UK Salary Calculator (take-home pay)

Enter your gross monthly salary and select your region to see take-home pay after Income Tax and National Insurance (UK 2026/27). Includes Scotland's updated 2026/27 tax bands and optional salary sacrifice.

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2026/27 model. England/Wales/NI rates unchanged from 2025/26 (frozen). Scotland bands updated from 6 April 2026. Personal Allowance £12,570 (tapered above £100k). Salary sacrifice reduces taxable income — both tax and NI are saved. Excludes student loan, auto-enrolment (non-sacrifice). An estimate — not a payslip. Last rate verification: April 2026.

Take-home / month
Take-home / year
% of gross

How the salary calculator works

Enter your gross monthly salary, choose your region (England/Wales/NI or Scotland) and optionally enter any salary sacrifice amount (e.g. pension contributions). The calculator applies the 2025/26 tax rates and shows your net take-home instantly.

Salary sacrifice reduces your taxable gross before both Income Tax and NI are calculated — this is more tax-efficient than a personal pension contribution (relief at source), where only Income Tax is reclaimed.

The Personal Allowance is tapered for earnings above £100,000 — losing £1 of allowance per £2 earned, creating an effective 60% marginal rate between £100k and £125,140.

England / Wales / NI — 2025/26

  • Personal Allowance: £12,570/year (zero above £125,140)
  • Basic rate: 20% on £12,571–£50,270
  • Higher rate: 40% on £50,271–£125,140
  • Additional rate: 45% above £125,140
  • Employee NI: 8% on £12,571–£50,270 · 2% above

Scotland — 2026/27 (income tax only; NI same as rest of UK)

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

Frequently asked questions

What is deducted from gross pay?

Income Tax (after your Personal Allowance) and employee National Insurance. What's left is your take-home (net) pay. Salary sacrifice is shown separately as it goes to a pension, not to tax.

How does Scotland's income tax differ?

Scotland sets its own income-tax rates. In 2026/27 there are 6 bands: Starter 19% (to £16,537), Basic 20% (to £29,526), Intermediate 21% (to £43,662), Higher 42% (to £75,000), Advanced 45% (to £125,140), Top 48% above. NI is the same across the whole UK — it is not devolved.

What is salary sacrifice and how does it save tax?

Salary sacrifice means reducing your gross salary in exchange for a benefit (usually pension). Your taxable income falls, so you save Income Tax AND NI — making it more efficient than a personal pension contribution where you can only reclaim tax.

Does it include pension contributions?

Only if entered as salary sacrifice. Standard auto-enrolment contributions taken after tax are not shown — add them to the sacrifice field if your employer uses salary sacrifice for pensions.

What is the Personal Allowance?

£12,570 for 2025/26. Tapered by £1 per £2 over £100,000 — it reaches zero at £125,140, creating an effective 60% marginal rate in that band.

How your UK take-home pay is worked out

The number on your contract is gross pay; what lands in your bank account is what remains after Income Tax, National Insurance and any pension or salary-sacrifice deductions. The calculator above applies the current tax-year rules for your region — the bands differ between England, Wales & Northern Ireland and Scotland, which sets its own income-tax rates and thresholds.

The mechanics are the same everywhere in the UK. First, a slice of income — the personal allowance — is tax-free (it is withdrawn gradually for incomes above £100,000). Income above the allowance is taxed in bands: each band rate applies only to the income inside that band, so moving into a higher band never reduces your net pay — only the part above the threshold is taxed at the higher rate. National Insurance is charged separately on earnings above its own threshold, with a lower rate above the upper earnings limit.

Why Scotland is different

Since 2017 the Scottish Parliament sets income-tax bands for Scottish taxpayers. Scotland uses more bands than the rest of the UK (including starter and intermediate rates), so take-home pay for the same gross salary can differ by several hundred pounds a year from England — slightly better at lower incomes, noticeably worse at higher ones. National Insurance is not devolved, so it is identical in both regions. The region toggle above applies the correct set of bands.

Salary sacrifice: the quiet pay rise

If you give up salary in exchange for a pension contribution (salary sacrifice), that slice never becomes taxable pay — you avoid both Income Tax and National Insurance on it, and your employer saves NI too (some pass part of that on). Entering £100 a month in the sacrifice field typically reduces take-home pay by clearly less than £100 — the difference is the tax you did not pay. Contributions made this way go into your pension, so this is deferred income, not lost income.

Tips for reading your payslip

Frequently asked questions

I got a pay rise into a higher band — will I take home less?

No. Band rates only apply to the income inside each band, so a rise always increases net pay. The rare exceptions involve cliff-edge benefits (such as childcare schemes) rather than the tax bands themselves.

Why does my annual result differ slightly from my payslip?

Payroll applies thresholds per pay period and rounds differently; bonuses, benefits-in-kind and pension methods (net pay vs relief at source) also shift the figures. Treat the calculator as an accurate planning estimate rather than a payslip replica.