Pay & deductions
Payslips, payroll deductions, student loans and NHS take-home pay.
These guides explain what actually comes off your pay before it reaches your account: the tax code and National Insurance lines on a payslip, student loan repayments, and NHS Agenda for Change pay bands and take-home pay. If you're not sure what a deduction on your payslip means, start with Understanding Your Payslip - the other guides build on it.
All 5 Pay & deductions guides
NHS Band 5 Take-Home Pay 2026/27: What You Keep After Tax and Pension
Band 5 NHS take-home pay for 2026/27 in England, Wales and Scotland: monthly figures at each pay point after tax, NI and NHS pension.
Read guideNHS Agenda for Change Pay Bands 2026/27 Explained
The 2026/27 NHS Agenda for Change pay bands, effective 1 April, with the full England salary table and how Scotland, Wales and NI differ.
Read guideUK Student Loan Repayments: Plans, Thresholds and Payroll Deductions
A practical 2026/27 guide to UK student loan Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5, Postgraduate Loans, payroll deductions, Self Assessment, interest and refunds.
Read guideNHS Pay Bands and Take-Home Pay 2026/27: England, Wales and Scotland
2026/27 NHS pay tables for England, Wales and Scotland, with pension tiers, take-home examples, regional caveats and pay progression explained.
Read guideUnderstanding Your Payslip: Tax Codes, NI and Deductions Explained
A line-by-line guide to a UK payslip - what your tax code means, why National Insurance is separate from Income Tax, and what each deduction actually is.
Read guideWhere to start
If you are not sure what a line on your payslip means, begin with Understanding Your Payslip. It explains tax codes, the National Insurance line and the other deductions, and the rest of the guides in this section build on it.
From there the guides split by situation. If you have a student loan, UK student loan repayments covers the plan thresholds and the 9% repayment rate, which is deducted from pay before your pension contribution in most arrangements.
NHS staff have three guides of their own, because Agenda for Change works differently from ordinary PAYE: NHS Agenda for Change pay bands explains the framework, NHS pay bands and take-home pay covers every band, and NHS Band 5 take-home pay goes into detail on the band most newly qualified staff start on.
All the figures in this section are for the 2026/27 tax year, and every guide links the calculator that does the same sum for your own numbers.