Take-home pay, also called net pay, is the amount left after income tax, National Insurance, pension, student loan, and other deductions.
Take-home pay is the money that actually reaches your bank after deductions are removed from gross pay. Gross pay is the before-deduction figure; net pay or take-home pay is the after-deduction figure.
| 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 |
| Calculator setting | The answer is more useful when matched to the same tax year, region, tax code, pension and loan settings used in the calculator. |
|---|---|
| Records to compare | Payslips, HMRC records, student-loan notices and pension scheme documents can explain differences. |
| Tax code | HMRC tax-code changes, K codes, BR/D codes, or emergency markers can change PAYE deductions. |
|---|---|
| Cumulative basis | Week 1, Month 1 or non-cumulative payroll can differ from a smooth annual calculator estimate. |
| Pension method | Relief at source, net pay and salary sacrifice can affect taxable pay and take-home pay differently. |
| Payroll timing | Bonus, overtime, arrears, refunds, cut-off dates and corrections can all move a single payslip. |
| Open the salary calculator with editable assumptions | calculator next step |
|---|---|
| Review calculation sources and methodology | source context |
| 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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A payslip actually works through three different pay figures, and knowing which is which explains most confusion. Gross pay is everything you earned in the period. Taxable pay is gross minus anything that comes out before Income Tax — a net-pay or salary-sacrifice pension contribution, most obviously — and it is the figure the tax is worked out on, which is why two people on the same gross can pay different tax. Net pay is what remains after every deduction has come out. The order matters: pension method decides whether the contribution reduces taxable pay, National Insurance is worked out on its own basis regardless of the allowance, and student loan is worked out on gross pay above its own threshold, separately from tax.
Payroll only deducts what payroll controls. Council tax, rent or mortgage payments, utilities and direct debits all leave your account after net pay arrives, so take-home pay is not spendable income — it is the ceiling on it. In the other direction, some money that never appears in net pay is still yours: an employer pension contribution is paid on top of gross, and a salary-sacrificed amount reaches your pension without ever touching the payslip's net line. Comparing two jobs on take-home alone misses both.
This is educational guidance on how UK pay and tax work. It does not decide payroll correctness, HMRC treatment, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employment rights, and it is not regulated financial advice. Where a figure matters, check it against your payslip, your HMRC account, or the official guidance linked above.
Yes. In normal payslip language, take-home pay and net pay both mean the amount left after deductions.
Common deductions include PAYE income tax, National Insurance, workplace pension contributions, student loan repayments, and sometimes payroll benefits or salary sacrifice.
Last updated 2026-08-28. 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.