Estimate your net monthly take-home pay after income tax, National Insurance, and optional pension contribution.
Your gross salary has pension contributions deducted first (if any), then income tax and National Insurance are calculated on what's left, giving your net take-home pay.
Illustrative estimate only, using simplified/rounded 2026/27 UK figures — not tax advice. Always confirm with HMRC or a qualified UK tax adviser.
A UK payslip typically shows three deductions from gross pay: Income Tax (20%/40%/45% above the Personal Allowance), National Insurance (8% then 2% above the Upper Earnings Limit for 2026/27), and, for most employees, a workplace pension contribution deducted automatically under auto-enrolment rules. Student loan repayments are a fourth deduction for anyone still repaying one, calculated as a percentage of income above a plan-specific threshold.
These deductions are calculated independently of each other but all come off the same gross figure, which is why take-home pay is not simply gross minus a single combined rate — it depends on exactly where your income falls across the income tax bands, the NI thresholds, and your specific pension contribution rate, all of which interact differently at different salary levels.
Most commonly a new tax year shifting the Personal Allowance or NI thresholds, a tax code correction from HMRC, a change in pension contribution rate, or the start or end of a student loan deduction.
It can be adjusted to — auto-enrolment requires a minimum 8% total contribution (typically 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer) on qualifying earnings, which reduces take-home pay but builds retirement savings.
Your tax code tells your employer how much tax-free Personal Allowance to apply through PAYE. An incorrect tax code (common after a job change or a second income) can mean overpaying or underpaying tax through the year, corrected later via HMRC.
Not quite — take-home pay is what lands in your account after tax, NI, and pension deductions. Disposable income usually also nets out fixed post-tax commitments like a student loan or council tax, giving a truer picture of what is actually free to spend.