A £45,000 offer with a 3% pension is worth less than a £43,000 offer with 8%, once employer contributions are counted.
Reference notes for the UK tax year 2026/27, computed from HMRC's published rates rather than copied from another site.
Comparing headline salaries alone is the most common mistake in a job move. What matters is take-home plus money into your pension.
| Offer A | Offer B | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | £45,000 | £43,000 |
| Take-home | £35,919.60 | £34,479.60 |
| Employer pension at 3% / 8% | £1,350 | £3,440 |
| Total value | £37,269.60 | £37,919.60 |
The lower salary wins by £650.00 a year, and that is before compounding.
It cannot price the things that decide most moves: commute, hours, security, and whether you will still want the job in a year.
Salary Comparison Calculator UK →
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Full deduction breakdowns, computed on 2026/27 rates:
| Salary | Take-home a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|
| £25,000 after tax | £21,519.60 | £1,793.30 |
| £35,000 after tax | £28,719.60 | £2,393.30 |
| £45,000 after tax | £35,919.60 | £2,993.30 |
| £60,000 after tax | £45,357.40 | £3,779.78 |
- Scottish income tax calculator — if one offer is north of the border
- Salary sacrifice calculator — price the difference in pension arrangements
- Mortgage calculator — test each offer against a mortgage
- UK tax rates and thresholds 2026/27 — every band and threshold on one page
- Take-home pay statistics — effective and marginal rates from £20,000 to £200,000, free to cite
- How the calculator works — the order of calculation and the source for every rate
- rates.json — the same figures as machine-readable JSON, no key required
- UK Income Tax Calculator
- National Insurance Calculator UK
- Hourly Wage Calculator UK
- Pro Rata Salary Calculator UK
Full index: UK Tax & Take-Home Pay Guide — twelve guides, twelve worked salary examples and a reference table covering the whole UK system.
Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, which runs 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, and were checked against gov.uk on 28 August 2026.
Rates change every April, and often at a Budget. Check the tax year a figure belongs to before relying on it.
Found a wrong number? Open an issue with the figure and a gov.uk link. Tax errors are worth fixing quickly.
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