Written and reviewed by James Whitfield · Updated for 2026/27 · Editorial standards · Methodology
Pay stub or payslip, here is every line explained for 2026/27: gross pay, tax code 1257L, PAYE income tax, National Insurance, pension, student loan, net pay and year-to-date totals, with a worked £35,000 example and the errors to check for.
A UK pay stub (payslip) lists gross pay, then the deductions: PAYE income tax, National Insurance, pension and any student loan, and ends with net pay, the amount paid into your bank. For 2026/27 the first £12,570 is tax-free (tax code 1257L), pay from £12,570 to £50,270 is taxed at 20% and £50,270 to £125,140 at 40%3; NI is 8% between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2%4. On £35,000 paid monthly that is £2,916.67 gross, £373.83 tax, £149.53 NI and £2,393.30 net. Check the tax code and the year-to-date totals first if anything looks wrong.
Typical default outputs for quick context.
A pay stub is the American name for what UK employers call a payslip: the itemised statement that arrives with each wage payment. Whichever word you use, it does the same job. It shows what you earned in the pay period (gross pay), everything that was taken off (tax, National Insurance, pension, student loan and any other deductions) and what actually reached your bank account (net pay).
In the UK every employee and worker has a legal right to a written, itemised payslip on or before payday. It must show gross pay, the amount and purpose of each variable deduction, net pay and, where pay varies with time worked, the number of hours paid1. Employers can issue it on paper or electronically, which is why most people now read theirs through a payroll portal or app.
This guide walks through a typical UK pay stub from top to bottom in the order the lines usually appear, using the 2026/27 rates. If you want to check your own figures as you go, the payslip calculator on this site reproduces each line for any salary.
The top of the pay stub identifies you and the period. You will normally see your name, payroll or employee number, National Insurance number, the pay date, the pay period (for example 1 to 31 August) and a tax period number. Tax periods run from 6 April, so month 1 is April, month 6 is September and month 12 is March. That number matters because PAYE income tax is calculated cumulatively across the tax year.
Two header codes drive the deductions. Your tax code tells payroll how much tax-free pay to give you: 1257L, the standard code for 2026/27, means the full £12,570 personal allowance spread evenly across the year2. Your NI category letter (usually A) tells payroll which National Insurance rates to apply. If either is wrong, every deduction below it will be wrong too, which is why they are the first two things to check.
Gross pay is your earnings for the period before deductions. For a salaried employee paid monthly it is simply annual salary divided by 12, so £35,000 a year appears as £2,916.67. Overtime, bonuses, commission, shift premiums and back pay usually appear as separate lines above a gross total so you can see what made up the figure.
Many payslips also show taxable gross and NI-able gross, which can be lower than headline gross. That happens when you have a salary sacrifice arrangement (for a pension, an electric car or childcare): the sacrificed amount is removed before tax and NI are calculated, so it never appears as taxable pay. If you contribute to a pension through a net pay arrangement, the contribution is also taken off before tax is worked out but not before NI.
PAYE (Pay As You Earn) is the system that collects income tax through your employer. For 2026/27 the first £12,570 of income is tax-free, income from £12,571 to £50,270 is taxed at the 20% basic rate, £50,271 to £125,140 at the 40% higher rate and anything above £125,140 at 45%3. Payroll applies those bands to your cumulative pay for the year so far, then deducts whatever is needed to bring your total tax up to date.
For a steady salary below the higher-rate threshold you can sense-check the monthly tax line with one sum: (monthly gross minus £1,047.50) multiplied by 20%. On £35,000 that is (£2,916.67 minus £1,047.50) = £1,869.17, and 20% of that is £373.83 a month, or £4,486 across the year. If your pay stub shows a materially different figure and your salary has not changed, the tax code is the usual culprit.
Because the calculation is cumulative, a month with a bonus or backdated pay shows a larger tax deduction, and a month with lower pay can show a smaller one or even a refund. That is PAYE correcting itself, not an error.
Employee National Insurance (Class 1) is worked out independently of income tax and, unlike tax, is not cumulative: each pay period is assessed on its own. For 2026/27 you pay 8% on earnings between the primary threshold of £12,570 and the upper earnings limit of £50,270 a year, then 2% on anything above that4. Monthly, those thresholds are £1,047.50 and £4,189.
On £35,000 the monthly NI line is (£2,916.67 minus £1,047.50) multiplied by 8% = £149.53, which is £1,794.40 a year. Because NI is period-based, a large bonus month can push part of that month's pay into the 2% band even if your annual salary never reaches £50,270, which is one reason bonus months can look oddly light on NI relative to tax.
Pension contributions appear as an employee deduction, and most payslips also show the employer's contribution as an information line that does not reduce your pay. Under auto-enrolment the standard minimum is 5% from you (including tax relief) and 3% from your employer, usually calculated on qualifying earnings rather than full salary. How the contribution reduces your tax depends on the scheme type: salary sacrifice and net pay arrangements take it off before tax, while relief-at-source schemes deduct it after tax and the provider reclaims basic-rate relief.
Student loan repayments are 9% of pay above your plan's threshold, worked out per pay period on the same earnings as NI. For 2026/27 the thresholds are £26,900 (Plan 1), £29,385 (Plan 2), £33,795 (Plan 4) and £25,000 (Plan 5); Postgraduate Loans are 6% above £21,0005. The plan letter should be shown on the pay stub, so check it matches your Student Loans Company account.
Other lines you might see include attachment of earnings orders, trade union subscriptions, season-ticket or cycle-to-work loans, private medical insurance and charitable giving through payroll. Each must be itemised with its amount and purpose.
Net pay is the figure that reaches your bank account: gross pay minus every deduction above it. Here is a complete pay stub for someone on £35,000 in England with tax code 1257L, NI letter A, no pension and no student loan, reconciled to the annual totals.
| Pay stub line | This month | Full year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | £2,916.67 | £35,000.00 |
| Tax-free allowance (1257L) | £1,047.50 | £12,570.00 |
| Taxable pay | £1,869.17 | £22,430.00 |
| PAYE income tax (20%) | £373.83 | £4,486.00 |
| National Insurance (8%) | £149.53 | £1,794.40 |
| Total deductions | £523.36 | £6,280.40 |
| Net pay | £2,393.30 | £28,719.60 |
Add a 5% employee pension contribution (£145.83 a month before tax relief) or a Plan 2 student loan (9% of pay above £2,448.75 a month, so about £42 here) and net pay falls accordingly.
Most pay stubs carry a second column of year-to-date totals: gross pay to date, taxable pay to date, tax paid to date, NI paid to date and often pension and student loan to date. These are the numbers HMRC receives from your employer in real time, and they are what your P60 will summarise after 5 April6. If you change jobs, the YTD figures transfer to your new employer through your P45 so PAYE can carry on cumulatively.
You may also see employer National Insurance (15% on your pay above £5,000 a year in 2026/27) and the employer pension contribution. Neither is deducted from you; they are shown for information and to help you see the total cost of employing you. Some payslips show accrued or remaining holiday, and hourly-paid workers must see the hours paid.
Most payslip problems come from a handful of causes. Run through this list whenever the net figure looks wrong, and compare the tax paid to date with the estimate in your HMRC online account7.
Start with your employer's payroll team for anything about hours, rates, pension or student loan settings; they can fix those directly. For your tax code, only HMRC can change it: check the code shown against your personal tax account, update your details there or call HMRC, and payroll will apply the new code once it arrives. Overpaid tax usually comes back automatically through the cumulative PAYE calculation in a later month, or via a P800 calculation after the year ends.
Keep every payslip. You need them to reconcile your P60, to prove income for a mortgage or rental application, and to claim a refund if you are taxed on an emergency code and leave a job before it is corrected.
Current tax-year thresholds used across this guide and calculator.
A pay stub is the US term for a payslip: the itemised statement your employer must give you on or before payday showing gross pay, each deduction (income tax, National Insurance, pension, student loan and any others) and net pay. UK law requires it to be itemised and, for hourly-paid workers, to show the hours paid.
PAYE stands for Pay As You Earn, the system where your employer deducts income tax from your wages and pays it to HMRC on your behalf. The PAYE or income tax line is that deduction. For 2026/27 it is 20% of pay above the £12,570 personal allowance, 40% above £50,270 and 45% above £125,140, calculated cumulatively across the tax year using your tax code.
Yes. Every itemised payslip must show the income tax deducted for the period and normally shows tax paid to date for the year as well. National Insurance is shown as a separate line with its own year-to-date total.
Gross pay is your earnings before deductions. Income tax is worked out with your tax code (1257L gives £1,047.50 tax-free a month, then 20% or 40%). National Insurance is 8% of monthly pay between £1,047.50 and £4,189, then 2%. Pension is your contribution percentage, usually 5%. Student loan is 9% of pay above your plan threshold. Net pay is gross pay minus all of these.
1257L is the standard 2026/27 tax code. It means you get the full £12,570 personal allowance, spread across the year as £1,047.50 of tax-free pay per month. If it has W1, M1 or X after it, you are on an emergency (non-cumulative) version of the same code.
Year-to-date figures are running totals since 6 April: gross pay, taxable pay, tax paid, NI paid and often pension and student loan. They are what your employer reports to HMRC each pay day and what your P60 summarises at the end of the tax year. If you change jobs they carry across through your P45.
The rates, thresholds and rules on this page are drawn from the official UK government sources below, using the confirmed 2026/27 figures. Each link opens the relevant HMRC or GOV.UK page in a new tab.
Verified against published UK government guidance for 2026/27.