Answers · UK 2025/26

What is my take-home through an umbrella company on a £900 day rate in 2026/27?

On a £900 day rate through an umbrella over about 220 days, your assignment income is roughly £198,000. After the umbrella deducts employer National Insurance, the Apprenticeship Levy, its margin, then your Income Tax and employee National Insurance, take-home is typically around £97,300 to £107,500 a year.

Last updated: 10 July 2026Last reviewed: 10 July 2026How we verify

Full answer

An umbrella company employs you and runs your pay through PAYE, which is common for inside-IR35 contracts. The day rate quoted to an umbrella is the assignment rate, out of which the umbrella must cover employment costs before working out your gross salary. On a £900 day rate over about 220 days, assignment income is roughly £198,000. From this the umbrella deducts its weekly or monthly margin (often £15 to £30 a week, roughly £1,200 a year), employer National Insurance at 15% on pay above £5,000, and the 0.5% Apprenticeship Levy, leaving a gross taxable salary of roughly £170,900, on which you pay Income Tax of about £63,100 (well into the £100,000-£125,140 Personal Allowance taper zone, where the effective marginal rate reaches 60%) and employee National Insurance of about £5,430. Because the employer costs are funded from the assignment rate rather than added on top, take-home is lower than a naive percentage-of-day-rate estimate suggests, typically landing around £97,300 to £107,500 a year depending on the margin and pension treatment. Sacrificing part of the salary into a pension is particularly valuable at this level, both to restore Personal Allowance and to cut Income Tax and National Insurance directly. Use the take-home pay calculator to model the salary after umbrella deductions and pension.