Graduate Salary Calculator

For 2026/27, the personal allowance remains frozen at £12,570. You pay 20% on earnings from £12,571 to £50,270, 40% from £50,271 to £125,140, and 45% above that. These thresholds are frozen until at least April 2031. If you earn over £100,000, your personal allowance tapers by £1 for every £2 above, disappearing entirely at £125,140.

The 2026/27 thresholds (updated from April 2026) are: Plan 1, £26,900, Plan 2, £29,385, Plan 4 (Scotland), £33,795, Plan 5, £25,000, and Postgraduate, £21,000. All plans except Postgraduate charge 9% on earnings above the threshold; Postgraduate charges 6%.

Employee NI rates are unchanged for 2026/27: you pay 8% on earnings between the primary threshold (£12,570) and the upper earnings limit (£50,270), and 2% on anything above. The lower earnings limit increased slightly to £6,708. Employer NI, however, rose to 15% from April 2025, this affects employer costs but not your take-home pay.

Plan 1: started before September 2012 in England/Wales, or any time in Northern Ireland. Plan 2: started between September 2012 and July 2023 in England, or any time from September 2012 in Wales. Plan 4: studied in Scotland. Plan 5: started in England from August 2023 onwards. Postgraduate: Master’s or PhD loan. You can have an undergraduate and a postgraduate loan at the same time, and each is repaid separately.

Yes. Under auto-enrolment, your employer must contribute at least 3% on top of your contribution. With salary sacrifice, each £1 into the pension skips 20% tax and 8% National Insurance, so it costs a basic-rate taxpayer 72p of take-home pay, or 63p if you’re above your student loan threshold.

Common reasons include: a non-standard tax code (e.g. emergency tax, company benefits in kind), Scottish income tax if you live in Scotland (different bands apply), bonus or commission payments processed differently, or employer-specific deductions like company car or private healthcare. Always verify your tax code on your payslip or via your HMRC Personal Tax Account.