Answers · UK 2025/26

What is £18 an hour as an annual salary and take-home pay in the UK?

On a standard 37.5-hour week, £18 an hour works out to a £35,100 annual salary. For 2026/27, that gives take-home pay of £28,791.60 a year after £4,506 Income Tax and £1,802.40 National Insurance -- about £2,399.30 a month.

Last updated: 3 July 2026Last reviewed: 3 July 2026How we verify

Full answer

Using a standard full-time working week of 37.5 hours, £18 an hour converts to an annual salary of £18 x 37.5 x 52, which is £35,100. On this salary for 2026/27: taxable income after the £12,570 Personal Allowance is £22,530, taxed entirely at the 20% basic rate, giving £4,506 Income Tax. National Insurance is 8% of £22,530, which is £1,802.40. Combined deductions of £6,308.40 leave £28,791.60 take-home a year, around £2,399.30 a month or £553.68 a week. This hourly rate is well above the £12.71 National Living Wage and is typical of skilled trades, experienced administrative roles and junior technical positions. A worker on this rate through an agency or umbrella company would see additional deductions -- such as the Apprenticeship Levy contribution and employer National Insurance costs sometimes factored into the quoted rate, plus an umbrella company margin -- that can make the actual take-home pay noticeably lower than this direct-employment calculation, so always clarify whether a quoted hourly rate is a PAYE rate or an umbrella "assignment rate" before comparing offers. If your contracted hours are 40 a week rather than 37.5, the same £18 hourly rate produces a higher annual salary of £37,440 instead.