About and methodology
How Salary Calculator UK works out your take-home pay, what it assumes, and where its rates come from.
What the calculator does
It takes your gross pay and applies 2026/27 Income Tax (including Scottish bands), employee Class 1 National Insurance, optional pension and salary sacrifice, and student and postgraduate loan repayments. The same code produces the figures you see on every page and the live results in the calculator.
What it assumes
- A steady annual salary, paid over a full tax year with no gaps.
- Standard tax code 1257L unless you enter a different code. The £100,000 allowance taper is applied automatically to the standard code.
- National Insurance category A (most employees). Self-employed Class 2 and 4 are not covered.
- Monthly, weekly, daily and hourly figures are the annual figure divided by 12, 52, 260 and (52 × your weekly hours).
- Tax and NI are calculated on annual pay rather than pay period by pay period, so a real payslip can differ slightly, especially for irregular pay.
What it does not include
Benefits in kind (P11D), the High Income Child Benefit Charge, Marriage Allowance, Blind Person's Allowance, savings and dividend tax, and employer NI.
Where the rates come from
- National Insurance and student loan thresholds: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027.
- Income Tax bands and the Personal Allowance taper: GOV.UK, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances.
- Scottish Income Tax bands: gov.scot, Scottish Income Tax rates and bands 2026 to 2027.
- Threshold freeze: GOV.UK, thresholds maintained until 5 April 2031.
Rates and thresholds were last checked against GOV.UK and gov.scot on 22 September 2026. Always check GOV.UK for the latest official figures.
Who we are
Salary Calculator UK is an independent website. It is not affiliated with HMRC, GOV.UK or any government body. The rates come from their published pages, listed above, and the guides on this site (student loans, Scottish tax, bonuses and pensions) use the same calculation engine as the calculators.
Privacy
Calculations run in your browser. The figures you enter are not stored or sent to a server.
Disclaimer
This tool gives estimates for general planning and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Speak to a qualified adviser or HMRC about your own circumstances.