How we calculate UK take-home pay
What take-home pay means here
Take-home pay is gross salary minus income tax, employee Class 1 National Insurance and, when you choose them, student loan repayments and your pension contribution. It is what reaches your bank account on a standard payslip.
Income tax (2026/27)
Tax code 1257L: a personal allowance of £12,570, reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000 and gone at £125,140. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland taxable income is taxed at 20 % up to £37,700, 40 % up to £125,140 and 45 % above. Wales sets its own rates for 2026/27 at the same level.
Scottish taxpayers pay six rates on non-savings income: 19 % (to £16,537 gross), 20 % (to £29,526), 21 % (to £43,662), 42 % (to £75,000), 45 % (to £125,140) and 48 % above.
National Insurance
Employees pay 8 % of pay between £12,570 and £50,270 a year and 2 % above. Payroll applies the monthly (£1,048 and £4,189) or weekly (£242 and £967) thresholds to each payment, so a steady monthly salary pays about 48p a year less than the annual figure shown here.
Student loans and pensions
Student loans are 9 % of pay above £26,900 (Plan 1), £29,385 (Plan 2), £33,795 (Plan 4) or £25,000 (Plan 5); postgraduate loans 6 % above £21,000, taken in addition. Pension contributions can be taken before tax (net pay arrangement), after tax with 20 % relief added by the provider (relief at source; higher-rate relief is claimed later through Self Assessment and is not in take-home pay) or through salary sacrifice, which also saves National Insurance.
What is not included
Tax codes other than 1257L, the marriage allowance, benefits in kind, bonuses and overtime taxed in a single month, Class 2 and 4 National Insurance for the self-employed, and dividends or savings income. The figures are for the whole tax year 2026/27.
How each value was verified
Of the values in this year's rules, 22 are confirmed by an official source, 4 by at least two independent secondary sources, 0 are derived by arithmetic from verified values (for example last year's threshold times the published indexation factor), 0 are confirmed indirectly by reproducing an external result, and 0 are long-standing statutory values that still need an official source.
Sources
Rules for the 2026/27 tax year, last checked on 2026-09-26. Every rate and threshold is taken from the sources below.
- Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances GOV.UK
- Income tax: rates and thresholds 2026/27 (CBP-10618) House of Commons Library
- The Personal Allowance and basic rate limit for Income Tax and certain NICs thresholds from 6 April 2026 HMRC
- Scottish income tax rates and bands 2026 to 2027 Scottish Government
- Welsh rates of income tax ready reckoner 2026 to 2027 Welsh Government
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRC
- National Insurance rates and categories GOV.UK
- SL3 student and postgraduate loan deduction tables 2026 to 2027 HMRC
- Special rules for student loans HMRC
- Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay GOV.UK
- Automatic enrolment earnings thresholds 2026/27 (HCWS1206) UK Parliament
- Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: 2025 Office for National Statistics
- Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025: employee earnings Scottish Government
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates GOV.UK
- Taxing Wages 2026: United Kingdom (2025-2026 income tax year) OECD
Put the result on your site
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