Example

Salary sacrifice on £30,000

A worked example showing why a £30,000 salary sacrifice decision needs to be judged on net pay change, not gross sacrifice alone.

Worked example2 min readRuleset 2025-26Reviewed by PayPath UK editorial reviewMethodology

Scenario

Assume a UK employee on £30,000 is considering sacrificing £2,000 into pension.

What usually happens

The annual take-home pay drop is smaller than £2,000 because income tax and employee NI on that slice are reduced.

What to look at

Focus on the effective net cost of the extra pension contribution and whether monthly affordability still feels comfortable.

How to use PayPath here

Run the relevant calculator for your live numbers, review the methodology if the assumptions matter to your decision, and save the strongest scenarios in the workspace if you are comparing more than one option.