A 3% rise at every salary
The net column is the difference in yearly take-home pay between the old and new salary on the standard 1257L code, with no pension contribution or student loan.
| Salary | New salary | Gross rise | Net rise a year | Net a month | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £20,600 | £600 | £432 | £36 | 72% |
| £25,000 | £25,750 | £750 | £540 | £45 | 72% |
| £30,000 | £30,900 | £900 | £648 | £54 | 72% |
| £35,000 | £36,050 | £1,050 | £756 | £63 | 72% |
| £40,000 | £41,200 | £1,200 | £864 | £72 | 72% |
| £45,000 | £46,350 | £1,350 | £972 | £81 | 72% |
| £50,000 | £51,500 | £1,500 | £908 | £76 | 61% |
| £55,000 | £56,650 | £1,650 | £957 | £80 | 58% |
| £60,000 | £61,800 | £1,800 | £1,044 | £87 | 58% |
| £70,000 | £72,100 | £2,100 | £1,218 | £102 | 58% |
| £80,000 | £82,400 | £2,400 | £1,392 | £116 | 58% |
| £100,000 | £103,000 | £3,000 | £1,140 | £95 | 38% |
Why you keep less than 3%
A pay rise is taxed at your marginal rate, the rate that applies to the top slice of your income, not at the average rate you pay across the whole salary. Below £50,270 the top slice attracts 20% income tax and 8% National Insurance, so 72p of each extra pound arrives in your account. Above £50,270 it is 40% and 2%, so 58p. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the personal allowance is withdrawn at the same time, and the effective rate reaches 62%, leaving 38p. A rise that straddles a threshold is taxed partly at each rate, which is why the kept share moves gradually down the table rather than in steps.
Anyone repaying a student loan keeps 9p less in the pound on top of that, and a pension contribution set as a percentage of salary rises with the pay, which lowers the cash increase further while adding to the pot. The pay rise calculator takes all of these into account for your own figures.
Is 3% a real-terms rise?
A 3% rise is 0.8 percentage points below the 3.8% CPI figure for September 2025, so on that measure it is a real-terms cut, before tax. The comparison is only a starting point: prices rise on what you spend, and the rise is taxed while inflation is not. On a £30,000 salary, matching the 3.8% figure would need a gross rise of £1,140, and a 3% rise leaves £648 after deductions against that. The marginal tax rate calculator shows what the next pound is worth at any salary.
Thresholds a 3% rise can cross
At some salaries a 3% rise carries the new salary past a point where the rules change. Nobody is worse off for crossing these lines, but the next pounds are taxed differently and, in one case, a benefit starts to be clawed back.
- From £50,000 the rise takes the salary to £51,500, past £50,270, the higher rate threshold, where income tax rises to 40% and National Insurance falls to 2%.
Asking for a rise in take-home terms
A useful way to frame a negotiation is to work back from the monthly figure you want. On £30,000 a 3% rise is worth £54 a month after deductions; on £60,000 the same percentage is worth £87 a month, because the top slice is taxed more heavily. If the monthly figure that matters to you is a round number, the net to gross calculator gives the salary that delivers it, and the difference from your current salary is the percentage to ask for.
How these figures are worked out
Take-home pay is calculated on the current salary and on the salary after the rise, using the 2026/27 personal allowance of £12,570, income tax at 20%, 40% and 45%, the allowance taper above £100,000 and employee National Insurance at 8% and 2%. The net rise is the difference. Figures are for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scottish bands differ.