What your salary is actually worth
Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan — every deduction shown separately.
Before tax, as written in your contract
Percentage of your salary going into the pension, including any tax relief
Most workplace schemes. Your payslip shows the full contribution and a lower taxable pay.
Take-home pay
£2,276.63
per month · £27,320 per year · £525.38 per week
Effective rate
16.9%
Of your gross salary
On your next £100
27.0%
Goes to tax, NI and student loan
Reaches your bank
£68.00
Out of the next £100 you earn
| Gross salary | £35,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Pension contributionStill your money — it just moves to your pension | −£1,750.00 |
| Income TaxPersonal Allowance £12,570.00 | −£4,136.00 |
| National Insurance | −£1,794.40 |
| Take-home pay | £27,319.60 |
| 20.0% On £20,680 | £4,136.00 |
|---|
Figures for the 2026/27 UK tax year. Rates last checked against HMRC on 2026-08-28. See every source.
How to work out your take-home pay
Most salary calculators hand you one number and no working. This one shows the whole payslip: which band each slice of your income falls into, what the Personal Allowance is doing, and what each student loan plan takes. It also asks something almost no other calculator asks — how your pension contribution is taken. Salary sacrifice, net pay and relief at source produce three different take-home figures from the same percentage, and with relief at source a higher-rate taxpayer has to claim part of the relief back rather than receiving it in their payslip. Above £100,000 the rate on your next £100 is 62%, not 40%, because the Personal Allowance is withdrawn at the same time. Figures are the published HMRC rates for the 2026/27 tax year for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- 1Enter your gross annual salary — the figure written in your contract, before anything is taken off.
- 2Add your pension contribution as a percentage, then say how it is taken — your payslip shows whether it comes off before or after tax.
- 3Pick your student loan plan, and tick the Postgraduate Loan box as well if you have one.
- 4Read the monthly figure, then check the breakdown table line by line against your payslip.
FAQ
Why is my payslip slightly different from this figure?
National Insurance is worked out on each pay period rather than on the year as a whole. With a steady salary the two agree, but a bonus, a pay rise mid-year or starting a job part-way through the year will make a real payslip differ from an annual calculation. Income Tax usually catches up through your tax code by the end of the year; National Insurance does not.
Why does earning more than £100,000 cost me 60%?
Above £100,000 your Personal Allowance falls by £1 for every £2 you earn, so an extra £100 of salary also exposes £50 that was previously tax-free. The combined effect is 60% Income Tax on that slice, plus 2% National Insurance. Paying the excess into a pension brings your income back below the threshold and restores the allowance.
Does a pension contribution reduce my student loan repayment?
Not if it is a normal net-pay or relief-at-source contribution — student loan repayments are worked out on your gross pay before pension. A salary sacrifice arrangement is different, because it reduces your contractual salary itself. Check which arrangement your employer runs before assuming either way.
Why does the calculator ask how my pension is taken?
Because the same percentage produces three different answers. Salary sacrifice reduces your contractual salary, so it cuts Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan together. A net pay arrangement cuts Income Tax only. Relief at source cuts nothing in your payslip — your provider reclaims 20% for you and anything above that has to be claimed separately. Your payslip will show which one you are on: net pay and salary sacrifice appear before the tax line, relief at source after it.
I am on relief at source and pay higher rate tax. Am I missing money?
Very possibly. Your provider only reclaims the basic rate. The extra 20 or 25 points of relief do not arrive on their own — you claim them through Self Assessment or by asking HMRC to change your tax code. Claims can normally be backdated four tax years, so it is worth checking even if you have never done it.
Does this work for Scotland?
No. Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands and has six of them rather than three, so the figures here would be wrong for a Scottish taxpayer. National Insurance and student loan thresholds are the same UK-wide, but Income Tax is not.