Bureau of Wealth

Take-Home Pay Calculator 2026/27

By the Bureau of Wealth team Updated

This calculator is general information, not financial advice. Check your own figures with the provider or a qualified adviser before acting on them.

Enter your salary, where you live, your pension and any student loan to see what reaches your bank account each month and each year in the 2026/27 tax year.

Using 2026/27 rates rates checked 14 September 2026

Scotland has its own income tax bands. National Insurance is the same everywhere.

Your payslip or pension provider will say which. If unsure, net pay is common in workplace schemes.

Postgraduate Loan

Check the highlighted fields to see your results.

What this calculator assumes

  • You have one job, the same pay every month and the standard 1257L tax code, so you get the full £12,570 Personal Allowance. Benefits in kind, other income and emergency tax codes are not included.
  • Income Tax uses the 2026/27 bands for Scotland if you choose Scotland, and the England, Wales and Northern Ireland bands otherwise. National Insurance is employee Class 1 at category A rates, which are the same across the UK.
  • Your pension contribution is a percentage of your whole salary. Most automatic enrolment schemes work out contributions on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year, which would make your deduction smaller. Employer contributions are not shown because they do not come out of your pay.
  • Student loan repayments are worked out on yearly pay. In practice your employer compares each payday with the monthly threshold, so a bonus month can trigger a repayment even if your yearly pay is below the threshold. You can ask for a refund after the tax year ends.
  • With relief at source, only the basic rate relief the provider adds is included. Higher rate taxpayers can claim more on a Self Assessment tax return, which this calculator does not include.

You might also want to check

  • 50/30/20 Budget Calculator

    A budget should start from what actually reaches your account, so use your monthly take-home pay to split spending into needs, wants and savings.

  • ISA vs Pension Calculator

    The pension lines here show how much tax and National Insurance a contribution saves you, and the ISA vs pension calculator weighs that against the flexibility of an ISA.

  • How to Read Your Payslip: Tax Code, NI and Pension

    Your payslip shows these deductions line by line. The guide explains your tax code, NI and pension, and which you can change.

  • What a Pay Rise Is Really Worth After Tax

    Weighing a pay rise? The guide explains marginal rates, including the 60% band above £100,000, and why you keep less than the headline figure.

How your take-home pay is worked out

The calculator starts from your yearly salary and takes off four things in turn. Income Tax is charged on pay above your Personal Allowance, band by band. National Insurance is 8% of pay between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above that in 2026/27. Your pension contribution is a percentage of salary. A student loan repayment is 9% of pay above your plan's threshold, and a Postgraduate Loan adds 6% above £21,000. What is left is your take-home pay, shown for the year and divided by 12 for each month.

Above £100,000, your Personal Allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of income, so it is gone by £125,140. That is why the figure for tax, NI and loans taken from each extra £100 reaches 62% at a salary of £110,000 in England.

A worked example

On a salary of £35,000 in England with 5% going into a net pay pension, the calculator gives £4,136 Income Tax, £1,794.40 National Insurance and £1,750 pension. Take-home pay is £27,319.60 a year, or £2,276.63 a month. Add a Plan 2 student loan and £505.35 a year (£42.11 a month) is taken as well, because Plan 2 repayments start above £29,385.

Scotland and the rest of the UK

If you live in Scotland you pay Scottish Income Tax, which has six bands in 2026/27: 19%, 20%, 21%, 42%, 45% and 48%. The rest of the UK has 20%, 40% and 45%. National Insurance has one set of rates and thresholds for the whole UK. On £60,000 with no pension, Income Tax is £13,182.05 in Scotland and £11,432 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, while National Insurance is £3,210.60 in all four.

The three ways a pension can be taken

With net pay, your employer takes the contribution before Income Tax, so you get tax relief straight away but still pay National Insurance on it. With relief at source, the contribution comes from pay after tax and your provider claims 20% from the government and adds it to your pot. With salary sacrifice, you give up part of your salary and your employer pays it into your pension, so it is free of both tax and National Insurance.

On the £35,000 example, net pay and relief at source both leave £27,319.60, although relief at source takes £1,400 from your pay and tops it up to £1,750. Salary sacrifice leaves £27,459.60, because National Insurance falls by £140. HM Treasury has announced that from April 2029 only the first £2,000 a year sacrificed into a pension will be free of National Insurance.

Using the result

Check the figure against your payslip. If your tax is very different, your tax code may not be 1257L. HMRC will usually write to explain how it worked out a new code. Once you know your monthly take-home pay, the 50/30/20 budget calculator splits it into needs, wants and savings, and the student loan calculator shows whether your repayments are likely to clear the balance before it is written off.

Frequently asked questions

What does the 1257L tax code mean?

HMRC says 1257L is the tax code used for most people with one job or pension. The number is your £12,570 tax-free allowance with the final digit replaced by a letter. If your code is different, for example because of a company benefit, your tax will differ from this estimate.

Why is my National Insurance the same in Scotland?

Scottish Income Tax applies to wages, pensions and most other taxable income if you live in Scotland. National Insurance uses one set of rates and thresholds for the whole UK, so choosing Scotland changes your Income Tax line and nothing else.

Which student loan plan am I on?

In England, Plan 5 covers courses starting from 1 August 2023, Plan 2 courses from 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023, and Plan 1 earlier courses. Scottish students are on Plan 4 and Northern Irish students on Plan 1. Your payslip or online repayment account will confirm it.

Is salary sacrifice always better?

It gives the highest take-home pay for the same contribution in this calculator, because you save National Insurance as well as Income Tax. It is a change to your employment contract, and HMRC rules say it must not take your cash pay below the National Minimum Wage. Ask your employer how it affects anything else linked to your salary.

Does a pension contribution reduce my student loan repayment?

In this calculator, only salary sacrifice does, because it lowers the pay that the repayment is worked out on. Net pay and relief at source contributions are taken after the repayment is calculated, so the student loan line stays the same.

Sources

Figures come from institutions millions of people rely on. How we keep calculators accurate.