SalarySense

Pay rise calculator

“£4,000” is the offer. “£226 a month” is the sentence you say in the meeting. This page turns one into the other.

Where do you pay tax?
Student loan, pension & Marriage Allowance
Student loan plans

Undergraduate plans deduct alongside a postgraduate loan. Scotland collects postgraduate loans within Plan 4; Northern Ireland collects them as Plan 1.

Pension

Salary sacrifice reduces income tax, NI and student-loan deductions. Relief at source doesn't change PAYE: your cash outlay is 80% of the gross contribution, and higher-rate taxpayers reclaim the rest from HMRC.

£240.00 / month more

Your £4,000 rise is worth £2,880 a year after deductions.

NowAfter the rise
Gross salary£35,000£39,000
Take-home / year£28,720£31,600
Take-home / month£2,393.30£2,633.30

Of your next £1,000 pay rise, you'd keep £720.

Why a rise is worth less than it sounds

Every extra pound lands on top of your salary, so it's taxed at your highest rates: 20% or 40% income tax (19–48% in Scotland), NI at 8% or 2%, and 9% per student loan plan. The marginal line above shows exactly what your next £1,000 keeps — and where a rise crosses into the £100,000 personal-allowance taper, a salary-sacrifice pension can keep more of it than cash.

Questions people ask

How much of a pay rise do I actually keep?

A basic-rate taxpayer without a student loan keeps 72% of a rise (20% tax + 8% NI). A higher-rate taxpayer keeps 58%, or 49% with a Plan 2 loan. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the allowance taper cuts it to around 38%. The calculator shows your exact figure.

Will a rise push all my pay into a higher tax band?

No — only the pounds above the threshold are taxed at the higher rate. A rise never leaves you with less take-home than before (though it can be worth surprisingly little inside the taper).

Should I take a rise as pension instead?

If you're near £50,270 or above £100,000, salary-sacrificed pension keeps 100% of the rise working for you and can restore your personal allowance. Compare both by setting the pension field on this page against the same rise as cash.

How do I use the monthly figure in negotiation?

Anchor on take-home: “that offer is £180 a month after tax” is concrete for both sides. The comparison table gives you the before/after and the marginal line shows what the next £1,000 of offer is worth to you.