What the calculator shows
- Take-home pay before and after salary sacrifice
- Estimated Income Tax and employee National Insurance
- Your sacrifice plus any employer pension contribution
- The take-home cost of the pension funding
Free UK calculator · 2026/27
UK salary sacrifice calculator
See how exchanging salary for an employer pension contribution could change your take-home pay, Income Tax, employee National Insurance and pension funding.
Salary exchange, in pounds or %
Salary exchange is another common name for salary sacrifice. Enter an annual amount or a percentage. HENRY applies a percentage to the full employment-income figure you enter; payroll may use basic salary or another pensionable-pay definition.
UK and Scottish calculations
Choose the separate Scotland model where relevant. Both models concern employment income and standard 2026/27 assumptions; they do not reproduce a tax code or a full Self Assessment calculation.
Worked example
Compare the pension gain with the cash-flow cost.
Someone entering £150,000 of employment income and a 10% sacrifice is modelling £15,000 a year moving from cash pay into an employer pension contribution. HENRY compares the estimated take-home position before and after that change.
The result is only as complete as the inputs. Benefits, dividends, savings, rental income, student loans, tax codes and pension input elsewhere can change the wider position.
Three checks before changing payroll
- Ask which pay figure the percentage uses and when an election can take effect.
- Combine employer and personal pension input across every scheme before checking your allowance.
- Confirm whether benefits, statutory pay, life cover or lending references use pre- or post-sacrifice salary.
HMRC defines salary sacrifice as an agreement to reduce cash-pay entitlement, usually in return for a non-cash benefit. Employee agreement and a contractual change are required, and cash earnings cannot fall below the applicable minimum wage.
What this tool does not decide
It does not confirm whether salary sacrifice is suitable, whether you have pension annual allowance available or whether the Money Purchase Annual Allowance applies. A personal SIPP payment, relief-at-source contribution or net-pay arrangement is not the same calculation.