Methodology and sources

Every figure on this site is computed from published HMRC and Scottish Government rates, not scraped from other calculators. Before any figure is published it is checked against independently known-correct examples — for instance £30,000 takes home exactly £25,119.60 in England — so a wrong National Insurance figure cannot appear on the site.

Sources

HMRC — “Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027” (updated 5 June 2026): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027 (accessed 14 August 2026). The figures used: personal allowance £12,570, basic band £37,700, higher/additional thresholds, NI thresholds and rates, student loan plans, employer NI.
Scottish Government — Scottish income tax 2026/27 bands: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-income-tax-2026-27/ (accessed 14 August 2026). Six bands at 19/20/21/42/45/48%.
Blind Person's Allowance 2026/27 (£3,250): The Income Tax (Indexation of Blind Person's Allowance) Order 2026, legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/38.
Marriage Allowance 2026/27 (£1,260, worth £252 at 20%): gov.uk/marriage-allowance.
National Living Wage £12.71 from 1 April 2026 (age 21+): GOV.UK National Living Wage pages.

Calculation rules

Annual headline figures use true annual income tax bands plus the personal-allowance taper (£1 per £2 above £100,000, zero at £125,140), so the SERP answer for £30,000 is exactly £25,119.60.
On amount pages, monthly take-home is the annual figure divided by 12 and weekly by 52 (or 52.14 when selected). In the interactive calculator, choosing a pay period (monthly, 4-weekly, weekly or daily) recalculates National Insurance and student-loan repayments against HMRC's published per-period thresholds, so those figures can differ from a simple annual ÷ 12 split by a few pence or pounds — the annualised total is shown alongside. Entering your taxable pay and tax paid before this payslip switches the calculator to cumulative PAYE (tax due to date minus tax already paid, using HMRC Table C breakpoints), which reproduces a real payslip; the payslip tool ( /payslip) is the dedicated cumulative engine.
National Insurance and student-loan thresholds use the monthly and weekly figures HMRC publishes — these are set independently of the annual figure and are not derived by division.
Tax codes: 1257L/S1257L use the standard allowance; the code number sets the allowance (2620L → £26,200); BR/D0/D1/0T/NT override the bands; K codes add the K amount to taxable income. Unknown codes are flagged rather than silently accepted.
Pension methods: salary sacrifice reduces the base for tax, NI and student loans; net pay reduces taxable pay only; relief at source is deducted from take-home with 20% basic-rate relief added by the pension provider (shown separately). Pages default to 0% pension so headline figures match the “no pension, no loan” SERP answer.
Blind Person's Allowance adds £3,250 to the allowance; Marriage Allowance reduces tax by £252 when income is within the basic-rate band. The high-income child benefit charge is noted on pages above £60,000 but not deducted (link to GOV.UK).
Rounding: results are rounded to 2 decimal places; titles use the nearest whole pound (£25,120) to match the answer formats that rank; breakdown tables show two decimal places (£25,119.60).

Accuracy checks

Before figures go live they are verified against known-correct examples across the bands the calculators cover: £30k/£40k/£50k in England, the £100,000 taper, £125,140 with zero allowance, Scotland at £30k and £50k (where the gap to the rest of the UK is around £1,500), student loan Plans 2 and 5, salary sacrifice, BR and NT tax codes, and the Blind Person's and Marriage Allowances. When GOV.UK updates a rate, the rates used on this site and every affected page are updated together.

Disclaimer

Figures are illustrative PAYE estimates for the 2026/27 tax year using published HMRC and Scottish Government rates. They are not tax advice and are not affiliated with HMRC. Check your payslip and, if needed, a qualified adviser.