Employees on PAYE
How much of a pay rise do I actually keep?
A pay rise never lands in your pocket in full — Income Tax, National Insurance and any student loan take a slice of every extra pound, and a bigger salary can be taxed at a higher rate than your pay is now. Put in your current salary and the rise you're offered to see exactly what reaches your bank account, month by month, and what your real keep rate on the extra pay is.
Your pay rise
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Why you never keep the whole rise
Every extra pound of salary is taxed at your top rate — the rate the last slice of your pay sits at. A basic-rate employee keeps about 72% of a rise (20% Income Tax and 8% National Insurance come off); a higher-rate one keeps about 58% (40% tax, but NI drops to 2% above £50,270); and anyone whose new salary lands between £100,000 and £125,140 keeps a startling 38%, because each extra £2 also strips away £1 of the tax-free Personal Allowance. A student loan takes another 9% on top. The calculator uses your figures, so the keep rate above is real, not a rule of thumb.
A pay rise can never leave you worse off
It's a common worry that crossing into a higher tax band means taking home less. Under PAYE that can't happen: only the pounds above each threshold are taxed at the higher rate, never your whole salary. A rise always increases your take-home — it just increases it by less than the headline number once you cross a band. The one thing to watch isn't the tax; it's the benefit cliff-edges below.
The cliff-edges a bigger salary can trigger
Income Tax and NI are gradual, but a few things drop away sharply as your salary climbs — and these, not the tax, are what can make a rise feel like it went nowhere:
- Cross £50,000 and the High Income Child Benefit Charge starts clawing your Child Benefit back — see the Child Benefit charge calculator
- Between £100,000 and £125,140 you lose your Personal Allowance at £1 for every £2, an effective 60% rate — the £100k tax trap calculator shows how to escape it
- Above £100,000 you also lose tax-free childcare and the 15/30 free hours — a cliff worth thousands if you have young children
- A salary-sacrifice pension can pull your taxable pay back under a threshold — see the salary sacrifice calculator
More free tools
Common questions
How much of my pay rise will I actually take home?
It depends on the tax band your extra pay falls in. A basic-rate employee keeps about 72% of a rise (after 20% Income Tax and 8% National Insurance), a higher-rate employee about 58%, and someone earning between £100,000 and £125,140 keeps only about 38% because they also lose Personal Allowance. A student loan takes roughly 9% more. The calculator above uses your own salary to work out the exact figure and the monthly amount.
Will a pay rise push me into a higher tax bracket and leave me worse off?
No. Under PAYE, moving into a higher tax band only means the pounds above the threshold are taxed at the higher rate — never your whole salary. A pay rise always increases your take-home pay; it simply increases it by less than the headline figure once part of it is taxed at 40%. You can never end up with less money in your pocket because of the tax on a rise.
Why do I keep so little of a rise between £100,000 and £125,140?
In that band every extra £2 you earn removes £1 of your tax-free Personal Allowance, so that pound is taxed twice over — an effective 60% Income Tax rate, plus 2% National Insurance. You keep only about 38% of a rise in this zone. Paying the extra into a pension can restore the allowance; the £100k tax trap calculator shows how.
Does National Insurance go up or down when I get a rise?
Employee National Insurance is 8% on pay between £12,570 and £50,270, then drops to 2% above £50,270. So a rise that stays under £50,270 loses 8% to NI, but a rise above it only loses 2%. That's why higher earners keep a slightly larger share of NI on a rise than basic-rate earners do — even though their Income Tax is higher.
Is it worth taking a pay rise into my pension instead?
Often, yes — especially if the rise is taxed at 40% or in the 60% zone. Routing it into a workplace pension by salary sacrifice avoids Income Tax and National Insurance on it entirely, so far more of the money is working for you than the take-home slice you'd otherwise keep. The salary sacrifice calculator shows the saving on your own numbers.
See your whole pay packet, not just the rise
This page shows what one rise adds. The paid Self Assessment Tax Estimator models your whole year — salary plus any freelancing, side income, pension and student loan — so you can see your total tax position, plan a pension contribution to duck a cliff-edge, and know your real take-home to the penny.
- Self Assessment Tax Estimator 2026/27 — your whole bill, salary plus self-employment, with the monthly set-aside and payment-on-account dates worked out for you.
- Freelance Day-Rate & Profit Calculator — work backwards from the take-home you need.
- Rental Property ROI & Yield Calculator — for anyone with a buy-to-let alongside.
- Invoice Tracker & Log — paid, outstanding and overdue, automatically.
Excel and Google Sheets. Working formulas, not just formatting. Built and checked by us, with AI assistance, and every calculation verified.
Get the Tax Estimator — £9 →£9 on its own, or all four tools for £19, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.