Trainee solicitor take-home pay calculator 2026/27

Salary before tax (£ a year)

Your gross annual salary, before any pension or salary sacrifice.

Or pick a reference salary

Source: Personnel Today, 15 October 2026 (secondary source). A reference point, not a forecast of your pay.

Compare with another salary (£ a year) (optional)

For example your NQ salary, to see how much of a rise you keep.

Or pick a reference salary to compare with

Examples from the ONS, the real Living Wage and firms that publish their pay, each with its source.

Student loansPlan 1: 9% above £26,900 (check the official website)Plan 2: 9% above £29,385 (check the official website)Plan 4: 9% above £33,795 (check the official website)Plan 5: 9% above £25,000 (check the official website)Postgraduate Loan: 6% above £21,000 (check the official website)

Student Finance England: course started before 1 September 2012 – Plan 1; 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023 – Plan 2; from 1 August 2023 – Plan 5. Student Finance Wales: Plan 1 before September 2012, Plan 2 after. Northern Ireland: Plan 1. Scotland: Plan 4. With two undergraduate plans you repay once, above the lower threshold.

Your pension contribution (%)

The minimum under automatic enrolment is 5% (check the official website) of earnings between £6,240 (check the official website) and £50,270 (check the official website). Your employer's contribution comes on top and is not deducted from your pay.

The percentage applies to

How your pension is paid

Your payslip or scheme documents say which one applies. Salary sacrifice also lowers National Insurance and student loan repayments.

£1,872a month after deductions

£22,466 a year from a salary of £27,495, with £1,063 a year going into your pension (£213 of it basic-rate relief). Of your next £100 of salary, £28 would go on income tax, National Insurance and loans.

Tax year 2026/27, England, Wales and Northern Ireland (check the official website: GOV.UK, rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027; GOV.UK, Income Tax rates; GOV.UK, repaying your student loan; GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions). In Scotland, income tax bands and rates differ; National Insurance and loans work the same way.

Deductions from £27,495
Item	A year	A month
Salary before deductions	£27,495	£2,291
Pension from your pay (after basic-rate relief)	−£850	−£71
Income tax	−£2,985	−£249
National Insurance	−£1,194	−£100
Student loan (Plan 2)	£0	£0
Take-home pay	£22,466	£1,872

Key facts

In 2026/27, income tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland starts above a personal allowance of £12,570 (check the official website), at a basic rate of 20% (check the official website).
Employee National Insurance is 8% (check the official website) of pay between £12,570 (check the official website) and £50,270 (check the official website) a year.
Student loans take 9% (check the official website) of pay above the plan's threshold – £29,385 (check the official website) for Plan 2, £25,000 (check the official website) for Plan 5; with two plans you repay once.
Above £100,000 (check the official website) the personal allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2: at £120,000 with Plan 2, £71 of the next £100 goes on deductions.
By our calculation, moving from £27,495 to an NQ salary of £80,000 adds £2,348 a month to take-home pay – 54% of the rise.

How is the result calculated?

The calculator works over a whole tax year with the same salary every month. It first takes off a pension paid by salary sacrifice or under a net pay arrangement, then works out income tax, National Insurance and student loans, and finally the pension paid by relief at source:

A = \max\!\bigl(0,\; A_0 - \tfrac{1}{2}\max(0,\, T - L)\bigr), \qquad \text{tax} = r_b \min(T - A,\, B) + r_h\,\bigl[\min(T - A,\, U) - B\bigr]^{+} + r_a\,(T - A - U)^{+}

\text{NI} = r_n\,\bigl[\min(N, E) - P\bigr]^{+} + r_u\,(N - E)^{+}, \qquad \text{loans} = r_l\,(N - \theta)^{+} + r_g\,(N - \theta_g)^{+}

\text{take-home} = S - \text{pension from pay} - \text{tax} - \text{NI} - \text{loans}

$S$ is the salary, $T$ the pay income tax is worked out on and $N$ the pay for National Insurance and loans; $(x)^{+}$ means “x, but not below 0”. For 2026/27 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: the personal allowance $A_0$ is £12,570 (check the official website) and shrinks by £1 for every £2 of income above $L$ = £100,000 (check the official website) (GOV.UK, Income Tax rates); the basic rate $r_b$ of 20% (check the official website) covers the first $B$ = £37,700 (check the official website) of taxable income, the higher rate $r_h$ of 40% (check the official website) runs up to $U$ = £125,140 (check the official website), and the additional rate $r_a$ of 45% (check the official website) applies above it (GOV.UK, rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027).

Employee National Insurance is $r_n$ = 8% (check the official website) between the primary threshold $P$ = £12,570 (check the official website) and the upper earnings limit $E$ = £50,270 (check the official website), and $r_u$ = 2% (check the official website) above it (GOV.UK, rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027). Student loans take $r_l$ = 9% (check the official website) above the threshold $\theta$ of your plan – £26,900 (check the official website) for Plan 1, £29,385 (check the official website) for Plan 2, £33,795 (check the official website) for Plan 4 and £25,000 (check the official website) for Plan 5. With more than one plan, one repayment is taken above the lowest threshold; a Postgraduate Loan adds $r_g$ = 6% (check the official website) above $\theta_g$ = £21,000 (check the official website) (GOV.UK, repaying your student loan). Loans are worked out on the same pay as National Insurance (HMRC, collection of student loans from 6 April 2026).

The pension percentage applies to your whole salary or to qualifying earnings, the band from £6,240 (check the official website) to £50,270 (check the official website); the minimum for an employee under automatic enrolment is 5% (check the official website), with at least 3% (check the official website) from the employer (GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions). Under relief at source you pay the contribution less basic-rate relief, which the provider claims (GOV.UK, pension tax relief); under a net pay arrangement it comes off before income tax only; with salary sacrifice your salary is lower, so tax, National Insurance and loans all fall (GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions).

Payroll works per pay period with monthly or weekly thresholds and rounds loan deductions down to whole pounds (HMRC, collection of student loans from 6 April 2026), so a payslip can differ from the annual figure by a few pounds. The calculator assumes the standard tax code, one job and no benefits in kind; higher-rate relief on a relief-at-source pension has to be claimed separately and is not included, and neither is any personal allowance such a pension restores above £100,000 (check the official website).

Worked example

1. A trainee on the real Living Wage outside London

£27,495 a year (£14.10 (check the official website) an hour × 37.5 hours × 52 weeks), Plan 2, and the minimum pension of 5% (check the official website) of qualifying earnings by relief at source:

Pension: £21,255 of qualifying earnings × 5% = £1,063, of which you pay £850 and the provider claims £213
Income tax: (£27,495 − £12,570) × 20% = £2,985
National Insurance: (£27,495 − £12,570) × 8% = £1,194
Student loan: £0, because the salary is below the Plan 2 threshold
Take-home pay: £22,466 a year, or £1,872 a month

2. Qualifying into an NQ job outside London

At £80,000 – the NQ salary Eversheds Sutherland reported for its regional offices in 2026 (Legal Cheek, 30 July 2026 (secondary source)) – with the same settings, income tax is £19,432, National Insurance £3,611 and the Plan 2 repayment £4,555. Take-home pay is £50,641 a year, or £4,220 a month. Of the £52,505 rise in salary, £28,175 – 54% – reaches your bank account.

3. £120,000 and the personal allowance taper

At £120,000 with Plan 2 and no pension, the personal allowance shrinks to £2,570, and take-home pay is £68,002. Of the next £100 of salary, £71 goes on income tax, National Insurance and the loan. Paying 10% of salary – £12,000 – into a pension by salary sacrifice brings take-home pay to £64,522: the £12,000 in your pension costs you £3,480 of take-home pay.

What does the result mean for you?

Plan with the monthly figure, not the salary in the offer letter. Rent, travel and savings come out of take-home pay, and the gap between the two grows once student loan repayments start. When your first payslip arrives, compare it with the calculator: if the student loan deduction is missing or uses the wrong plan, tell payroll and the Student Loans Company early, because the plan follows the loan, not the job (GOV.UK, which repayment plan).

How much of a pay rise do you keep?

Each step on the way from trainee to NQ crosses thresholds. The table shows what goes on income tax, National Insurance and a Plan 2 loan from the next £100 of salary, without a pension:

Deductions from the next £100 of salary, 2026/27, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Plan 2, no pension (salaries from the reference list)
Salary	Goes on deductions	You keep
£27,495	28%	£72
£41,654	37%	£63
£57,198	51%	£49
£80,000	51%	£49
£120,000	71%	£29
£150,000	56%	£44

Between £100,000 (check the official website) and £125,140 (check the official website), the shrinking personal allowance makes the rate the highest on the scale (GOV.UK, Income Tax rates). London NQ salaries such as £120,000 fall into that band – and it is where a pension by salary sacrifice saves the most, as the third worked example shows.

Which student loan plan are you on?

The plan depends on who lent you the money and when your course started:

Plan 1: a loan from Student Finance England or Student Finance Wales for a course that started before 1 September 2012, or a loan from Student Finance Northern Ireland.
Plan 2: an undergraduate loan from Student Finance England for a course that started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023, or from Student Finance Wales for a course that started on or after 1 September 2012.
Plan 5: an undergraduate loan from Student Finance England for a course that started on or after 1 August 2023.
Plan 4: a loan from the Student Awards Agency Scotland.
Postgraduate Loan: a loan from Student Finance England or Wales for a master's or doctoral course, repaid on top of any plan.

You cannot choose your plan, and with more than one loan you can be on different plans (GOV.UK, which repayment plan). How much you owe does not change what you repay each year (GOV.UK, repaying your student loan).

Relief at source, net pay or salary sacrifice: what is the difference?

How a pension contribution of the same size reaches your take-home pay
Method	Lowers income tax	Lowers National Insurance and loans
Relief at source	Basic rate, added to the pension by the provider; higher rate only if you claim it	No
Net pay arrangement	Yes, at your top rate, through payroll	No
Salary sacrifice	Yes, at your top rate, through payroll	Yes

Sources: (GOV.UK, pension tax relief) (GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions) (HMRC, collection of student loans from 6 April 2026). Your scheme documents or payslip tell you which method applies; it is the employer's choice, not yours.

What if you live in Scotland?

Scottish income tax applies if you live in Scotland, with its own bands and rates (GOV.UK, Scottish Income Tax). This calculator uses the bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so its income tax figure does not fit Scottish taxpayers; National Insurance and student loan repayments are the same across the UK (GOV.UK, rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027).

Which mistakes are common?

Reading 40% as tax on the whole salary. The higher rate applies only to taxable income above the basic-rate band.
Treating the student loan like a debt payment. Repayments depend on your pay, not on the balance; the 9% is a deduction from pay above the threshold, not interest.
Comparing offers by salary alone. Two offers are usually closer in take-home pay than in salary – use the comparison field.
Forgetting the employer's pension contribution. It does not reduce your pay, but it is part of what a job is worth.

This page is general information, not tax or financial advice. HMRC sets your tax code; if it looks wrong, contact HMRC. To see whether qualifying pays for itself over the years, use the solicitor payback calculator; for the cost of the SQE itself, the solicitor qualification cost calculator.

What this tool covers

Last updated

30 October 2026

Based on

Income tax, National Insurance, student loan and automatic-enrolment values for 2026/27 from the fact register – see the sources below
GOV.UK and HMRC on how loans, pension tax relief and salary sacrifice are worked out
Your salary, loan plans and pension; optional reference salaries from the ONS, the real Living Wage and dated firm reports

Includes

Income tax with the personal allowance taper (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Employee National Insurance (category A)
Student loan Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5 and the Postgraduate Loan
A pension by relief at source, net pay arrangement or salary sacrifice
A second salary to compare, and what you keep of the next £100

Not included

Scottish income tax bands
Tax codes other than the standard one, benefits in kind, bonuses and a second job
Higher-rate relief claimed separately for a relief-at-source pension, and any personal allowance it restores where the allowance tapers
Pay-period rounding on your payslip, and tax years after 2026/27

Frequently asked questions

How much does a trainee solicitor take home a month?

It depends on the salary, the loan plan and the pension. On £27,495, the real Living Wage outside London for a 37.5-hour week, with Plan 2 and the minimum pension: £1,872 a month. On the London rate, £30,128, with Plan 5: £1,983 a month. Enter your own salary for your figure.

How much does a newly qualified solicitor take home?

With Plan 2 and the minimum pension, £80,000 – a regional NQ salary reported in 2026 – gives £4,220 a month, and the City level of £150,000 gives £6,556 a month in 2026/27.

Which student loan plan am I on?

It depends on who lent you the money and when your course started. Student Finance England: Plan 1 for a course that started before 1 September 2012, Plan 2 for an undergraduate course that started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023, Plan 5 for one that started on or after 1 August 2023. Student Finance Wales: Plan 1 before 1 September 2012, Plan 2 from then on. Student Finance Northern Ireland: Plan 1. Student Awards Agency Scotland: Plan 4. A Postgraduate Loan from England or Wales is repaid on top.

What happens if I have more than one student loan?

With two undergraduate plans you make one repayment of 9% (check the official website) on pay above the lower threshold. A Postgraduate Loan is repaid as well: 6% (check the official website) above £21,000 (check the official website).

Does salary sacrifice reduce student loan repayments?

Yes. Loan repayments are worked out on the same pay as National Insurance, and salary sacrifice lowers that pay. A pension paid under a net pay arrangement or by relief at source does not change the loan repayment.

Why is my payslip slightly different?

Payroll works per pay period with monthly thresholds and rounds loan deductions down to whole pounds. A different tax code, a bonus, overtime or benefits also change it. The calculator works over a whole year with the standard tax code.

Does the calculator work in Scotland?

Not for income tax: Scotland has its own bands and rates. National Insurance and student loan repayments are the same across the UK, so those lines also apply in Scotland.

Does the calculator save my numbers?

No. The calculation runs in your browser. Your numbers appear only in the page address after the # sign, so you can share a result; they are not sent to us.

Sources

GOV.UK (HM Revenue & Customs): Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 – PAYE tax, Class 1 National Insurance, student and postgraduate loans (30 January 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances – current tax year, and the reduced Personal Allowance above £100,000. Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK: Scottish Income Tax – 2026 to 2027 rates. Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK (Student Loans Company): Repaying your student loan: what you pay – thresholds, rates, more than one plan, Postgraduate Loan. Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK (Student Loans Company): Repaying your student loan: which repayment plan you're on. Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK (HM Revenue & Customs): Collection of student loans from 6 April 2026 – payroll technical specification (earnings subject to Class 1 National Insurance, thresholds, rounding) (12 December 2025). Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK: Tax on your private pension contributions: tax relief. Accessed 30 October 2026.
GOV.UK: Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay. Accessed 30 October 2026.
Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0): Earnings and hours worked, occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 14 – 2026 provisional, Tables 14.7a (annual pay, gross), 14.7b (coefficients of variation) and 14.9a (paid hours worked, total), full-time employee jobs, United Kingdom (22 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Legal Cheek (legal news, secondary source): Eversheds Sutherland boosts NQ lawyer pay: £120k London, £80k regions (30 July 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Legal Cheek (legal news, secondary source): BCLP confirms it boosted NQ lawyer pay to £125k earlier this year (2 June 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Legal Cheek (legal news, secondary source): BCLP boosts London NQ lawyer pay to £135k (22 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
The Lawyer (legal news, secondary source): Macfarlanes ups NQ pay to magic circle rates (2 July 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
PKF Francis Clark (accountants, secondary source): UK tax rates 2026/27 – income tax, personal allowance, Class 1 National Insurance (12 March 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Moorepay (payroll provider, secondary source): National Insurance Rates and Earnings Limits 2026-27 (effective 6 April 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Cintra (payroll provider, secondary source): Student Loan Repayment Thresholds for 2026/27 (7 April 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Moorepay (payroll provider, secondary source): Automatic enrolment rates and thresholds 2026-27 – earnings trigger, qualifying earnings, minimum contributions (effective 6 April 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Personnel Today (HR news, secondary source): Real Living Wage increase announced for 2026-27 (15 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Living Wage Foundation: What is the real Living Wage?. Accessed 30 October 2026.

Study aid only – not legal, financial or careers advice. The tool runs in your browser and stores nothing.

High Performer Certs is an independent study platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and it is not authorised or accredited by the SRA or the SQE assessment provider. The SQE and SOLICITORS QUALIFYING EXAMINATION trade marks are the property of and are used under licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.