PAYE Calculator UK 2026: Work Out Exactly What You Take Home
PAYE calculator UK searches spike every time a payslip lands and the numbers do not quite add up. Maybe you have just accepted a new job and want to know what that salary really means each month. Maybe your tax code changed and your take-home pay dropped without warning. Or maybe you are comparing two offers and need to know which one leaves more in your pocket. Whatever brought you here, the frustration is the same: employers talk in gross annual salaries, but your rent, bills and food shop all come out of your net pay. This guide walks you through exactly how PAYE works in 2026/27, shows you the sums behind any PAYE calculator, and gives you ready-made take-home figures for salaries from £20,000 to £80,000.
A PAYE calculator UK tool works out your take-home pay by deducting income tax and National Insurance from your gross salary. For 2026/27, most people pay no tax on the first £12,570, then 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140, plus 8% employee National Insurance on earnings between the thresholds.
- PAYE (Pay As You Earn) is how HMRC collects income tax and National Insurance directly from your wages before you are paid.
- The Personal Allowance stays at £12,570 for 2026/27, and government policy confirms it is frozen for several more years, so pay rises pull more of your salary into tax.
- Employee National Insurance is 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above that.
- On a £35,000 salary you take home roughly £28,720 a year, or about £2,393 a month, before student loan or pension deductions.
- Student loans, pension contributions and salary sacrifice all change the headline figure, so always add them to any calculator you use.
- Your tax code drives everything: if it is wrong, every payslip is wrong until you fix it with HMRC.
What Is PAYE and How Does It Work?
PAYE stands for Pay As You Earn. It is the system HMRC uses to collect income tax and National Insurance from employees as they earn, rather than in one painful bill at the end of the year. Your employer runs the calculation every payday, deducts what is due, and sends it to HMRC on your behalf.
That is why the salary in your contract and the money in your bank account are two different numbers. Your employer quotes gross pay. PAYE turns it into net pay. If you have ever wondered what each line on your wage slip means, our guide on how to read a UK payslip breaks down every deduction line by line.
PAYE covers almost everyone employed in the UK: full-time, part-time, temporary and second jobs. Self-employed workers sit outside PAYE and settle their tax through Self Assessment instead.
The 2026/27 Rates Every PAYE Calculator Uses
Any accurate PAYE calculator UK page relies on the same official figures. For the 2026/27 tax year, confirmed in GOV.UK guidance for employers, the Personal Allowance remains £12,570 and the main employee National Insurance rate remains 8%. Here are the numbers in full.
| Band | Income range (2026/27) | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Basic rate | £12,571 – £50,270 | 20% |
| Higher rate | £50,271 – £125,140 | 40% |
| Additional rate | Over £125,140 | 45% |
| Employee NI (main) | £12,570 – £50,270 | 8% |
| Employee NI (upper) | Over £50,270 | 2% |
Two details trip people up. First, income tax bands differ slightly in Scotland, which sets its own rates and has more bands, so Scottish taxpayers should use a calculator with a Scotland option. Second, the Personal Allowance tapers away once you earn over £100,000, disappearing entirely at £125,140. That creates an effective 60% tax zone between those two figures.
How to Calculate Your PAYE Step by Step
You do not need software to sanity-check your payslip. Any PAYE calculator follows these five steps, and you can do them with a phone calculator in two minutes.
- Start with gross annual salary. Use your contractual salary before any deductions.
- Deduct the Personal Allowance. Take off £12,570 to find your taxable income (assuming a standard 1257L tax code).
- Apply income tax band by band. Charge 20% on taxable income up to the basic rate limit, then 40% on anything between £50,270 and £125,140.
- Work out National Insurance separately. Charge 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on anything above.
- Subtract both from gross pay. The result is your annual take-home. Divide by 12 for monthly or 52 for weekly pay.
Remember this gives your baseline net pay. Student loan repayments and pension contributions come off afterwards, and we cover both below.
Take-Home Pay Table 2026/27: £20,000 to £80,000
The table below applies the 2026/27 rates to common salaries. Figures assume a standard 1257L tax code in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, with no student loan or pension deductions.
| Gross salary | Income tax | National Insurance | Annual take-home | Monthly take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £1,486 | £594 | £17,920 | £1,493 |
| £25,000 | £2,486 | £994 | £21,520 | £1,793 |
| £30,000 | £3,486 | £1,394 | £25,120 | £2,093 |
| £35,000 | £4,486 | £1,794 | £28,720 | £2,393 |
| £40,000 | £5,486 | £2,194 | £32,320 | £2,693 |
| £45,000 | £6,486 | £2,594 | £35,920 | £2,993 |
| £50,000 | £7,486 | £2,994 | £39,520 | £3,293 |
| £60,000 | £11,432 | £3,211 | £45,357 | £3,780 |
| £70,000 | £15,432 | £3,411 | £51,157 | £4,263 |
| £80,000 | £19,432 | £3,611 | £56,957 | £4,746 |
Want a deeper breakdown for a specific salary? We publish dedicated guides for popular amounts, including £35k after tax and £50k after tax, with weekly figures and student loan scenarios included.
Worked Example: £35,000 Salary
Let us run the full PAYE calculation on a £35,000 salary, the sort of figure many UK office, NHS and skilled trade roles pay in 2026.
- Taxable income: £35,000 minus £12,570 = £22,430
- Income tax: 20% of £22,430 = £4,486
- National Insurance: 8% of £22,430 = £1,794.40
- Annual take-home: £35,000 minus £4,486 minus £1,794.40 = £28,719.60
- Monthly: about £2,393. Weekly: about £552.
Notice that the total deduction is roughly 18% of gross pay. People often assume being a basic rate taxpayer means losing 20% of everything, but the Personal Allowance shields the first £12,570 completely, so your effective tax rate is always lower than your headline band.
Student Loans, Pensions and Other Deductions
A basic PAYE calculator UK result covers tax and National Insurance only. Three other deductions commonly appear on payslips and can change your take-home by hundreds of pounds a month.
Student loan repayments
Repayments are collected through PAYE once your income passes the threshold for your plan type. Undergraduate plans deduct 9% of income above the threshold, and Postgraduate Loans deduct 6%. Thresholds differ by plan (Plan 1, 2, 4 and 5 all have their own figures, updated most tax years), so check your plan on GOV.UK before estimating. On a £35,000 salary, a Plan 2 graduate typically repays around £45 to £50 a month.
Workplace pension
Auto-enrolment normally takes 5% of qualifying earnings from you, with at least 3% added by your employer. Your 5% usually attracts tax relief, so the hit to net pay is smaller than it looks. Opting out boosts today’s payslip but gives up free employer money.
Salary sacrifice
Schemes for pensions, cycle-to-work or electric cars reduce your gross salary before tax and NI are calculated, cutting both bills. If you use salary sacrifice, run the calculator on your post-sacrifice salary.
If you like to model these numbers yourself, a spreadsheet beats any online tool because you can save scenarios side by side. Coffee & Study’s roundup of the best free Excel courses is a good place to build those skills quickly.
Why Your Tax Code Matters
Every PAYE calculation starts from your tax code. The standard code for 2026/27 is 1257L, which simply means you get the full £12,570 allowance. Codes ending in W1 or M1 are emergency codes that tax each payday in isolation, and codes like BR or D0 tax all income at one flat rate, which is common (and correct) for second jobs but expensive if applied to your main job by mistake.
If your calculator result and your payslip disagree, the tax code is the first suspect. Our full guide to UK tax codes explains what every letter means and how to get a wrong code corrected through your HMRC personal tax account.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Comparing gross salary instead of net pay
Two jobs offering £42,000 and £45,000 look £3,000 apart, but after tax, NI, pension terms and student loans the real monthly gap may be much smaller, or occasionally reversed once benefits are counted. Always compare take-home to take-home.
Forgetting Scotland has different tax bands
Scottish income tax uses more bands and different rates from the rest of the UK. A calculator set to English rates will be wrong for anyone with an S prefix on their tax code.
Ignoring the frozen Personal Allowance
Because the £12,570 allowance is frozen while wages rise, every pay rise pushes more of your income into tax. Budget on your new net figure, not the headline percentage increase your employer announces.
Missing the £100,000 taper
Above £100,000 you lose £1 of allowance for every £2 earned, creating an effective 60% rate up to £125,140. Pension contributions via salary sacrifice are the classic way to soften this.
Trusting one payslip after a job change
Your first payslip with a new employer often uses an emergency code, so it may overtax you. Check the code, not just the amount, and expect a correction or refund once HMRC updates your record.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most accurate PAYE calculator UK employees can use?
HMRC’s own tools and its official app are the gold standard because they use your live tax code and pay data. Independent calculators are excellent for quick estimates, provided they are updated for 2026/27 and let you add student loan plans, pension percentages and Scottish rates where relevant.
How much tax will I pay on £30,000 in 2026/27?
On £30,000 with a standard tax code you pay about £3,486 income tax and £1,394 National Insurance, leaving roughly £25,120 a year or £2,093 a month before student loan or pension deductions.
Why is my PAYE tax different every month?
PAYE is cumulative, so it constantly adjusts to keep your year-to-date tax on track. Bonuses, overtime, backpay or a mid-year tax code change all cause one-off swings. If the variation persists with no obvious cause, check your tax code with HMRC.
Does PAYE cover student loan repayments?
Yes. If you are employed and above your plan’s threshold, repayments are deducted automatically through payroll alongside tax and National Insurance, and they appear as a separate line on your payslip.
Do part-time workers pay PAYE?
Part-time workers are inside PAYE, but many pay little or nothing. Earn under £12,570 a year and you normally pay no income tax; earn under £242 a week and you pay no employee National Insurance either.
Knowing your real take-home pay puts you in a stronger position to judge any job offer. When you are ready to put that knowledge to work, browse hundreds of live vacancies on our UK jobs board, updated daily across every region and sector.
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