In short
In 2026/27 take-home pay in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is gross salary minus income tax (20% above the £12,570 personal allowance, 40% above £50,270, 45% above £125,140), employee National Insurance (8% between £12,570 and £50,270, 2% above), student loan repayments (9% above the plan threshold) and pension contributions. On £30,000 that leaves about £2,093 a month; on £50,000 about £3,293; on £100,000 about £5,713.
Your payslip shows one number you care about — what lands in the bank — and four or five deductions that explain the gap. This guide walks through each of them for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: income tax and the personal allowance, the taper that bites above £100,000, employee National Insurance, student loan repayments and pension contributions. By the end you will be able to check a payslip by hand and see exactly why a pay rise, a bonus or a pension change moves your take-home the way it does.
Open the UK take-home pay calculator →
Income tax: the personal allowance and three bands
Income tax is charged on taxable income, which is gross pay less the personal allowance of £12,570. Above that, three bands apply in slices — you only pay the higher rate on the part of your income that falls inside that band, never on the whole amount.
| Gross income (full allowance) | Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| £0 – £12,570 | Personal allowance | 0% |
| £12,571 – £50,270 | First £37,700 | 20% (basic) |
| £50,271 – £125,140 | Next £74,870 | 40% (higher) |
| Over £125,140 | Remainder | 45% (additional) |
The £50,270 and £125,140 figures are gross-income thresholds that assume you have the full allowance. The allowance and the thresholds are frozen, so every pay rise pulls a little more of your income into the next band — the effect usually called fiscal drag.
The taper above £100,000
Once income passes £100,000, the personal allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2 of income above the line. It reaches zero at £125,140, which is why the additional-rate threshold sits at that odd figure. Between £100,000 and £125,140 each extra £1 is taxed at 40% and also removes 50p of allowance that was previously tax-free — another 20p of tax — so the effective marginal rate is 60%, plus 2% NI. Earning £110,000 rather than £100,000 adds £6,000 of income tax and £200 of NI on the extra £10,000: you keep £3,800.
Employee National Insurance
Class 1 employee NI uses its own thresholds, which in 2026/27 line up with the income tax figures: 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 a year, then 2% on everything above. It is deducted each pay period as Class 1 contributions. Your employer separately pays 15% above £5,000 — that does not come out of your pay, but it is why salary sacrifice (below) is cheap for employers to offer.
Student loan repayments
Repayments are collected through PAYE at 9% of pay above the threshold for your plan (6% for a postgraduate loan, which runs alongside any undergraduate plan). They are a percentage of income, not of the balance, so the amount you owe does not change the monthly deduction.
| Plan | Annual threshold | Rate above threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | 9% |
| Plan 2 (England, started 2012–2023) | £29,385 | 9% |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £33,795 | 9% |
| Plan 5 (England, started from August 2023) | £25,000 | 9% |
| Postgraduate loan | £21,000 | 6% |
On £30,000 a Plan 2 graduate repays 9% × (30,000 − 29,385) = £55 a year; a Plan 5 graduate repays 9% × 5,000 = £450. The student loan repayment calculator shows whether a balance will clear before it is written off — for Plan 2 that is 30 years after the April you were first due to repay.
Pension contributions and how they are taxed
How a pension contribution affects take-home depends on the scheme mechanics, not just the percentage.
- Salary sacrifice — you give up pay and your employer pays it into the pension. The sacrificed amount escapes income tax, employee NI (8% or 2%) and employer NI (15%). This is the cheapest way to contribute.
- Net pay — the contribution is deducted before income tax but after NI. Full tax relief arrives automatically; no NI saving.
- Relief at source — the contribution comes out of pay after tax; the provider adds 20% basic-rate relief, and higher- or additional-rate taxpayers claim the other 20% or 25% through Self Assessment or a tax-code adjustment. A £10,000 gross contribution costs a 40% taxpayer £8,000 from pay, with £2,000 to reclaim.
Relief is given at your marginal rate, so contributions are most valuable in the 40% band and in the 60% taper zone. The pension tax relief calculator shows the effective rate for your income, and the salary sacrifice pension calculator adds the NI saving. The annual allowance is £60,000 including employer contributions, tapering to a £10,000 floor for adjusted incomes above £260,000.
Worked examples: £30,000, £50,000 and £100,000
All three assume the standard 1257L code, no pension and no student loan, so the figures are the ceiling for take-home at each salary. Pension and loan variants follow.
£30,000. Taxable income 30,000 − 12,570 = £17,430. Income tax 17,430 × 20% = £3,486. NI (30,000 − 12,570) × 8% = £1,394. Take-home £25,120 a year, £2,093 a month — 83.7% of gross.
£50,000. Taxable income £37,430, all within the basic band. Income tax 37,430 × 20% = £7,486. NI (50,000 − 12,570) × 8% = £2,994. Take-home £39,520, £3,293 a month — 79.0% of gross. With a 5% salary-sacrifice pension (£2,500) and a Plan 2 loan: tax £6,986, NI £2,794, loan 9% × (50,000 − 29,385) = £1,855, take-home £35,864 or £2,989 a month, plus £2,500 in the pension.
£100,000. The full allowance still applies (the taper starts above £100,000). Taxable income £87,430: 37,700 × 20% = £7,540 plus (87,430 − 37,700) × 40% = £19,892, income tax £27,432. NI (50,270 − 12,570) × 8% = £3,016 plus (100,000 − 50,270) × 2% = £995, total £4,011. Take-home £68,557, £5,713 a month — 68.6% of gross. A 5% pension (£5,000) cuts tax by £2,000 and NI by £100, so take-home falls by only £2,900 to £5,471 a month.
The pattern to notice: moving from £50,000 to £100,000 doubles gross pay but raises take-home by 73%, because the second £50,000 is taxed at 42% rather than 28%.
Bonuses and one-off payments
A bonus is added to your salary and taxed at whatever marginal rate the combined figure reaches. For a £95,000 earner, a £15,000 bonus pushes income to £110,000: £5,000 is taxed at 40% and £10,000 falls in the 60% taper zone, so £8,300 of the £15,000 goes in tax and NI. Sacrificing the £10,000 above £100,000 into a pension would cost just £3,800 of take-home. The bonus tax calculator runs this for your own salary, including student loan and the child benefit charge.
What people get wrong
- Assuming the 40% rate applies to the whole salary once you cross £50,270. Only the slice above it is taxed at 40%.
- Treating £100,000 as a cliff. It is a taper: the allowance disappears gradually to £125,140, and pension contributions bring adjusted income back down.
- Confusing a 5% pension with 5% less take-home. Under salary sacrifice a basic-rate taxpayer loses 72p of take-home per £1 contributed (after 20% tax and 8% NI); a higher-rate taxpayer loses 58p.
- Forgetting the student loan applies to gross pay above the threshold, not to taxable pay, and that a postgraduate loan stacks on top of an undergraduate plan.
- Using these bands in Scotland. Scottish taxpayers have six income tax bands set by Holyrood; NI and student loans are the same UK-wide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the personal allowance for 2026/27?
£12,570. It is reduced by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000 and is nil at £125,140.
How much tax and NI do I pay on £45,000?
About £6,486 income tax and £2,594 NI with no pension, leaving roughly £2,993 a month; with a 5% pension and Plan 2 loan take-home is about £2,741 a month.
Why is my take-home lower than the calculator shows?
Common reasons: a non-standard tax code, benefits in kind such as a company car or medical insurance, a relief-at-source pension (deducted after tax), Scottish rates, or a loan plan you did not select.
Does a pay rise to £51,000 cost me money?
No. Only the £730 above £50,270 is taxed at 40% and 2% NI; the rest of the rise is taxed at 20% and 8%. There is no point at which earning more reduces net pay under the main bands.
Is employer National Insurance deducted from my pay?
No. The 15% employer rate above £5,000 is a cost to the employer on top of your gross salary; it never appears as a deduction on your payslip.
Sources
- HMRC — Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (2026/27 bands and taper; checked 29 September 2026).
- HMRC — National Insurance rates and categories (category A 8% / 2%; checked 29 September 2026).
- gov.uk — Repaying your student loan: what you pay (plan thresholds; checked 29 September 2026).
- HMRC — Tax on your private pension contributions: tax relief (annual allowance and taper; checked 8 October 2026).