Gross vs net pay UK: is net before or after tax?

What is gross pay?

Gross pay, which HMRC and most payslips also call gross income, is your total earnings before any deduction: basic salary plus overtime, bonuses, commission, shift premiums and holiday pay. It is the number employers advertise, the number used to compare offers, and the number lenders ask about. It is also the number your tax is calculated from, which is exactly why it is never the number you receive. If you are paid hourly rather than salaried, your gross pay is your hourly rate multiplied by the hours worked, and our hourly wage calculator converts between the two.

What is net pay?

Net pay is gross pay minus every deduction your employer is required or instructed to make. For most employees that means income tax and National Insurance, and often a student loan repayment and a pension contribution as well. The document itself is a payslip in the UK and a paycheck in the United States, which is why a search for a paycheck calculator and one for a payslip calculator are after the same number. Net pay is what the payslip calls “net pay” or “take-home pay”, and it is the figure that matches your bank credit. Yes, net pay is after tax: the two phrases describe the same amount.

What comes out between gross and net?

Order matters here, because each deduction is worked out on a different base. Using the £35,000 salary above:

1. Personal allowance comes off first. The first £12,570 is taxed at 0%, leaving £22,430 of taxable income.
2. Income tax, band by band. £4,486 here, all at the basic rate of 20%.
3. National Insurance, on a different threshold. 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above that. It ignores your tax code entirely, which is why NI keeps being charged even when your income tax is wrong.
4. Student loan, if you have one. A flat 9% of everything above your plan's threshold, or 6% for a postgraduate loan. See the plan comparison.
5. Pension. Depending on the scheme, this comes off before tax, before tax and NI, or after both. The salary sacrifice guide shows why the difference is worth real money.

Why does the gap widen as you earn more?

Because the UK system is progressive: higher slices of income are taxed at higher rates. The percentage you keep therefore falls steadily as gross pay rises, and falls sharply above £100,000 where the personal allowance is withdrawn.

Doubling gross pay from £20,000 to £40,000 does not double net pay: it takes it from £17,920 to £32,320. This is also why a pay rise feels smaller than it looks, something the pay rise calculator handles properly.

How do I work out gross pay from net pay?

Going backwards is harder than going forwards, because the answer depends on which bands the gross figure lands in, and you do not know that until you have the answer. There is no simple multiplier. The reliable method is to search for the gross salary that produces your target net, which is exactly what the reverse tax calculator does. It is the tool to use when you know what you need to take home each month and want to know what salary to negotiate for.

Is the advertised salary gross or net?

In the UK, advertised salaries are always gross. A job listed at £30,000 means £30,000 before tax, and the successful applicant will bank roughly £2,093 a month. The same applies to hourly rates in adverts and to the National Minimum Wage, which is set as a gross figure. Whenever you compare two offers, compare them net, particularly if one includes a pension contribution or is based in Scotland, where the income tax bands are different.

Is net before or after tax?

Net is after tax: it is the amount left once income tax, National Insurance and any other deductions have come off. Gross is the before-tax figure, so net is always the smaller of the two.

What does net salary mean?

Net salary is the part of your pay that actually reaches your bank account after every deduction, the same thing payslips call take-home pay. On a £35,000 gross salary in England it is £28,720 a year, or £2,393 a month, on the 2026/27 rates.

Is gross before tax?

Yes, gross pay is the figure before any tax or deduction is taken: it is the number in the contract, the job advert and the minimum wage tables. Tax and National Insurance are then calculated from it, which is why gross is never the amount you receive.

Related guides

All 17 guides are listed on the guides index, and every calculator on the home page.