UK Take-Home Pay Calculator (2026/27)
Calculate UK take-home pay for 2026/27 (income tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension) for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Written by Rahman · Last reviewed
Quick answer
UK take-home pay is gross salary minus pension, Income Tax and National Insurance, plus a student loan repayment if one applies. For 2026/27 the tax-free Personal Allowance is £12,570, but it shrinks by £1 for every £2 earned above £100,000 and reaches zero at £125,140, the "60% tax trap," since income in that band is taxed twice over: once directly, and again through the allowance it removes.
- Take-home pay£27,459.60 (78.5%)
- Income tax£4,136.00 (11.8%)
- National Insurance£1,654.40 (4.7%)
- Pension£1,750.00 (5.0%)
- Total£35,000.00
Personal Allowance used: £12,570.
Results are estimates for general guidance and are not financial, tax or legal advice. Except where a calculator names a currency, figures carry no currency of their own: put in pounds and you get pounds back, put in rupees and you get rupees. Figures depend on the assumptions you enter and on rates that change over time. Check current rates and speak to a qualified adviser before acting on them.
About the UK Take-Home Pay Calculator (2026/27)
This calculator estimates UK take-home ("net") pay from a gross annual salary for the 2026/27 tax year, covering Income Tax, Class 1 National Insurance, undergraduate or postgraduate student loan repayment, and a pension contribution.
Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands, which differ from the rest of the UK from just above the Personal Allowance, so the same salary produces a different tax bill, and a different take-home figure, depending on which nation you pay tax in. National Insurance and student loan repayment do not vary by nation.
Take-home = Gross − Pension − Income Tax − National Insurance − Student Loan
Pension is modelled as a "net pay" / salary-sacrifice contribution, which reduces earnings before Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan repayment are all calculated, the common arrangement for UK workplace auto-enrolment. A "relief at source" pension instead reduces Income Tax only, which would give a slightly different result.
On a £35,000 salary with a 5% pension contribution (£1,750), pensionable pay is £33,250. Income Tax on that is £4,136 and National Insurance is £1,654, leaving £27,460 take-home a year, about £2,288 a month, an effective tax-and-NI rate of 21.5% of gross salary (not of pensionable pay, since the pension itself is also not take-home cash).
The £100,000 tax trap
Between £100,000 and £125,140 of income, the Personal Allowance is withdrawn at 50p for every £1 earned. Someone in this band pays Income Tax on that extra £1 at the ordinary 40% higher rate, and simultaneously loses 50p of tax-free allowance, which itself then gets taxed at 40%. The two effects combine into an effective 60% Income Tax rate across the whole band, regardless of what the payslip's tax code shows.
Once National Insurance is added the picture is slightly worse still: earnings in this range sit above the £50,270 upper earnings limit, where NI is charged at 2%. A rise from £110,000 to £111,000 costs £620 in combined extra Income Tax and NI (a 62% marginal rate, not 60%), even though no single rate on the tax code reads anywhere near that.
- A pension contribution large enough to bring adjusted net income back under £100,000 avoids the taper entirely, which is why salary sacrifice into a pension is disproportionately effective in this specific band.
- The £125,140 point is not a coincidence: it is exactly £100,000 plus twice the £12,570 allowance, the income at which the taper finishes removing the whole allowance.
- Charitable donations under Gift Aid also reduce "adjusted net income" for this test, for the same reason a pension contribution does.
Scotland's six tax bands
England, Northern Ireland and Wales use three Income Tax bands above the Personal Allowance: 20%, 40% and 45%. Scotland uses six: a 19% starter rate below the rUK basic rate, a 20% basic rate, a 21% intermediate rate, then 42%, 45% and 48%, each higher than its rUK equivalent from the higher-rate band upward.
On £150,000 with a 5% pension, the rUK take-home is £87,311 a year; the same salary taxed under Scottish bands takes home £81,605, a £5,706 difference from tax bands alone, since the underlying National Insurance charge is identical in both. The gap grows with income, because every Scottish band above the starter rate exceeds its rUK counterpart.
- The £100,000-£125,140 taper trap applies identically in Scotland, but the marginal rate inside it is higher: 1.5× the 45% advanced rate is 67.5%, not the 60% that applies in the rest of the UK.
- National Insurance, student loan repayment and the Personal Allowance itself are UK-wide and identical in Scotland; only the Income Tax bands differ.
- Which nation's rates apply is normally set by where you live, not where your employer is based.
Take-home pay by salary (rUK bands, 5% pension, no student loan)
| Gross salary | Pension | Income Tax | National Insurance | Take-home | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £1,250 | £2,236 | £894 | £20,620 | 17.5% |
| £40,000 | £2,000 | £5,086 | £2,034 | £30,880 | 22.8% |
| £60,000 | £3,000 | £10,232 | £3,151 | £43,617 | 27.3% |
| £100,000 | £5,000 | £25,432 | £3,911 | £65,657 | 34.3% |
| £150,000 | £7,500 | £50,328 | £4,861 | £87,311 | 41.8% |
Effective rate is total deductions (pension + tax + NI) as a share of gross salary. At £150,000 the same inputs under Scottish bands take home £81,605 instead of £87,311.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this cover Scotland?
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Yes. Select Scotland to use its six Income Tax bands instead of the England/Northern Ireland/Wales bands. National Insurance and student loan repayment are the same across the whole UK.
What is the £100,000 tax trap?
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Between £100,000 and £125,140, the Personal Allowance is withdrawn at 50p per £1 earned, which taxes that withdrawn allowance again on top of the direct tax, an effective 60% Income Tax rate (62% including National Insurance) across the band.
How does a pension contribution affect the result?
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This calculator models a salary-sacrifice or "net pay" pension, which reduces the earnings used for Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan repayment alike. Increasing pension contributions is the most direct way to escape the £100,000-£125,140 taper.
Can I model more than one student loan plan at once?
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Not in this calculator. Choose the plan that applies to you. A Postgraduate Loan can run alongside an undergraduate plan in reality, with each deducted separately, which this simplified model does not combine.
Why is my National Insurance not exactly 8% of my salary?
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National Insurance is 0% on earnings up to £12,570, 8% between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% above that, so the effective rate across your whole salary is always below 8% once any income falls into the 0% or 2% bands.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Income Tax rates and allowances for current and previous tax years — Personal Allowance, its £100,000 taper, and the England/NI/Wales and Scotland Income Tax bands for 2026/27.
- GOV.UK — Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 — Class 1 National Insurance thresholds and rates, and student/postgraduate loan repayment thresholds.