How do you convert an hourly rate into an annual salary?
Multiply your hourly rate by your contracted hours per week, then by 52 weeks — £16 an hour at 37.5 hours is £16 × 37.5 × 52 = £31,200 a year before deductions. The arithmetic (rate × hours × 52) is the easy part; the number that actually matters is what survives tax. Once your hours are annualised, this page runs the identical PAYE calculation as the take-home pay calculator: the 2026/27 personal allowance of £12,570, then 20%/40%/45% bands (or the six Scottish bands), employee National Insurance at 8% and 2%, and any student loan on top.
The 52-week multiplier assumes you are paid for every week of the year, including your paid holiday. Most salaried and full-time hourly workers are. If you only work term-time or take unpaid weeks, annualise on the weeks you are actually paid and use the pro-rata salary calculator to model the reduction precisely.
What does £16 an hour work out to after tax with overtime?
£16 an hour at 37.5 hours plus 5 weekly overtime hours at time-and-a-half is £37,440 gross and about £30,476 take-home — roughly £2,540 a month. Base pay is £16 × 37.5 × 52 = £31,200. The overtime is £24 × 5 × 52 = £6,240, for total gross of £37,440. Income tax is (£37,440 − £12,570) × 20% = £4,974 and National Insurance is £1,989.60, leaving £30,476 a year. Notice the overtime added £6,240 gross but only around £4,493 net: each 1.5× overtime hour at this wage is really worth about £17.28 in your pocket, not £24, because 28% goes to tax and NI at the margin.
What do common hourly rates work out to after tax in 2026/27?
At 37.5 hours a week, £15 an hour is about £24,580 take-home and £22 an hour is about £34,408 — the table below runs the current 2026/27 tax and NI on the most-searched rates. Figures assume a standard 1257L tax code, no pension and no student loan; add those in the tool above to see your own number.
| Hourly rate | Annual gross | Approx. take-home / year | / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| £12.71 (NLW) | £24,785 | £21,364 | £1,780 |
| £15.00 | £29,250 | £24,580 | £2,048 |
| £18.00 | £35,100 | £28,792 | £2,399 |
| £22.00 | £42,900 | £34,408 | £2,867 |
| £30.00 | £58,500 | £44,487 | £3,707 |
How many hours a week is full-time in the UK?
There is no legal definition of full-time, but it is usually 35 to 40 hours a week, with 37.5 hours (a 7.5-hour day) the most common — which is why this calculator defaults to it. What the law does set is a ceiling: under the Working Time Regulations you cannot be required to average more than 48 hours a week over a 17-week reference period unless you have voluntarily signed an opt-out (GOV.UK). The weekly-hours figure you enter matters twice over: it sets your annual gross, and it sets what one contracted hour is worth after tax, shown in your result above.
Is overtime taxed at a higher rate than normal pay?
No — overtime has no special tax rate. It is added to your gross pay and taxed at your marginal rate (20%, 40% or 45%) with National Insurance on top, exactly like any other income. The common belief that "overtime is taxed more" comes from two real effects. First, a big month of overtime can temporarily push a payslip into a higher tax band under cumulative PAYE, then correct itself later in the year. Second, only the slice of income above a threshold is taxed at the higher rate — the rest stays at 20% — so your average rate rises far less than the headline band suggests.
Whether overtime counts towards your pension is a separate question set by your scheme: many workplace pensions are calculated on basic pay only, so overtime often does not attract an employer contribution. Enter your regular overtime hours and multiplier in the two overtime lines above (1.5× and 2× are pre-filled) to see the true after-tax value of those extra shifts before you agree to them.
What is the National Living Wage worth per year in 2026/27?
At £12.71 an hour — the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026 — full-time work of 37.5 hours a week is about £24,785 a year gross and roughly £21,364 take-home. The rate rose 4.1% in April 2026, worth around £900 a year to a full-time worker (GOV.UK). The other 2026/27 minimum-wage bands are £10.85 for 18–20-year-olds and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices. Enter your age band in the minimum-wage check above and the tool flags any rate that falls below the legal floor for that band.
How do I work out my hourly rate from an annual salary?
Reverse the calculation: divide the annual salary by 52, then by your weekly hours — £31,200 ÷ 52 ÷ 37.5 = £16 an hour. This is the quickest way to compare an hourly role against a salaried offer on the same footing. To go the other way and check what salary you would need to hit a target take-home, use the required salary calculator; to line an hourly-derived package up against a fixed salary side by side, use compare two salaries.