Our mission: To give every UK worker a clear, honest and instantly accessible picture of their real take-home pay — and the tools to keep more of it.
Who We Are
PayClear UK is a free salary intelligence platform built for UK employees, contractors, freelancers and the self-employed. We believe that understanding your pay should not require an accountant, a spreadsheet or a finance degree.
Our calculators cover PAYE employees, self-employed sole traders, limited company contractors, umbrella workers and salary sacrifice schemes — all updated annually for the latest HMRC rates.
Why We Built This
Most UK salary calculators were built in the early 2000s and haven't meaningfully changed since. They're cluttered, slow, confusing and often inaccurate. We set out to build something better — a calculator that feels as polished and trustworthy as a modern banking app.
PayClear UK was designed from the ground up to be:
- Accurate first. Every calculation is verified against official HMRC published rates. Our engine runs 11 validation tests at every release, all passing at 0% variance on income tax.
- Honest. We show you the real cost of tax, NI and pension contributions — including the hidden 60% tax trap, employer NI deducted by umbrella companies and the true cost of the dividend tax bands.
- Fast and private. All calculations happen entirely in your browser. We never see your salary data.
- Modern. Because you deserve a tool that looks and feels like 2026, not 2004.
Our Calculators
PayClear UK covers:
- PAYE employee take-home pay with full tax band breakdown
- Self-employed Class 2 and Class 4 NI calculations
- Limited company director salary + dividend optimisation
- Umbrella company take-home with employer NI deduction
- Salary sacrifice modelling with live NI + tax savings
- Bonus and overtime tax calculation (marginal method)
- Day rate and hourly rate converters
- Stamp duty (SDLT / LBTT / LTT) for England, Scotland and Wales
- Pension pot forecasting with growth projection
- Student loan payoff estimator for all five plans
- Marriage allowance checker
- CIS Construction Industry Scheme deductions
Calculation Accuracy
We take accuracy seriously. Our tax engine is based on official HMRC published rates and thresholds. We run a full validation suite at every update, comparing our results against the expected outputs for 11 benchmark salaries (£20k through £250k), with a tolerance threshold of ±£1.
For 2026/27, all 11 tests pass at exactly 0% variance on income tax calculations.
That said — our results are estimates. Your actual PAYE deductions depend on your personal tax code, employer, benefits-in-kind and HMRC adjustments. For anything financially significant, please verify with HMRC or a qualified accountant. See our full Disclaimer.
Privacy and Data
We do not collect, store or transmit any salary or income data you enter. All calculations happen locally in your browser using JavaScript. We believe your financial data is yours alone.
We may use anonymised analytics (with your consent) to understand which calculators are most useful. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.
Get in Touch
Found an error in a calculation? Have a suggestion for a new tool? We'd love to hear from you.
Contact us here or email hello@payclear.co.uk