Pension & Salary Sacrifice Calculator 2026/27
Sacrificing £100 a month into your pension — what does it really cost you? See the honest exchange: the take-home cost, the pension gained, and the tax, National Insurance and student loan saved.
- Rates: GOV.UK — checked 5 Nov 2026
- Tested against HMRC worked examples
- Your salary never leaves your browser
The same amount is compared as an ordinary contribution and as salary sacrifice.
Used only to show your hourly rate after sacrifice.
Tax code 1257L, tax year 2026/27. The ordinary contribution uses the net-pay model (deducted before income tax, National Insurance still charged on full gross). Salary sacrifice reduces your contractual gross first, so tax, National Insurance and student loan are all worked out on the lower figure.
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Sacrificing £100 / month costs you
— / month of take-home
—
| No pension | Ordinary pension | Salary sacrifice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pension added | — | — | — |
| Income tax | — | — | — |
| National Insurance | — | — | — |
| Student loan | — | — | — |
| Take-home pay | — | — | — |
- Tax saved by sacrifice (vs no pension)
- —
- National Insurance saved by sacrifice
- —
- Student loan saved by sacrifice
- —
- Sacrifice vs ordinary pension — extra take-home
- —
Rates checked 5 November 2026.
Every figure checked against HMRC's own examples.
Your salary never leaves your browser.
Rates re-checked by hand after every Budget.
Rates: GOV.UK — last checked 5 November 2026 See the official rates
How this is calculated
All three columns use the 2026/27 rates, last checked against GOV.UK on 5 November 2026. The ordinary pension column uses the net-pay model: your contribution comes off your gross pay before income tax, but National Insurance is still charged on the full gross. The salary-sacrifice column reduces your contractual gross first — income tax, National Insurance and student loan are then worked out on the reduced figure. The auto-enrolment comparison below it uses 5% of qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270). See the full method on How we calculate.
Looking ahead: no cap applies to the National Insurance saving from salary sacrifice in 2026/27 — but from 6 April 2029 only the first £2,000 a year of employee pension contributions made through salary sacrifice will stay exempt from National Insurance, so the saving on larger sacrifices will shrink from that date. This calculator's 2026/27 figures are unaffected.
Examples — worked by the engine
| Scenario | Pension added / year | Take-home cost / year | Take-home cost / month | Tax + NI saved / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £35,000 — sacrifice £100/month | £1,200.00 | £864.00 | £72.00 | £336.00 |
| £35,000 — £1,438 via sacrifice vs auto-enrolment | £1,438.00 | — | — | £115.04 more take-home |
| £40,000, Plan 2 — £1,688 via sacrifice vs auto-enrolment | £1,688.00 | — | — | £286.96 more take-home |
Examples use tax code 1257L. The first row compares sacrifice with no pension at all: £1,200 into your pension costs £864.00 of take-home pay because £240.00 of income tax and £96.00 of National Insurance are saved. The other two rows compare the same pension amount through sacrifice vs auto-enrolment — the tax is identical, so the whole gain is National Insurance saved (£115.04 at £35,000; £135.04 at £40,000) plus student loan saved (£151.92 at £40,000 on Plan 2). All figures computed by the engine.
Related calculators & reading
- Take-home pay calculator — the full breakdown for your salary, with pension modes and sacrifice built in.
- Salary calculator — compare two salaries and see what a rise really adds.
- Student loan calculator — sacrifice also lowers your student loan, because it is charged on reduced gross.
- Scottish income tax calculator — the same salary in Scotland vs England.
- The £100,000 tax trap — pension contributions are the usual way people soften the trap.
- Salary sacrifice: how much take-home does £100 a month really cost you? — the honest maths, worked out for 2026/27.
- UK tax rates 2026/27 — every band, threshold and allowance behind these figures.
Questions
What does salary sacrifice actually save me?
Sacrifice cuts your contractual gross pay first, so income tax, National Insurance and student loan are all worked out on the lower figure. Sacrificing £100 a month (£1,200 a year) on a £35,000 salary saves £240.00 of income tax and £96.00 of National Insurance a year — so it costs £864.00 a year of take-home pay (£72.00 a month) and adds £1,200 a year to your pension. If you also have a student loan, the saving is bigger still, because the loan is charged on the reduced gross too.
Is salary sacrifice always better than an ordinary pension contribution?
For the same amount in your pension, yes on take-home pay — sacrifice also saves the National Insurance (and student loan) that an ordinary contribution does not. On a £35,000 salary, £1,438 a year in your pension costs £27,569.20 of take-home pay through auto-enrolment, but £27,684.24 through sacrifice — £115.04 a year (£9.59 a month) more in your pocket for the same pension. The trade-off is that sacrifice lowers your contractual salary, which can affect mortgage applications, overtime rates and some benefits that are based on gross pay.
How is an ordinary pension contribution different?
Under the usual net-pay arrangement your contribution comes off your gross pay before income tax, but National Insurance is still charged on the full gross. Auto-enrolment uses 5% of qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270), not 5% of your whole salary — on £35,000 that is £1,438.00 a year. Sacrifice is the only route that also cuts your National Insurance.
Can salary sacrifice take my pay below the National Minimum Wage?
It must not. Your pay after sacrifice has to stay at or above the National Minimum Wage for the hours you work. This calculator shows your hourly rate after sacrifice so you can check it — the April 2026 rates are £12.71 an hour for 21 and over, £10.85 for 18–20, and £8.00 for 16–17 and apprentices, as recorded in this site's rates file.
Is my salary sent anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. No salary figure is sent to a server, stored, or shared.
The rates behind this calculator: 2026/27 rates, sourced from GOV.UK.