Pay Rise After Tax Calculator UK 2026
Find out exactly how much extra money you take home after a pay rise, once income tax and National Insurance are deducted. Enter your current and new salary, and this calculator shows your real cash gain, whether you cross a tax band, and how student loans or pension contributions affect the result. Use it alongside our salary negotiation calculator before your next pay review.
Key Tax Facts 2025/26
Who Should Use This Calculator?
Employees Due a Review
Before your annual pay review, use this to know what gross rise equals your target take-home increase. See our salary negotiation guide for tips on making your case.
Job Offer Evaluators
Weighing up a new job with a higher salary? This calculator shows the actual take-home difference so you can compare offers properly, especially when benefits or pension terms differ.
Student Loan Borrowers
A pay rise increases repayments on Plans 1, 2, and 5. This calculator accounts for the repayment impact so you know your real net gain after the extra deduction, not just the tax.
Pension Planners
Thinking of putting part of your rise into your pension? Use our pension contribution calculator alongside this tool to model the tax savings from increased contributions.
Calculate Your Pay Rise After Tax
How the Pay Rise After Tax Calculator Works
Enter Both Salaries
Put in your current gross salary and your new gross salary after the pay rise. Add student loan, pension, and inflation details for a complete picture.
Tax Calculated Twice
Income tax and National Insurance are calculated for both salaries using 2025/26 rates. The difference is your actual cash gain - not just the headline figure.
Band Crossing Checked
If your pay rise crosses the £50,270 higher rate threshold, the calculator splits the increase correctly so each portion is taxed at the right rate.
Full Results Delivered
You see new monthly take-home, real cash gain, per-pay-period breakdown, inflation comparison, and a side-by-side table of before and after figures.
Understanding Your Pay Rise After Tax in 2026
A £3,000 pay rise sounds great, but once HMRC takes its share, the actual monthly benefit is often much smaller. For a basic rate taxpayer, a £3,000 gross rise produces roughly £2,160 extra per year, or £180 per month after tax and NI. Knowing this number in advance helps you evaluate whether an offer is worth accepting or negotiate something better.
The key figures for 2025/26 are: personal allowance £12,570 (frozen), basic rate band £37,700 (taxed at 20%), higher rate band up to £125,140 (taxed at 40%), and additional rate above £125,140 (taxed at 45%). Understanding these numbers is essential when assessing a pay rise. Use our take-home tax calculator to verify your current position.
When You Cross a Tax Band
If your current salary is £48,000 and your new salary is £53,000, the first £2,270 of the rise (up to the £50,270 threshold) is taxed at 20% plus 8% NI. The remaining £2,730 is taxed at 40% plus 2% NI. The calculator handles this split automatically so you see the correct blended effective rate on your rise, not a misleading average.
National Insurance and Your Rise
Employee NI is 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270. Above that threshold it drops to 2%. This means a pay rise that keeps you in the main NI band costs more in NI than one that takes you above it. For each extra £1,000 in the main band, you pay £80 NI. Above the upper earnings limit it is just £20. Check our PAYE tax breakdown calculator for a full picture of your deductions.
Student Loans Reduce Your Real Gain
Student loan repayments reduce how much of a pay rise you actually see in your pay packet. Plan 2 borrowers repay 9% on earnings above £27,295. If your rise takes you from £26,000 to £30,000, you now owe 9% of £2,705 (the amount above the threshold), which is £243 per year or £20 per month. This calculator accounts for all current plan types. For more detail, see student loan repayment calculator.
Inflation and the Real Value of Your Rise
If CPI is running at 3% and your pay rise is 4% gross, your real-terms increase is only around 1% after adjusting for rising prices. In some cases, even a decent gross rise leaves workers worse off in real terms. The calculator lets you enter the current inflation rate to see whether your rise gives a genuine increase in purchasing power.
Pension Contributions and Your Effective Gain
Many people direct a portion of a pay rise into their pension via salary sacrifice, reducing taxable income. A higher rate taxpayer who puts £1,000 extra into a pension saves £400 in tax, effectively getting £1,400 of pension value for a £600 reduction in take-home. Our pension contribution calculator can model these trade-offs in detail.
| Gross Rise | Basic Rate (20% + 8% NI) | Higher Rate (40% + 2% NI) | Annual Take-Home Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,000 | £720 | £580 | £720 or £580 |
| £2,000 | £1,440 | £1,160 | £1,440 or £1,160 |
| £5,000 | £3,600 | £2,900 | £3,600 or £2,900 |
| £10,000 | £7,200 | £5,800 | £7,200 or £5,800 |
💡 Use the Right Comparison
The above table assumes you stay within one tax band. If your rise crosses the £50,270 basic-to-higher rate boundary, the actual gain is a blended figure calculated proportionally. Always use the calculator above for accuracy.
Real Pay Rise After Tax Examples
Scenario 1: Basic Rate Rise
Person: Sophie, marketing executive
Situation: Annual pay review, promotion to senior role
Current salary: £32,000
New salary: £36,000
Gross rise: £4,000
Tax + NI on rise: £1,120
Net annual gain: £2,880
Net monthly gain: £240
Sophie keeps 72p of every extra £1. Her effective rate on the rise is 28%. She checked our salary benchmark tool and found she is still below the median for senior marketing roles.
Scenario 2: Band-Crossing Rise
Person: James, software engineer
Situation: Job switch, offer crosses the £50,270 threshold
Current salary: £48,000
New salary: £54,000
Gross rise: £6,000
£2,270 at 28%: cost £636
£3,730 at 42%: cost £1,567
Net annual gain: £3,797
Despite a £6,000 gross rise, James keeps just £3,797 due to band crossing. He used the job offer comparison tool to weigh up the full package before accepting.
Scenario 3: Rise with Student Loan
Person: Priya, NHS nurse, Plan 2 borrower
Situation: Band 5 to Band 6 pay uplift
Current salary: £29,000
New salary: £34,000
Gross rise: £5,000
Tax + NI: £1,400
Extra student loan: £450/yr
Net annual gain: £3,150
Priya's Plan 2 loan deducts an extra £37.50 per month. Her real net gain is £3,150 rather than the £3,600 a non-borrower would keep. See how student loan repayments work in detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much of a pay rise do I actually keep after tax?
Basic rate taxpayers (income between £12,570 and £50,270) pay 20% income tax plus 8% NI on the extra earnings, keeping around 72p of every extra £1. Higher rate taxpayers (income above £50,270) pay 40% tax plus 2% NI, keeping around 58p.
Student loan repayments and pension contributions reduce the net gain further. The calculator above works out your exact figure based on your specific numbers.
What is the income tax personal allowance for 2025/26?
The personal allowance is £12,570 for 2025/26. It has been frozen since 2021/22 and is due to remain at this level until at least April 2028, meaning more people move into higher tax bands as salaries rise.
Does a pay rise affect my student loan repayments?
Yes. Plan 2 borrowers repay 9% on earnings above £27,295. A rise that increases your earnings above that threshold, or increases the amount already above it, will increase your monthly repayment. This calculator covers Plans 1, 2, 4, 5, and Postgraduate.
For a full breakdown visit our student loan repayment calculator.
Can a pay rise push me into a higher tax band?
Yes. If your salary is currently below £50,270 and the rise takes you above it, part of the increase is taxed at 20% and the rest at 40%. The calculator detects this band crossing and splits the calculation correctly.
If your adjusted net income exceeds £100,000, you also start losing your personal allowance. Use our personal allowance taper calculator for that scenario.
Does inflation affect my real pay rise?
Yes. If your gross pay rise is 4% but inflation is 4%, you have not gained in real terms even before tax. After tax, a 4% nominal rise might only be 2.9% of your previous take-home, meaning a real-terms pay cut. Enter the current CPI rate in the calculator to see your real value change.
How does pension contribution affect my take-home?
Pension contributions via salary sacrifice reduce your taxable pay before income tax and NI are applied. A higher rate taxpayer who contributes £1,000 extra saves £420 in tax and NI, making the net cost of that contribution just £580. Enter your new pension percentage in the calculator to see the combined effect.
Is my tax code important for this calculation?
Your tax code determines your effective personal allowance. The standard code is 1257L, which gives £12,570 tax-free. Emergency codes like BR or 0T reduce your allowance. Non-standard codes (such as K codes or M codes) also affect how much tax you pay. Check yours with our tax code checker.
Should I ask for a higher gross to compensate for tax?
Knowing the after-tax value of a rise gives you a stronger negotiating position. If you want £200 extra per month net, you need to ask for roughly £278 gross (basic rate) or £345 gross (higher rate). Use our salary negotiation calculator to work backwards from your target take-home to the gross figure you should request.
Data Sources and Accuracy
This calculator uses official UK government figures for 2025/26 and 2026/27:
- Personal allowance (£12,570): HMRC Income Tax rates and allowances
- Income tax bands and rates: HMRC GOV.UK
- National Insurance rates (8% / 2%): HMRC National Insurance rates
- Student loan thresholds: Student Loans Company - GOV.UK
- CPI inflation data: Office for National Statistics
Calculation Methodology: Income tax is calculated by applying the standard UK bands and rates to each salary separately. NI is applied using Class 1 employee rates. The difference in after-tax, after-NI income is the real cash gain from the pay rise. Student loan repayments and pension contributions are applied after PAYE deductions.
Last Updated: February 2026
Your Privacy and Data Protection
Your privacy matters. This calculator sends your inputs to our secure server only to perform the calculation, and the data is not stored, logged, or retained in any form after your result is returned.
How It Works: Your salary figures are sent via HTTPS to process.php, which performs the calculation and immediately returns the result as JSON. Nothing is written to a database or file. No cookies are set for tracking purposes.