Learn how PayBreakdown works out UK take-home pay, and how its tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan figures are sourced and checked.
PayBreakdown works out UK take-home pay and the things that change it: Income Tax, National Insurance, pension method, student loan plan, tax code and region. Every page shows the assumptions the figure was worked out on, because a take-home number without them is not checkable.
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
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PayBreakdown is built and maintained by Sean Elsmore, working as a sole trader rather than a company. There is no registered company number and no registered office to publish, and inventing either would be worse than saying so. What can be checked instead is the working: every rate is published with the GOV.UK page it came from and the date it was read, the calculation method is written out in full on the methodology page, and any figure on the site can be reproduced from the assumptions printed beside it.
Most salary calculators give you a number and no way to check it. This one shows the assumptions every figure was worked out on — tax year, region, tax code, pension method, student loan plan — because those are what make two people on the same salary take home different amounts, and because a figure you cannot check is a figure you cannot rely on.
If a figure on this site is wrong, say so and it gets fixed. Reports go to support@paybreakdown.co.uk; the most useful ones name the page, the inputs, and what you expected instead. Corrections to a rate or a calculation are made at the source — the shared configuration every page reads from — so one fix reaches every page that used the wrong figure, and the page's last-updated date moves when its content actually changes rather than on every deploy. Where a correction changes a published figure materially, the change is noted on the methodology page rather than made quietly.
The calculators keep assumptions visible. Salary pages separate pay, pension, tax code, student-loan, job and extra-pay inputs, so you can see which one moved the result. Borrowing pages give a planning estimate only: they do not decide what a lender will approve, and they do not recommend a product.
PayBreakdown is not financial advice, tax advice, payroll advice, mortgage advice, or debt advice. It is a planning website that helps users understand scenarios before checking official sources or speaking to a qualified professional.
Saved calculator setups stay in your own browser. There is no account, no upload and no server-side copy of what you enter, so using the calculators leaves nothing behind on our side.
Public pages should stand on their own with a direct answer, visible assumptions, caveats, FAQs, contextual sources where needed, and calculator links only after the useful explanation or estimate is already available.
This page supports the calculators by explaining the operating position behind them. Read it alongside the relevant calculator output when you need to understand assumptions, limits, contact options, privacy choices, source checks, advertising separation, or terms of use.
Trust and policy pages explain how PayBreakdown works, but they do not replace official guidance, employer or payroll records, lender documents, legal advice, tax advice, debt advice, financial advice, or a formal data-rights response where one is required.
If this page affects a calculation choice, compare it with the current tax year, source date and methodology notes used by the relevant calculator. If it affects privacy, advertising or data-rights choices, use the named contact option and avoid sending salary details you do not need to share. PayBreakdown holds nothing on a server: calculations run in your browser, and a saved setup stays in that browser only. For important decisions, keep a copy of the relevant calculator result, source date and assumptions so you can compare them with updated guidance later. Recheck this page after major product, advertising or calculation changes.
Last updated 2026-08-27. Checked by Sean Elsmore. Rates last checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-07. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.