Most UK salaries are taxed the same way: a £12,570 Personal Allowance, income tax at 20%, 40% and 45%, and National Insurance at 8% up to £50,270 and 2% above. If that describes you, the main take-home pay calculator is all you need. But many people's pay has a feature that a general calculator handles badly. This guide points you to the right tool by situation.
If you work in the public sector
Public-sector pensions are charged on all your pay at a single tiered rate, which generic calculators usually get wrong. The NHS take-home pay calculator applies Agenda for Change pay and the NHS pension tiers. There are separate calculators for the police, the Civil Service, the Armed Forces and resident doctors, each built around its own pay and pension rules.
If you're paid by the hour, day or contract
Hourly workers can start with the hourly wage calculator, which includes overtime. Contractors comparing a day rate with a permanent job should use the day rate to salary calculator. Anyone working Inside IR35 through an umbrella company needs the umbrella calculator, because employer costs come out of the rate before your own tax.
If you're near a threshold
Three thresholds change the maths sharply. Between £60,000 and £80,000 the Child Benefit charge claws back Child Benefit. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the £100k tax trap creates a 60% effective rate. And in Scotland, the Scottish take-home calculator shows where the six-band system costs more or less than the rest of the UK. In all three cases, pension contributions are often the answer, and the salary sacrifice calculator shows what they cost.
If something is changing
For a job offer or promotion, use compare two salaries. For a move to part-time hours, the pro-rata salary calculator. For a bonus, the bonus tax calculator. For maternity leave or sickness, the maternity and sick pay calculator. And if you know the take-home you need and want the salary that delivers it, the required salary calculator works backwards.
If you have student loans
Student loan repayments are often the deduction people forget. The Plan 5 calculator covers the new loan for courses started since 2023, and the Plan 2 and Postgraduate calculator covers the common combination of two loans at once.
Every calculator here uses the same audited 2026/27 tax engine, so figures agree across tools, and each page explains its assumptions alongside a worked example.