Take Home Wage Guide
Take Home Wage
Take Home Wage shows what minimum wage work actually pays in the UK once deductions come off. From 1 April 2026 the National Minimum Wage is £12.71 an hour if you are 21 or over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, and £8.00 if you are under 18 or on the apprentice rate. Enter your hours and see the net figure.
How the take-home pay calculation works
The calculator converts your hourly rate and weekly hours into gross annual pay (hourly rate × hours × 52), then applies three standard UK deductions in order.
1. Income Tax. Your gross pay minus the Personal Allowance (£12,570 in 2025–26 and 2026–27) gives taxable income. Tax is 20% on the first £37,700 of taxable income (the basic rate band), then 40% above that. Almost all minimum wage workers fall entirely in the basic rate band.
2. National Insurance. Employee Class 1 NI is 8% on weekly earnings between the primary threshold (£242 a week) and the upper earnings limit (£967 a week). Earnings above £967 a week attract 2%. Minimum wage workers at standard hours fall between those two limits, so 8% is the effective rate on the earnings above the threshold.
3. Pension (if applicable). Auto-enrolment deducts a minimum of 5% of qualifying earnings before tax is calculated, which reduces both your gross taxable pay and your NI contributions. The calculator shows take-home both with and without pension so you can see the difference.
The result is what lands in your bank account each week, month and year — the figure your payslip calls "net pay".
What the inputs mean
Hourly rate is your contractual pay before any deductions. For minimum wage workers, this is the rate for your age group set by the government: the National Living Wage (£12.71 in 2026) if you are 21 or over, or the lower rates for 18–20 year olds, under-18s and apprentices.
Hours per week is your contracted weekly hours, not the hours you actually work if those vary. For a comparison across different patterns, the most common full-time equivalents are 35, 37.5 and 40 hours. Part-time workers can enter their actual hours for a precise figure.
Tax code determines your Personal Allowance. The standard code is 1257L, which gives a £12,570 allowance. A different code — shown on your payslip or P60 — means HMRC has adjusted your allowance for another reason (benefits in kind, underpaid tax from a prior year, or a Scottish rate code beginning with S).
Pension contribution is the percentage of qualifying earnings your employer deducts each pay period. The minimum under auto-enrolment is 5% employee plus 3% employer. Entering your actual contribution rate gives a more accurate net figure.
Calculators
- Minimum Wage Take-Home Pay Calculator
What you actually take home on the minimum wage after Income Tax, National Insurance and pension: weekly, monthly and yearly. - UK Minimum Wage 2026
The National Living Wage and minimum wage rates from 1 April 2026 for every age band and apprentices, with yearly and monthly equivalents.
Guides
- UK Minimum Wage 2025
The minimum wage rates that applied from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, for back-pay checks, with a link to current rates. - National Minimum Wage Explained
Minimum wage vs National Living Wage, who qualifies, what counts toward it, and what to do if you’re underpaid.
Why trust these numbers
Every rate on this site is taken from GOV.UK and nowhere else. Hourly minimum wage rates come from the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates page. Income Tax rates, bands and the Personal Allowance come from the Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances page. Employee National Insurance rates and thresholds come from the National Insurance rates and categories page. Auto-enrolment contribution rules and the qualifying earnings band come from the workplace pensions pages.
All of those figures were last checked against the source pages on 19 September 2026, and they are re-checked when the rates change: minimum wage on 1 April, tax and National Insurance on 6 April. The site is maintained by the Take Home Wage editorial team, which writes and checks the calculators. Nothing here is modelled, forecast or scraped from other calculators. If a figure looks wrong, email us and we will check it against the source and correct it.
What you can work out here
Each calculator here applies the current rates to your pay so the number you see is what you would actually take home.
- UK Minimum Wage 2025
- The national minimum wage 2025 rate was £12.21 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, applying from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Workers aged 18 to 20 got £10.00, and under-18s and apprentices got £7.55.
- UK Minimum Wage 2026
- The UK minimum wage in 2026 is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, the National Living Wage rate from 1 April 2026. Workers aged 18 to 20 get £10.85, under-18s get £8.00 and apprentices get £8.00.
- Minimum Wage Take-Home Pay Calculator
- On the £12.71 minimum wage at 37.5 hours a week for 52 weeks, minimum wage take home pay is £21,364.44 a year, about £1,780 a month, from gross pay of £24,784.50.
- National Minimum Wage Explained
- The National Minimum Wage is the lowest hourly rate an employer can legally pay a worker in the UK, set by government and enforced by HMRC.
Common questions
What will the minimum wage be in 2026 in the UK per hour?
From 1 April 2026 the UK minimum wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. The 18 to 20 rate is £10.85, and the rate for under-18s and apprentices is £8.00. More in UK Minimum Wage 2025.
Is the National Minimum Wage going up in 2025?
Yes. The rates rose on 1 April 2025: the 21 and over rate went to £12.21, the 18 to 20 rate to £10.00, and the under-18 and apprentice rates to £7.55. Those were the rates for the whole year to 31 March 2026. More in UK Minimum Wage 2025.
Will the minimum wage go up again in April 2026?
Yes, they did. New rates took effect on 1 April 2026: £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices. That was a 50p rise on the adult rate and 85p on the 18 to 20 rate. More in UK Minimum Wage 2025.
How much is 40 hours a week minimum wage?
At the current £12.71 rate, 40 hours a week is £508.40 gross, or £26,436.80 a year over 52 weeks. More in UK Minimum Wage 2025.
Will the minimum wage go up again in 2026?
Yes. The rates rose on 1 April 2026, from £12.21 to £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, from £10.00 to £10.85 at 18 to 20, and from £7.55 to £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices. More in UK Minimum Wage 2025.
Is 12.60 an hour good?
£12.60 an hour is below the current legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over, which is £12.71 from 1 April 2026. It was above the £12.21 rate that applied through to 31 March 2026. More in UK Minimum Wage 2025.