Required salary

Find the gross salary needed for a target take-home amount, including pension and student loan deductions.

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£
Tax and pension
No student loan deducted. Use the plan finder if you are unsure.
%
Supported range: 0–50%. Percentage of the pension basis below.
Off models a net-pay pension deduction; it is not a relief-at-source tax-return calculation.

Your results

Gross salary
£36,778.34
a year
Gross monthly
£3,064.86
Take-home
£2,500.00
per month
Annual deductions

Scroll sideways to see all columns.

Salary breakdown
ItemYearlyMonthly
Gross Salary£36,778.34£3,064.86
Income Tax£4,841.67£403.47
National Insurance£1,936.67£161.39
Take-Home Pay£30,000.00£2,500.00

Lowest gross penny meeting the target. Annual difference from target: £0.00.

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How it works

We repeatedly run the same take-home engine used on the salary page, narrowing the gross salary to the lowest penny that meets your target. The search stops at £10 million gross a year and reports an error when the target cannot be reached or convergence cannot be verified.

Worked example

Worked example (2026/27): £40,000 gross in England, with no pension or student loan, gives £32,319.60 annual take-home (£2,693.30 a month): £5,486 income tax and £2,194.40 National Insurance. Entering that monthly target returns £40,000 gross.

Assumptions

Uses the released 2026/27 annual PAYE model and one student-loan plan. Standard personal allowance, ordinary employee National Insurance, no bonus, taxable benefits, second job, Child Benefit charge or custom tax code. A steady annual salary is divided into pay periods; a payslip can differ because payroll thresholds and rounding apply each period. Pension tax-relief limits and minimum-wage eligibility for salary sacrifice are not assessed.

Sources