Understanding your payslip
A line-by-line guide to what's on a UK payslip, from gross pay and tax code to the deductions that make up the difference to your net pay.
Written by Jack Dev · Last updated 2 October 2026
Gross pay and net pay
Two numbers matter on a payslip, and pretty much everything else just explains the gap between them. Gross pay is the headline figure — what's in the job offer, before anything's taken off. Net pay (take-home pay) is what actually hits your bank account once every deduction has done its thing.
The deductions you'll usually see
The exact layout differs by employer and whatever payroll software they use, but the deductions themselves tend to fall into the same handful of buckets.
- Income Tax (PAYE) — calculated against your tax code and the current Income Tax bands for your region
- National Insurance — 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, 2% above that, for 2026/27
- Pension contributions — either a 'net pay' amount deducted before tax, or a salary sacrifice amount that also reduces your NI
- Student loan — 9% (6% for Postgraduate Loans) of income above your plan's threshold, if applicable
- Any other deductions — season ticket loans, union fees, benefit-in-kind adjustments or court-ordered deductions
Your tax code and pay period figures
Your tax code — usually 1257L — tells the payroll software how much to leave untaxed. We've got a whole guide on what 1257L actually means, if that string of letters and numbers has ever bugged you.
Most payslips also carry 'year to date' totals next to the current period's numbers — running totals of pay, tax and NI since 6 April. Worth a glance now and then: PAYE assumes your income is spread evenly across the year, so a payslip right after a bonus or a missed pay period can look oddly over- or under-taxed in isolation, even though it balances out by year-end.
When something looks wrong
Tax code looks off, NI seems miscalculated, or there's a deduction you don't recognise? Start with payroll or HR — nine times out of ten it's a tax code that hasn't caught up with a change in your circumstances. If HMRC needs to fix it, they'll send the new code straight to your employer.
Or just run your actual gross pay and tax code through our Salary Calculator (for the full picture) or the NI Calculator (just the National Insurance line) and see what the numbers should actually look like.
Frequently asked questions
Usually just the number of working days or pay-period rounding. Bigger swings tend to come from a bonus, some overtime, or a tax code that changed partway through the year.
Gross pay is your salary before anything's taken off. Net pay is what you actually receive once Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and any other deductions have come out.
A running total of your pay, tax and National Insurance since the tax year started on 6 April — handy for spotting whether you're on track to over- or underpay tax.
This guide is general information, not financial or tax advice — check GOV.UK or a qualified adviser for anything that affects a real financial decision.