Overtime Calculator UK: Overtime Pay After Tax

How overtime pay is calculated

Overtime pay = overtime hours × your basic hourly rate × the overtime multiplier. Time and a half is 1.5 times your basic rate and double time is 2 times. If you are salaried, your hourly rate is your annual salary divided by 52 and then by your contracted weekly hours.

Example: on £16.00 an hour with 6 hours of overtime a week at time and a half, overtime adds £144.00 a week, or £7,488 a year before tax.

Tax on overtime in the UK

There is no separate overtime tax rate in the UK. Overtime is added to your pay for the period and taxed through PAYE at the same rates as the rest of your income, with National Insurance and any student loan on top. The US “no tax on overtime” deduction does not apply here.

What you keep depends on your marginal rate. In the £16.00 example, the £7,488 of overtime costs £1,498 in income tax and £599 in National Insurance, leaving £5,391, or £17.28 for each overtime hour.

A big overtime month can look over-taxed on the payslip. Most people are on a cumulative tax code, so PAYE compares your pay so far with your allowance and bands so far. A large one-off payment can push part of that month into a higher band; if your pay falls back the following months, the extra tax is usually refunded through payroll by the end of the tax year.

Overtime and the minimum wage

Your employer does not have to pay extra for overtime, or pay for overtime at all, but your average pay for all the hours you work in a pay reference period must not fall below the minimum wage: £12.71 an hour from age 21, £10.85 at 18 to 20 and £8.00 under 18 from April 2026.

For the minimum wage check, the premium part of overtime (the amount above your basic rate) does not count as pay; the hours still count. So a premium cannot be used to top up a basic rate that is below the minimum wage.

Unpaid overtime is the usual trap. Someone paid exactly £12.71 for 37.5 hours who works 42 hours is effectively paid £11.35 an hour for that week, below the legal minimum. The calculator flags this when you enter overtime at plain time or less.

NHS overtime pay

Under Agenda for Change, staff in bands 1 to 7 are paid time and a half for overtime, and double time for work on general public holidays. Staff in bands 8 and 9 are not entitled to overtime payments. If you agree to take time off in lieu (TOIL) instead, it is given at plain time, and if you cannot take it within 3 months it must be paid at the overtime rate.

A Band 5 nurse on the entry point of £32,073 earns £16.45 an hour, so overtime is £24.67 an hour, or £32.90 on a bank holiday. Twelve extra hours a month at time and a half add £3,553 a year, of which £2,558 is kept after tax and NI before NHS pension. Bank shifts through NHS Professionals or a trust bank are paid at bank rates instead.

Your rights on overtime hours

• You only have to work overtime if your contract says so. Overtime pay rates are set by your contract, not by law.
• You cannot be made to work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally over 17 weeks. You can opt out in writing, and cancel the opt-out with up to 3 months’ notice.
• Under-18s cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
• Regular overtime must be included in your holiday pay for the first 4 weeks of statutory leave, based on the average over the previous 52 paid weeks.
• Part-time workers usually only get an overtime premium once they work beyond the full-time hours, not for every extra hour.

When overtime costs more than you expect

Overtime can push your income over a threshold. At £58,000, 4 hours a week at time and a half adds £9,280, taking pay past the £60,000 High Income Child Benefit Charge line, where each £200 claws back 1% of Child Benefit. Above £100,000 the Personal Allowance taper creates a 60% effective rate.

Pension contributions made through salary sacrifice or a net pay scheme reduce the pay that counts for these thresholds. If your pension is a percentage of pay, overtime may also increase it, depending on your scheme’s definition of pensionable pay.