£30,000 take-home pay (2026/27)
On £30,000 a year gross you're a typical UK mid-career earner — comfortably inside the 20% basic-rate band with none of your pay crossing the £50,270 higher-rate threshold. Below we break down the income tax bands hit, employee NI, the monthly and weekly take-home, and how much a 5% or 10% pension sacrifice saves you in tax and NI combined.
Full 2026/27 deduction breakdown
Income tax — band by band
| Band | Taxable | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal allowance | £12,570 | 0% | £0.00 |
| Basic rate (20%) | £17,430 | 20% | £3,486.00 |
| Total income tax | £3,486.00 | ||
Employee National Insurance
£17,430 × 8% = £1,394.40 employee NI. Nothing crosses the £50,270 upper earnings limit, so the 2% rate doesn't apply.
| Band | Amount | Rate | NI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings below £12,570 | £12,570 | 0% | £0.00 |
| Earnings £12,570 – £50,270 | £17,430 | 8% | £1,394.40 |
| Total employee NI | £1,394.40 | ||
Pension sacrifice scenarios
Salary sacrifice is taken from your gross pay before income tax and National Insurance are applied. That means each pound you sacrifice saves you both your marginal income tax rate and your NI rate — typically 28% combined for a basic-rate taxpayer and 42% for a higher-rate taxpayer.
| Scenario | Into pension | Income tax | Employee NI | Take-home | Tax + NI saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% pension | £0 | £3,486.00 | £1,394.40 | £25,120 | — |
| 5% pension sacrifice | £1,500 | £3,186.00 | £1,274.40 | £24,040 | £420.00 |
| 10% pension sacrifice | £3,000 | £2,886.00 | £1,154.40 | £22,960 | £840.00 |
Sacrificing 5% of £30,000 (£1,500) only reduces annual take-home by £1,080.00— the rest is funded by reduced tax and NI. At 10% the pension contribution doubles to £3,000 while take-home falls by £2,160.00.