Answers · UK 2025/26

Why is my payslip take-home different from my salary?

Your payslip shows take-home pay after deductions, while your salary is the gross figure before them. The main deductions are Income Tax, National Insurance at 8%, and often a pension contribution and student loan. Together these can take 25% to 35% off a typical salary.

Last updated: 7 June 2026Last reviewed: 7 June 2026How we verify

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Your salary is the gross, headline figure your employer agrees to pay you, but your payslip shows your net or take-home pay, which is what actually reaches your bank account after deductions. The gap between the two is made up of several items. The biggest are Income Tax and National Insurance. For 2026/27 Income Tax is charged at 20% on income above the £12,570 Personal Allowance, then 40% above £50,270, and National Insurance is charged at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, dropping to 2% above that. On top of these statutory deductions, most employees pay into a workplace pension, often around 5% of qualifying earnings, which reduces take-home pay but builds retirement savings and usually attracts tax relief and employer contributions. If you have a student loan, 9% of earnings above your plan threshold is also deducted, and a Postgraduate Loan adds another 6%. Other items that can appear include salary sacrifice arrangements, season ticket loans, give-as-you-earn charity donations and attachment of earnings orders. Your payslip should itemise each deduction along with your gross pay, your tax code and your year-to-date totals, so it is worth checking it to make sure your tax code is correct, as an error can mean you pay too much or too little. Altogether, deductions commonly take between 25% and 35% off a typical salary, which is why your monthly take-home looks much smaller than a twelfth of your annual salary. Use a take-home pay calculator to break your salary down into tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan, and see your true monthly net pay.