Example result based on the prefilled values.
Monthly Household Gain From Working
£1,271.97
Annual Gain After Childcare + Work Costs
£15,263.60
Annual Take-home Pay
£28,143.60
Childcare After Modelled Support
£10,000.00
Potential TFC Top-up
£2,000.00
Effective Gain Per Paid Hour
£10.83
TFC Check
Potential top-up only — confirm all eligibility rules
Continue your plan
Useful next calculations
Rates & sources2026/27
2026/27 annual Income Tax, Category A employee NI and student-loan thresholds, combined with user-entered childcare and work costs. Potential Tax-Free Childcare is not an eligibility decision.
Source: HMRC — 2026/27 employer rates and thresholds — source checked for 2026/27.
When to use this calculator
- Before accepting a pay change, bonus, pension contribution, or salary-sacrifice option.
- When you want to compare employed, self-employed, or dividend-based income scenarios.
- When you need a simple take-home estimate before running payroll or filing returns.
- When you are approaching the £100,000 income level and want to understand the personal allowance taper effect.
- When you are planning a salary sacrifice arrangement and need to see the net pay impact before agreeing terms.
A realistic UK planning example
Use these sample inputs as a quick scenario test, then change one variable at a time to compare outcomes.
Annual salary for this work pattern (£)
£35,000
Pension salary sacrifice (%)
£35,000
Income Tax region
England, Wales or Northern Ireland
Student loan plan
None
After entering these figures, review monthly household gain from working, annual gain after childcare + work costs and annual take-home pay together rather than in isolation — each metric tells a different part of the story. Then rerun the tool with one input adjusted to see which variable has the biggest effect on all three outputs before you settle on a plan.
How to read your results
Monthly Household Gain From Working
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Annual Gain After Childcare + Work Costs
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Annual Take-home Pay
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Childcare After Modelled Support
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Potential TFC Top-up
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Effective Gain Per Paid Hour
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
TFC Check
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Method & assumptionsAuthoritative sources
This decision tool estimates how much of the salary for a proposed work pattern remains after 2026/27 Income Tax, employee National Insurance, pension salary sacrifice, an optional student-loan plan, the annual childcare bill entered, commuting and other recurring work costs.
Enter the childcare provider's annual quote after any funded-hours arrangement. When potential Tax-Free Childcare is selected, the tool models a 20% contribution towards qualifying childcare costs, capped at £2,000 per eligible child per year, only if the adjusted-net-income figures entered do not exceed £100,000. That is not a complete eligibility decision.
The tax calculation is an annual estimate for a standard employee and supports Scottish or England, Wales and Northern Ireland income-tax bands. It does not model Universal Credit, tax codes, benefits in kind, irregular pay, postgraduate loans, multiple jobs or every childcare condition. Confirm childcare support with GOV.UK and compare the result with a payslip or HMRC estimate.
Common mistakes
- !Entering gross income when you really want take-home pay, or vice versa.
- !Ignoring pension contributions, deductions, or local tax rules that change the result.
- !Comparing monthly and annual figures without standardising them first.
- !Overlooking the National Insurance threshold changes that apply mid-year when rates or bands are adjusted in a Budget.
- !Assuming a salary sacrifice benefit reduces take-home pay by the full gross amount, rather than only the after-tax cost.
What to do next
- Check the same scenario with related pay or deduction calculators to see the full picture.
- Keep a copy of the assumptions you used so you can compare next tax year or pay period accurately.
- Read the related guides below if you are choosing between multiple income or deduction options.
- If you are self-employed, run the self-employment tax calculator alongside this result to compare the net position against employed income.
- Check whether increasing your pension contribution by even one or two percent changes the take-home significantly — use the pension calculator next.
Frequently asked
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