UK pay planning, made practical
See what a pay decision really means after tax.
PayPath UK helps you estimate take-home pay, compare job offers, translate day rates, test salary sacrifice, and understand the real effect of raises and bonuses. Use the calculators for live numbers, then use the guides and examples when you need the context behind the result.
What makes it useful
Practical net pay planning
Look past the headline package and understand what actually changes monthly cash, deduction drag, and pension trade-offs.
What makes it trustworthy
Calculators plus explanation
Guides, worked examples, ruleset updates, methodology, and visible assumptions sit alongside the calculators rather than behind them.
Take-home pay calculator
Estimate annual and monthly net pay with tax, NI, and student loan deductions.
Day-rate to salary calculator
Turn contractor-style day rates into salary-style annual and monthly planning numbers.
Salary sacrifice calculator
See how pension salary exchange changes take-home pay and deductions.
Pay rise calculator
Translate a gross pay increase into annual and monthly take-home pay.
Bonus tax calculator
Estimate how much of a bonus actually lands in your bank account.
Salary vs bonus calculator
Compare fixed and variable pay structures in after-tax cash terms.
Job offer comparison calculator
Compare two roles in actual annual and monthly take-home terms to negotiate or decide with confidence.
Current ruleset
Built around the 2025-26 tax-year assumptions.
What the calculators include
Income tax, employee National Insurance, supported student loan plans, salary sacrifice treatment, and annual/monthly framing.
Where to check freshness
Flagship guides and update pages show believable reading times, last reviewed dates, ruleset tags, methodology links, and selective official-source references.
Ruleset updates
View updateEditorial backbone
Browse all guidesStart here
The strongest core guides for understanding how headline pay turns into spendable pay.
How take-home pay is really calculated
A plain-English guide to what sits between gross salary and spendable pay in the UK, and why the monthly number often feels different from the headline salary.
How much tax do I pay in the UK
A practical guide to understanding how much UK income tax, National Insurance, and other deductions you actually pay, and how to check your own numbers for 2025-26.
Bonus tax explained UK
A practical guide to why a bonus can feel heavily taxed, how annual tax logic works, and what to watch for when you compare bonus-heavy pay with higher base salary.
Pensions and thresholds
Where salary sacrifice, student loans, and tax-region choices change the answer more than people expect.
How salary sacrifice changes net pay and pension value
A practical guide to how pension salary sacrifice changes taxable pay, why the drop in take-home is often smaller than the gross contribution, and where the trade-off becomes more interesting.
Student loans and take-home pay, explained properly
A practical UK guide to how student loan plans change take-home pay, why Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5, and postgraduate loans feel different, and what that means for raises, bonuses, salary sacrifice, and job offers.
Scotland vs rest of UK tax
A practical guide to why take-home outcomes differ for Scottish taxpayers, how the income tax part changes while NI stays UK-wide, and when the distinction matters most.
The 60 percent tax trap explained
A practical UK guide to the 60 percent tax trap between GBP 100,000 and GBP 125,140, why it exists, how it affects take-home pay, and what salary sacrifice and pension planning can do about it.
Tax codes and student loans
Essential guides for understanding what your tax code means, how Plan 5 works, and how electric car schemes can change the answer.
UK tax codes explained
A practical guide to understanding UK tax codes, what 1257L means, how to check your tax code is correct, and when a wrong tax code can affect your take-home pay.
Student Loan Plan 5 explained
A practical guide to Student Loan Plan 5 in the UK, covering who is on it, how the repayment threshold works, how it compares to Plan 2, and what it means for take-home pay from April 2026.
Electric car salary sacrifice explained
A practical guide to electric car salary sacrifice schemes in the UK, how the low benefit-in-kind rate works, what it means for take-home pay, and how it compares with buying or leasing privately.
National Insurance and employer costs
How NI affects your take-home pay, the 2025 employer NI increase, and what Making Tax Digital means for employees.
National Insurance rates and thresholds 2025-26
A practical guide to employee and employer National Insurance rates, thresholds, and changes for the 2025-26 tax year, and how NI affects your take-home pay.
Employer NI increase from April 2025
A practical guide to the employer National Insurance increase to 15 percent from April 2025, why it matters for employees, and how it changes the cost of employment.
Making Tax Digital and what it means for employees
A practical guide to Making Tax Digital in the UK, what it changes for PAYE employees, self-assessment filers, and anyone planning their tax position for 2025-26 and beyond.
Comparing offers and compensation
Frameworks for weighing salary, bonus, pension value, and competing job offers without relying on a headline package number.
Pay rises and day rates
Why a raise can feel smaller than expected and how to translate contractor day rates into salary-style planning numbers.
Why a pay rise can feel smaller than expected
A practical explanation of why a raise can look substantial on paper but feel modest in your monthly pay.
How contractor day rates translate into salary thinking
A practical guide to turning a day rate into salaried planning numbers without pretending the two models are identical.
Worked examples
Scenario pages that make the rules easier to trust.
Take-home pay on GBP 50,000
A worked example showing how take-home pay looks around one of the most commonly discussed salary levels in UK pay planning.
Take-home pay on GBP 100,000
A worked example of take-home pay at GBP 100,000, the threshold where the personal allowance taper begins and the effective marginal tax rate can exceed 60 percent.
Bonus of GBP 5,000 after tax
A worked example showing how a GBP 5,000 bonus can shrink once tax, NI, and any student loan deductions are applied.
Salary sacrifice on GBP 60,000
A worked example showing why salary sacrifice becomes a more strategic pay-planning choice once taxable pay is comfortably above mid-range salary levels.
Salary of GBP 50,000 versus GBP 45,000 plus GBP 10,000 bonus
A worked example showing why a package with higher variable pay can still be weaker in spendable-pay terms than it looks on paper.
Pay rise from GBP 45,000 to GBP 50,000
A worked example showing how a mid-range raise changes annual and monthly take-home pay.
Take-home pay on GBP 30,000
A worked example showing what GBP 30,000 actually means in take-home terms, and why this salary level is a useful planning checkpoint.
Take-home pay on GBP 70,000
A worked example of take-home pay at GBP 70,000, where higher-rate tax is firmly in play and salary sacrifice, bonus planning, and job offer comparisons become especially important.
Take-home pay on GBP 90,000
A worked example showing take-home pay at a salary approaching the personal allowance taper zone, where proactive planning becomes especially valuable.
Take-home pay on GBP 120,000
A worked example showing take-home pay deep inside the personal allowance taper zone, where effective tax rates are among the highest in the UK system.
Day rate of GBP 500 to annual take-home
A worked example of how a stronger contractor headline rate translates into annual and monthly planning figures.
Start with the guides if you need context
Use the tools and the explanation together.
The calculators answer "what happens to my pay?" The guides answer "why does it happen, what should I watch for, and what might still sit outside the model?" That combination makes the site more useful than a one-number widget.
Start with How take-home pay is really calculated if you need the foundation.
Read the salary sacrifice guide before changing pension settings.
Use the comparison guide before ranking offers or compensation structures.