Annual comparison
Take-home pay, deductions, and pension contribution before and after sacrifice.
Take-homeTax, NI and loanPension
UK Salary Sacrifice Calculator
See how pension salary sacrifice could affect your taxable pay, Income Tax, National Insurance, pension contribution, and take-home pay.
Net pay reduction£2,088£174 per month
Pension added£3,870Sacrifice plus employer passback
Tax, NI and loan saved£1,512Employee-side saving
Before and after comparison
Gross salary£60,000
Salary sacrificed£300 per month£3,600
Taxable pay before£60,000
Taxable pay after£56,400
Take-home before£3,780 per month£45,357
Take-home after£3,606 per month£43,269
Tax, NI and pension effect
Income tax£1,440 less£11,432 to £9,992
Employee NI£72 less£3,211 to £3,139
Student loan£0 less£0 to £0
Tax, NI and loan savedEmployee-side saving from the sacrifice£1,512
Employer NI passbackAdded to pension value if your employer passes it on£270
Pension contribution valueSacrifice plus employer passback£3,870
Effective net cost54.0% of the pension value£2,088
Rules and assumptions
Tax year6 April 2026 to 5 April 20272026/27
Personal allowance£12,570
Employee NI main rate8.0%
Employer NI rate15.0%
Assumptions
Calculation notes
- Uses simplified 2026/27 UK income tax, employee NI, employer NI, and student-loan assumptions.
- Does not model minimum wage limits, employer scheme rules, pension annual allowance, tapered annual allowance, benefits impact, childcare interactions, or payroll rounding.
- Salary-sacrifice arrangements should be checked with payroll or a qualified adviser.
Pension trade-off
What salary sacrifice changes
The useful question is not only how much goes into pension, but what that contribution costs in monthly take-home pay.
Before-and-after comparison
The calculation compares the same salary before and after the chosen pension salary sacrifice amount.
Sacrificed salary reduces taxable and NI-able pay, then the calculator compares Income Tax, National Insurance, student-loan deductions, take-home pay, pension value and estimated employer NI saving.
Sacrifice flowgross salary - sacrificed salary -> lower taxable pay and NI pay -> revised deductions -> take-home impact and pension contribution value
Payroll scenario
Example: GBP 60,000 salary with 5% sacrifice
- Gross salary: GBP 60,000
- Salary sacrifice: 5%
- Tax year: selected UK year
- Student loan: selected plan or none
Result: The sacrificed amount moves from salary into pension, usually lowering take-home pay by less than the pension contribution added.
The effective cost shows the monthly cash-flow trade-off rather than only the pension headline.
Reading the trade-off
- A larger pension contribution can still reduce take-home pay, even when tax and NI savings make it efficient.
- Check employer rules, minimum-wage constraints, benefit entitlement and pension annual allowance before acting.
Content reviewed: 7 September 2026.
Guide
UK Salary Sacrifice Calculator notes
Compare pay before and after pension salary sacrifice using UK tax-year assumptions, including take-home pay, Income Tax, National Insurance, pension value, student-loan repayment, and employer NI passback.
Choose the rules year that matches the scenario you are checking.
Review the calculation notes where rules, tax years, thresholds, or eligibility affect the result.
FAQs
UK Salary Sacrifice Calculator FAQs
What is the UK Salary Sacrifice Calculator for?
Compare pay before and after pension salary sacrifice using UK tax-year assumptions, including take-home pay, Income Tax, National Insurance, pension value, student-loan repayment, and employer NI passback.
What is salary sacrifice?
Salary sacrifice is an employer arrangement where you give up part of your contractual salary in exchange for a non-cash benefit, such as an employer pension contribution.
How does pension salary sacrifice affect take-home pay?
In this calculator, the sacrificed salary reduces taxable pay for Income Tax, employee National Insurance, and student-loan repayment modelling. The output compares take-home pay before and after sacrifice.
Which UK tax year does the calculator use?
Use the tax-year selector to choose the current UK tax year or one of the previous four years available in TallyKind's tax-rule data.
Does this include employer National Insurance passback?
Yes. If your employer passes back some employer National Insurance saving, enter the percentage and the calculator adds it to the modelled pension value.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is a planning estimate. Salary-sacrifice decisions can depend on employer rules, minimum wage limits, pension allowances, benefits, borrowing, statutory payments, and personal circumstances.