and it cannot be claimed by a company where the sole employee is also a director. If you are budgeting for a new role, our employer recruitment services include realistic local salary guidance before you advertise.

Student loan repayment thresholds 2026/27

Repayments are taken only on earnings above the relevant threshold and, like National Insurance, are worked out for each pay period rather than cumulatively. A plan loan and a postgraduate loan can both apply at the same time, in which case the deductions stack — 9% plus 6% on earnings above their separate thresholds. You can select both in the "More options" panel above to see the effect on your net pay.