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Pay rise calculator
What a raise really adds to your monthly take-home after tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension, and the thresholds that quietly eat into it.
Tax year 2026/27. Pension is modelled as a net pay arrangement (reduces income tax, not National Insurance) and the percentage applies to both salaries.
Your £3,000 rise is worth
£180 / month
£2,160 a year in your pocket · you keep 72% of the gross rise
- Gross rise£3,000
- Income tax−£600
- National Insurance−£240
- Into your pocket£2,160
Effective deduction rate on this rise: 28%. New take-home: £2,573 a month (£30,880 a year).
Common questions
- Why do I keep so little of a pay rise above £100,000?
- Between £100,000 and £125,140 your personal allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2 you earn, which makes the effective income tax rate on that slice 60% (62% with National Insurance). Crossing £100,000 adjusted net income also ends Tax-Free Childcare and the free childcare hours in one go, so for parents the first pound over the line can be the most expensive pound they ever earn. Pension contributions reduce adjusted net income and are the standard way to stay under.
- Should I salary-sacrifice the rise into my pension instead?
- If the rise lands in an expensive zone (above £50,270, in the £60,000 to £80,000 child benefit taper, or in the 60% zone over £100,000), sacrificing some or all of it into your pension can mean keeping 60 to 70p of value per £1 instead of 38 to 53p, because you save income tax and National Insurance and may keep child benefit or childcare support. The trade-off is the money is locked away until pension access age.
- Does a pay rise change my tax code?
- Usually not. Your tax code reflects your allowances, not your salary, and PAYE automatically taxes the higher pay at the right rates. The exceptions: if the rise pushes you over £100,000 HMRC may adjust your code mid-year to collect the personal allowance taper, and over £150,000 (or with untaxed income) you may need to file a Self Assessment return.
- Is a bonus taxed differently from a pay rise?
- Over the full year, no: both are employment income taxed at the same rates. The difference is timing. A bonus lands in one payslip, so that month's PAYE can withhold at a higher rate than your annual position justifies, which corrects itself over the following months. A rise spreads evenly, so each payslip is taxed close to its true rate from the start.
- Why does my rise feel smaller than the percentage I was given?
- Deductions are layered on top of each other. A higher-rate taxpayer with a Plan 2 student loan loses 40% tax, 2% National Insurance and 9% student loan on every pound of the rise, keeping just 49p per £1. The headline percentage applies to gross pay; the change in your bank account is what this calculator shows.
Want the full picture of the new salary? The take-home pay calculator breaks it down payslip by payslip. If the rise lands in an expensive tax zone, the salary sacrifice calculator shows what diverting it to your pension saves, and if it arrives as a one-off instead, the bonus tax calculator covers lump sums.