£30,000 salary after tax in the UK

On a £30,000 salary you take home about £25,120 a year in 2026/27, which is £2,093 a month or £483 a week. That assumes a 1257L tax code in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, no pension and no student loan. Income Tax takes £3,486 and National Insurance £1,394. At this salary the pension and the student loan decide how much further your pay falls, so both are covered below. You can test your own case in the take-home pay calculator.

Which pension costs what at £30,000

Public sector pension contributions come out before Income Tax. National Insurance is charged on the full £30,000. These are the 2026/27 rates for a full-time salary of this size.

Scheme	Rate at £30,000	Pension paid	Take-home per month
Civil Service alpha	4.6%	£1,380	£2,001.30
Local Government Pension Scheme (main section)	6.5%	£1,950	£1,963.30
Teachers’ Pension Scheme	7.4%	£2,220	£1,945.30
NHS Pension Scheme	8.3%	£2,490	£1,927.30

The NHS rate is the highest here because £30,000 sits in its 8.3% tier, which starts at £28,855. Someone on £28,854 pays 6.5%, so a small rise can lift the contribution rate on all of your pay at once. At 8.3% you give up £166 a month in take-home pay compared with no pension, because tax relief returns part of the £2,490. The NHS Pension Scheme guide explains the tiers in full.

Student loans at £30,000

£30,000 is above the Plan 1, Plan 2 and Plan 5 thresholds and below the Plan 4 threshold. Repayments are 9% of pay above the threshold, worked out on the full £30,000.

Plan	Threshold	Repaid per year	Per month	Take-home per month
None	n/a	£0	£0	£2,093.30
Plan 4 (Scotland)	£33,795	£0	£0	£2,093.30
Plan 2	£29,385	£55.35	£4.61	£2,088.69
Plan 1	£26,900	£279.00	£23.25	£2,070.05
Plan 5	£25,000	£450.00	£37.50	£2,055.80

Plan 2 takes under £5 a month because £30,000 is only £615 over its threshold. Plan 5, the newest English plan, takes the most. A Postgraduate Loan adds 6% of pay above £21,000, which is £540 a year, or £45 a month, and sits on top of any of the plans above. Student loan repayments from salary shows how each pay period is checked.

Public sector jobs near £30,000

In England in 2026/27:

• NHS band 3 tops out at £27,476, and band 4 runs from £28,392 to £31,157 after three years. £30,000 is roughly the middle of band 4. Pay points for the band are in the band 4 guide.
• NHS band 5 starts at £32,073, a little over £2,000 above this figure.
• Teaching assistants and other school and council support staff are paid on the NJC spine, which has points around this level (see the NJC pay spine guide). Term-time contracts pay a lower actual figure than the full-time equivalent. See teaching assistant pay and take-home pay for a teaching assistant.
• Teacher pay does not start this low for qualified staff. The unqualified teacher range in England (outside London) runs from £23,732 to £36,494 from September 2026.

Hourly and weekly equivalents

On a 37.5 hour week, £30,000 is £15.38 an hour gross and about £12.88 an hour after tax and National Insurance. If you work fewer hours, the salary you are paid is the full-time figure multiplied by your fraction of full-time hours. Part-time take-home pay shows what that does to your tax. Scottish taxpayers keep about £35 a year more at this salary than the figures above. Salary after tax in Scotland has the bands.