Pay Rise Calculator
What does this pay rise calculator show?
Enter your current and new salary to see how much extra you keep after income tax, National Insurance and any student loan. For example, a £5,000 rise from £40,000 to £45,000 adds £3,600 a year (£300 a month) in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, before pension contributions or student loans.
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How much of your pay rise do you actually keep? This calculator shows the after-tax cash difference between your current and new salary, once Income Tax, National Insurance and any student loan repayment have been taken off.
Many employees focus only on the headline percentage. A 5% pay rise does not mean 5% more money in your bank account — the amount you keep depends on your tax bands, pension and loans, particularly if the rise crosses the £50,270 higher-rate threshold or the £100,000 allowance taper.
Enter your current and new salary below to see the monthly and annual net difference. To judge whether the rise is a real-terms increase, use our inflation pay rise tool — a full salary inflation calculator UK. For longer-term projections of how inflation compounds over multiple years, see our Inflation Impact Calculator.
Salary Change
Enter your current and new salary to see your real new take-home.
Applies to full gross salary, not qualifying earnings. RAS contributions are net cash paid.
Your chosen scenario, not a forecast. Both salaries use 2026/27 rules, standard allowance and employee NI category A. Actual monthly payroll deductions can differ.
Your New Take-Home
2026/27 tax year, England, Wales and Northern Ireland unless Scottish toggle is on.
New monthly take-home
£2,560
£30,720 a year after tax, NI and pension.
| Per month | Now | After rise | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | £2,917 | £3,333 | +£417 |
| Income tax | £345 | £424 | +£79 |
| National Insurance | £150 | £183 | +£33 |
| Pension | £146 | £167 | +£21 |
| Take-home | £2,277 | £2,560 | +£283 |
Annual net change
£3,400
% of rise kept
68%
Annual net change after 0% inflation
£3,400
New annual take-home divided by the inflation factor, less current annual take-home. Additional RAS pension relief, benefit charges and other income are excluded.
What this means for your take-home pay
A basic-rate employee in England, Wales or Northern Ireland keeps 72% of a rise that stays within the basic-rate band, before pension or loan deductions. Higher bands and the allowance taper reduce that share; Scotland has different rates. A percentage rise in gross salary is different from a percentage rise in net pay.
To see exactly how much extra cash hits your bank each month, run your new salary through the Take-Home Pay Calculator. For a real-terms verdict against the cost of living, our inflation pay rise calculator compares your increase with CPI or RPI.
The same £5,000 pay rise at four salaries
Gross pay rises by the same amount in each example, but the cash you keep changes across tax bands. These are annualised 2026/27 examples for England, Wales and Northern Ireland with the standard allowance, no pension and no student loan. They exclude benefits, childcare support and the Child Benefit charge.
| Salary before → after | Extra income tax | Extra employee NI | Extra net per year | Extra net per month | Share kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 → £35,000Within the basic-rate band | £1,000 | £400 | £3,600 | £300 | 72.0% |
| £50,000 → £55,000Crosses the higher-rate boundary | £1,946 | £116.2 | £2,937.8 | £244.82 | 58.8% |
| £60,000 → £65,000Within the higher-rate band | £2,000 | £100 | £2,900 | £241.67 | 58.0% |
| £100,000 → £105,000Within the Personal Allowance taper | £3,000 | £100 | £1,900 | £158.33 | 38.0% |
At £100,000 → £105,000, the allowance taper adds to income tax, leaving £1,900 a year (£158.33 a month) before other deductions. Crossing into a higher band does not apply that rate to your whole salary. Scottish rates differ; use the calculator for your location and pension or loan choices. Actual monthly PAYE can differ from an annual estimate.
Method: calculate each salary separately, then subtract income tax, employee NI and net pay before the rise from the figures after it. Sources checked 2 October 2026: GOV.UK income tax and allowance taper and employee National Insurance. These examples share the calculator's engine.
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How your pay rise becomes take-home pay
The calculator works out each salary separately using 2026/27 income tax bands and the Personal Allowance taper, then deducts employee NI, your pension contribution and selected loans. It subtracts the current net amount from the new one. Only the part of your income inside a tax band pays that band’s rate.
Net-pay pensions reduce income tax; pension salary sacrifice also reduces the earnings used for NI and payroll student loans. Relief-at-source contributions are entered as net cash and receive a provider top-up. Any additional relief you claim yourself is separate from this take-home comparison.
An undergraduate loan and a postgraduate loan can apply together. The estimate assumes regular pay, one job, standard allowances and employee NI category A below State Pension age. It does not deduct Child Benefit tax charges or model Universal Credit, other income, pay already received or an issued tax code.
The inflation scenario adjusts the new annual take-home amount into today’s prices before comparing it with current take-home pay. An annual net gain can therefore still be a real-terms loss. For gross salary comparisons, use the inflation pay-rise calculator.
Calculation rules checked 1 October 2026 against HMRC’s 2026/27 employer rates and pension tax-relief guidance.
Salary increase, wage increase, pay rate increase — what's the difference?
In UK payroll terms these all mean the same thing: a permanent uplift to your gross annual pay. A salary increase usually refers to a yearly figure (e.g. £30,000 to £32,000). A wage increase often describes an hourly rate change. A pay rate increase is the same idea expressed as a per-period rate (hour, day or month), and a payroll increase is simply HR's term for processing any of the above. Whichever wording your employer uses, the calculator above shows the real after-tax difference for 2026/27 — the part that actually lands in your bank account.
Worked examples
Three common UK pay rise scenarios with the real take-home maths done for you:
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