About Teacher Take Home Pay

What this site does

The calculator helps teachers work out what they will actually take home after income tax, National Insurance, and Teachers' Pension Scheme contributions. It covers all STPCD scale points — Main Pay Range through to Upper Pay Range — across all four regional pay areas, using the 1 September 2026 pay scales. A separate calculator and overtime tracker cover teaching assistants on the NJC pay spine.

We also publish plain-English guides on teacher pay, pensions, and related topics — written by a teacher, for teachers, without the jargon.

Who runs it

This site is run by Michelle, a teacher in England. The guides are written from firsthand experience of navigating teacher pay, the TPS, and the questions colleagues ask every September when the new scales land.

This site is independent. We are not affiliated with the Department for Education (DfE), NEU, NASUWT, any other union, or any school or academy trust.

Contact: contact us

Disclaimer

All figures produced by this calculator are estimates for guidance only. They are based on standard assumptions:

• Tax code 1257L (standard personal allowance)
• No other income or deductions
• 2026/27 HMRC tax rates
• TPS and LGPS contribution rates as published (effective April 2026)
• England STPCD and NJC pay scales only
• Maintained schools — academy schools may use different pay scales

Your actual take-home will differ if you have a non-standard tax code, other income, additional deductions, or are subject to Scottish income tax rates.

This is not financial, tax, or pension advice.If you need advice about your specific circumstances, speak to a qualified financial adviser or your union's pension team.

Privacy

The calculators run entirely in your browser. No personal data — salary, name, or anything else — is transmitted to our servers. The overtime tracker saves your log in your own browser's storage on your device; it never leaves your device.

This site uses analytics cookies to understand how visitors use the site. No personally identifiable information is collected without consent. You can manage cookie preferences using the cookie settings link in the footer.

Email updates:If you sign up, your email address and the date you agreed are stored with our newsletter provider, MailerLite (mailerlite.com), with a backup copy sent to us using Resend (resend.com). We only email you about pay updates and the site's tools. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email. We never sell your email address. You can ask us to delete your data by contacting us.

Payments: If you buy a subscription, payment is handled by Stripe (stripe.com). We never see your card details; we only check your email address with Stripe to unlock the paid features on your device.

Corrections

If you spot an error in any figure or calculation, please contact us. We aim to keep all figures current and accurate. Pay scales are updated following each annual STPCD publication.