UK Take Home Pay Calculator
Find out your actual UK take-home pay after income tax, National Insurance, pension contributions, and student loan repayments. Uses 2025/26 tax year rates for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Your UK take-home pay is your gross salary minus income tax, National Insurance contributions (NICs), pension contributions, and any student loan repayments. On a typical salary of 35,000, you can expect to take home roughly 27,000-28,000 depending on your pension and student loan.
How UK Income Tax Works
The UK uses a progressive tax system for 2025/26:
- Personal Allowance: The first 12,570 is tax-free
- Basic rate (20%): 12,571 to 50,270
- Higher rate (40%): 50,271 to 125,140
- Additional rate (45%): Over 125,140
Your personal allowance decreases by 1 for every 2 you earn above 100,000, disappearing entirely at 125,140. This creates an effective 60% tax rate in the 100,000-125,140 band.
National Insurance
Employees pay Class 1 NICs at 8% on earnings between 12,570 and 50,270, and 2% on anything above 50,270. Your employer also pays 13.8% on top of your salary, though this does not come out of your pay.
Pension Auto-Enrolment
Most employees are auto-enrolled into a workplace pension with a minimum 5% employee contribution (your employer adds at least 3%). Pension contributions are deducted before income tax, giving you tax relief at your marginal rate.