Salary Increase Calculator UK 2026/27

Quick answer

How much of a pay rise will I actually keep?

For a percentage rise, the new salary is your current salary multiplied by (1 + the rise ÷ 100), so a 4% rise on £32,000 gives £33,280. For a fixed-amount rise you simply add it, so a £1,500 rise on £32,000 gives £33,500.

Income Tax and National Insurance are then recalculated on the new salary. Only the part of your income above a threshold is taxed at that threshold's rate, so if a rise crosses a band, part is taxed at the lower rate and part at the higher one, never the whole rise at either. Enter your current salary and rise above to see the take-home difference.

How the calculation works

1. Calculate the new gross salary. Percentage rise: new salary = current salary × (1 + rise % ÷ 100). A 4% rise on £32,000 gives £33,280. Fixed-amount rise: new salary = current salary + rise amount. A £1,500 rise on £32,000 gives £33,500.
2. Calculate Income Tax for the before and after salaries. Only the portion of income that falls above a threshold is taxed at that threshold's rate - if the rise crosses a threshold, part is taxed at the lower rate and part at the higher rate, never the whole rise at either.
3. Calculate National Insurance for both. The same marginal approach applies: 8% between the thresholds below, 2% above.
4. Apply a student loan deduction, if selected. Charged separately from Income Tax, only on earnings above the relevant plan's threshold.
5. Show the pension contribution effect, if selected. As a percentage of salary, shown as a cash-amount comparison, not folded into your take-home figures.
6. Compare before and after take-home pay. The difference is the actual increase in take-home pay, annually and monthly.
7. Calculate the effective marginal rate on the gross increase: how much of every £1 of the rise is lost to deductions, calculated from the real before/after figures, not a single tax band.

Income Tax bands: England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2026/27)

Income Tax bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2026/27
Band	Taxable income	Rate
Personal Allowance	Up to £12,570	0%
Basic rate	£12,571 to £50,270	20%
Higher rate	£50,271 to £125,140	40%
Additional rate	Over £125,140	45%

Income Tax bands: Scotland (2026/27)

Scotland sets its own Income Tax rates and bands, which apply if you live in Scotland, regardless of where your employer is based. The bands are narrower and more numerous than the rest of the UK, so a Scottish pay rise can cross a threshold sooner.

Scottish Income Tax bands, 2026/27
Band	Taxable income	Rate
Personal Allowance	Up to £12,570	0%
Starter rate	£12,571 to £16,537	19%
Basic rate	£16,538 to £29,526	20%
Intermediate rate	£29,527 to £43,662	21%
Higher rate	£43,663 to £75,000	42%
Advanced rate	£75,001 to £125,140	45%
Top rate	Over £125,140	48%

The Personal Allowance itself is the same £12,570 in both systems, and it tapers away identically in both: for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000, you lose £1 of Personal Allowance, until it reaches zero at £125,140. Because Scotland's rate in that band is higher (45% Advanced rate, versus 40% Higher rate in the rest of the UK), a large pay rise landing in this band costs a Scottish taxpayer more, in both actual tax and effective marginal rate.

National Insurance on a pay rise

Class 1 employee National Insurance for 2026/27 is charged at 8.0% on earnings between the Primary Threshold (£242 a week, £12,570 a year) and the Upper Earnings Limit (£967 a week, £50,270 a year), and at 2.0% on earnings above the Upper Earnings Limit. National Insurance thresholds are the same across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland; only Income Tax diverges by nation.

Pay-rise examples

Example 1: a straightforward rise within one tax band (England/Wales/NI). Someone earning £30,000 gets a 5% pay rise, worth £1,500 a year. Their whole salary, before and after, sits within the basic rate band and below the National Insurance upper earnings limit, so the full rise is taxed at the combined marginal rate of 28% (20% Income Tax + 8% National Insurance). Take-home pay increases by £1,080 a year, or £90 a month.

Example 2: a rise that crosses the higher-rate threshold (England/Wales/NI). Someone earning £48,000 gets an 8% pay rise, worth £3,840 a year, taking their new salary to £51,840. This crosses the £50,270 higher-rate threshold, but that does not mean the whole rise is taxed at 40%. £2,270 of the rise (up to the threshold) is taxed at the basic marginal rate of 28%; the remaining £1,570 is taxed at the higher marginal rate of 42% (40% Income Tax + 2% National Insurance, since earnings above £50,270 fall outside the 8% NI band). Take-home pay increases by £2,545 a year, a genuine gain, just not the full £3,840 the payslip headline suggests.

Example 3: a rise that crosses the Intermediate-rate threshold (Scotland). Someone living in Scotland earning £28,000 gets a 6% pay rise, worth £1,680 a year, taking their new salary to £29,680. This crosses the £29,526 Scottish basic-to-intermediate threshold. £1,526 of the rise is taxed at 28% (20% Scottish basic rate + 8% NI); the remaining £154 is taxed at 29% (21% Scottish intermediate rate + 8% NI). Take-home pay increases by around £1,208 a year. This uses Scottish Income Tax explicitly - the same rise in England, Wales or Northern Ireland would give a different result.

Example 4: a large rise into the Personal Allowance taper zone (£100,000 to £125,140). This band deserves its own example because the effective marginal rate is much higher than the headline tax rate. Take a rise from £98,000 to £102,900, a £4,900 increase. Only the £2,900 of that rise which falls above £100,000 sits inside the taper zone; the effective marginal rate specifically on that £2,900 slice is around 62.0% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (40% Income Tax, plus the effect of losing 50p of Personal Allowance for every £1 earned, itself taxed at 40%, plus 2% National Insurance), and around 69.5% in Scotland (45% Advanced rate instead of 40%, plus the same taper effect, plus 2% National Insurance). Blended across the whole £4,900 rise, part of which is still in the ordinary band below £100,000, take-home pay increases by around £2,262 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or £1,945 in Scotland. You aren't literally taxed at a “62% rate” or a “69.5% rate”; that figure describes the combined effect of Income Tax, the Personal Allowance withdrawal, and National Insurance specifically on the slice of income above £100,000. If a rise is likely to take your income through £100,000, it's worth reading the adjusted net income calculator alongside this one, since pension contributions can reduce adjusted net income and pull you back out of the taper zone.

Pay rises and student loan repayments

This calculator supports Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5 and Postgraduate Loan repayments, calculated separately from Income Tax and charged only on earnings above each plan's own threshold, the same rules used by the site's take-home pay calculator. A pay rise that takes more of your salary over the relevant threshold increases your repayment, which further reduces how much of the rise reaches your take-home pay. Select your plan above, or “No student loan” if none applies.

Pay rises and pension contributions

If your pension contribution is set as a percentage of salary, a pay rise increases the cash amount you contribute automatically, even though the percentage itself stays the same: at a 5% contribution rate, a £3,000 salary increase produces an extra £150 a year into the pension. This calculator shows that cash effect as information only; it does not treat your contribution as salary sacrifice, and it doesn't change the take-home pay figures above. If you're deciding whether to take a rise as cash or push it into a salary-sacrificed pension, use the salary sacrifice pension calculator to see the take-home pay and National Insurance impact of a specific contribution.

Is my pay rise a good one? What the current data shows

This is worth answering with real, dated figures rather than a vague rule of thumb. According to the Office for National Statistics, regular pay across the UK economy grew 3.5% in the year to April-June 2026 (published 18 August 2026). According to Brightmine, the median UK pay award stood at 3.3% in the first half of 2026 (published 6 August 2026). Put together, a pay rise somewhere around 3% to 3.5% was broadly in line with the wider UK market in mid-2026.

This is a time-specific snapshot, not a permanent rule: these figures move from quarter to quarter, and a rise below or above this range isn't automatically bad or generous once you account for your own role, sector, inflation, performance, responsibilities and total compensation package. Check the current ONS release directly when the figure matters to a real decision.

Preparing to ask for a rise

Document concrete, measurable outcomes from your work, ideally with a number attached.
Time the conversation around your organisation's normal pay review cycle where one exists.
Bring a specific figure or range, based on market evidence, rather than leaving the number open.
Treat it as a discussion rather than an ultimatum, unless you're genuinely prepared to act on a “no”.

More example calculations

These come straight from the calculator above, so the figures match exactly what you'd see entering the same numbers yourself.

5% rise on £35,000

£35,000 → £36,750 gross · rUK

Take-home increase: £1,260/yr
Effective marginal rate: 28.0%

£3,000 rise on £48,000, Plan 2 loan

£48,000 → £51,000 gross · rUK

Take-home increase: £1,788/yr
Effective marginal rate: 40.4%

New role: £42,000 to £55,000

£42,000 → £55,000 gross · rUK

Take-home increase: £8,698/yr
Effective marginal rate: 33.1%

Scotland, 8% rise on £60,000

£60,000 → £64,800 gross · Scotland

Take-home increase: £2,688/yr
Effective marginal rate: 44.0%

Helpful answers

Frequently asked questions

01How do I calculate a percentage pay increase?

To calculate a percentage pay increase, multiply your current salary by the percentage rise expressed as a decimal, then add that to your current salary. For example, a 4% pay rise on a £32,000 salary is £32,000 × 0.04 = £1,280, giving a new salary of £33,280. To work out what percentage a fixed rise represents, divide the rise amount by your current salary and multiply by 100.

02How much will my take-home pay increase after a pay rise?

A pay rise increases your take-home pay by less than the gross amount, because Income Tax and employee National Insurance are both charged on the extra money, and a student loan or pension deduction can reduce it further. Exactly how much less depends on which tax band the rise falls into: a rise that stays within one band is taxed at a single combined rate, while a rise that crosses a threshold is split, with only the portion above the threshold taxed at the higher rate. The calculator above works this out automatically for your own figures.

03Will a pay rise push me into a higher tax bracket?

Yes, potentially, but this doesn't mean your whole salary is taxed at the higher rate. Only the portion of your income above the threshold is taxed at that higher rate; everything below the threshold keeps being taxed at the rate it was already at. This is one of the most common misunderstandings about UK Income Tax: moving into a higher band changes the rate applied to the top slice of your pay rise, not the rate applied to everything you earn.

04Does a pay rise affect my take-home pay differently in Scotland?

Yes. Scotland has its own Income Tax bands, which are narrower than the rest of the UK, so a Scottish pay rise can cross a rate threshold at a lower salary than the same rise would in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and Scotland's top rate is 48% above £125,140, compared with 45% for the rest of the UK. National Insurance remains the same across all four UK nations; only Income Tax differs.

05What is the Personal Allowance taper?

The Personal Allowance taper reduces your tax-free Personal Allowance by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income you earn above £100,000, until it reaches zero at £125,140. Because that lost allowance is then taxed too, a large pay rise that lands in this band produces a much higher effective marginal rate than the headline Income Tax rate on its own suggests, around 62% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (40% Income Tax plus the taper effect plus 2% National Insurance), and around 69.5% in Scotland (45% Advanced rate plus the taper effect plus 2% National Insurance). A rise that takes you through £100,000 is worth checking carefully for this reason.

06What is considered a good pay rise in the UK right now?

Based on the most recent official data, a pay rise of around 3% to 3.5% was broadly in line with the UK-wide market in mid-2026: the Office for National Statistics recorded 3.5% annual growth in regular pay for the year to April to June 2026 (published 18 August 2026), and Brightmine recorded a median UK pay award of 3.3% for the first half of 2026 (published 6 August 2026). This is a snapshot of a specific period, not a permanent benchmark, so check the current ONS release for an up-to-date comparison, and weigh your own role, sector and performance alongside the wider market figure.

07Does a pay rise affect my pension contributions?

If your pension contribution is set as a percentage of salary, a pay rise increases the cash amount contributed automatically, even though the percentage itself stays the same - for example, a £3,000 rise at a 5% contribution rate produces an extra £150 a year into the pension. This calculator shows that cash effect but doesn't model salary sacrifice; if your pension is a salary sacrifice arrangement, use the salary sacrifice pension calculator to see the take-home pay and National Insurance impact of a specific contribution.

Pay-rise calculation assumptions

This page is written and reviewed by Eman Munir, ACCA.

This salary increase calculator assumes:

Your new salary is calculated from your current salary and the increase mode selected (percentage, £ amount, or a direct new salary), with no other income, bonuses, or benefits in kind.
Both your current and new salary are taxed independently as a full year's income at the new rate, rather than blending an old and new rate mid-year, which matches how most payroll software treats a permanent pay change.
Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan repayments are calculated on an annualised basis for both figures, using the same rules as the take-home pay calculator. Supported student loan plans are Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5, and Postgraduate Loan (which can be selected alongside any undergraduate plan).
An optional pension contribution percentage is shown as an informational cash comparison only (salary × percentage, before and after). It is not treated as salary sacrifice and does not change the take-home pay figures.
This calculator does not model self-employed income or salary sacrifice arrangements - see the links above for calculators covering those scenarios. If your “rise” is really an hourly rate or hours change, the hourly wage calculator or part-time salary calculator may fit better.
All figures are rounded to the nearest penny.

Sources

Tax figures for 2026/27 are taken directly from:

Further guidance and benchmarking data referenced on this page, checked August 2026: