£31,000 After Tax (£31k): Take-Home Pay in 2026/27

On a £31,000 salary you take home £25,840 a year in 2026/27 — £2,153.30 a month or £496.92 a week — after £3,686 income tax and £1,474 National Insurance. That assumes tax code 1257L, England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and no pension or student loan; the tables below add each of those.

Updated 2026-10-03 · HMRC 2026/27 rates and thresholds

£31,000 take-home pay by period

How the tax on £31,000 is calculated

£31,000 sits entirely in the basic-rate band: everything above £12,570 is taxed at 20% and NI is 8%, so each extra pound you earn is taxed at 28%. You can earn another £19,270 before reaching the 40% higher rate.

£31k after tax: Plan 2 and the shrinking Scottish advantage

On £31,000 you take home £25,840, which is £2,153.30 a month. The salary is 21% below the April 2025 median of £39,039 and equals £15.90 an hour on a 37.5-hour week.

Plan 2 student loan deductions are now visible on the payslip: £145 a year, or £12.08 a month, on the £1,615 you earn above £29,385. A Plan 2 graduate on £31k takes home £2,141.22 a month and has a marginal rate of 37%: 20% tax, 8% NI and 9% loan. Plan 2 borrowers who also have a postgraduate loan repay £745 a year in total, which takes their marginal rate to 43%.

For Scottish taxpayers, £31,000 sits inside the 21% intermediate band, which starts at £29,526. The Scottish advantage that lower earners enjoy is shrinking: on £31k it is down to £25 a year more. Plan 4, Scotland's student loan, still costs nothing because its threshold is £33,795.

£31,000 after tax in Scotland

Scottish taxpayers pay Scottish income tax rates on earnings. On £31,000 that is £3,661 of income tax compared with £3,686 elsewhere in the UK, so take-home pay is £2,155.38 a month (£2.08 more than in England).

£31,000 after tax with a student loan

Student loans are repaid at 9% of earnings above each plan's threshold (6% for postgraduate loans).

£31,000 after tax with a pension

Auto-enrolment requires at least 5% from you and 3% from your employer on qualifying earnings (£6,240 to £50,270) — for you that is £1,238 and £743 a year. Salary sacrifice also saves National Insurance, so it costs less in take-home pay than relief at source.

£31,000 after tax: 2025/26 vs 2026/27

With income tax thresholds frozen, the same salary pays the same tax and NI this year. A pay rise that only matches inflation therefore leaves you slightly worse off in real terms.

£31,000 after tax on different tax codes

Your tax code tells your employer how much tax-free pay to give you. A wrong code is the most common reason a payslip differs from the figures above — check yours on your payslip or in the HMRC app.

A typical £31,000 monthly payslip

With a 5% workplace pension (relief at source) and a Plan 2 student loan, the most common setup for graduates in England:

Bonus on £31,000: how much you keep

£31,000 pro rata: part-time take-home

Part-time jobs are often advertised at the full-time equivalent (FTE) salary. Because the Personal Allowance is not pro-rated, working fewer days lowers your tax by more than your pay.

What your tax band means on £31,000

• Savings: as a basic-rate taxpayer your Personal Savings Allowance is £1,000 of interest a year. ISAs stay tax-free whatever you earn.
• Dividends above the £500 allowance are taxed at 10.75% at your band.
• Capital gains above the £3,000 exemption are taxed at 18% up to your unused basic-rate band (£19,270) and 24% above it.
• Pension tax relief: 20% relief is added automatically — a £1,000 pension contribution costs you £800 (or less through salary sacrifice).
• Marriage Allowance: if your partner earns under £12,570 they can transfer £1,260 of allowance to you, cutting your tax by up to £252 a year.
• Child Benefit: you keep it all — the High Income Child Benefit Charge only starts at £60,000.
• Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours: available while each parent’s adjusted net income stays at or below £100,000.

What £31,000 costs your employer

Your employer pays 15% National Insurance on earnings above £5,000 — £3,900 a year on £31,000 — plus at least 3% auto-enrolment pension (£743). The total cost of employing you is about £35,643, of which you take home 72%. A salary-sacrifice pension also cuts the employer's NI bill.

How £31,000 compares

• UK earnings: the median full-time salary is £39,039 (April 2025, ONS). £31,000 is £8,039 below it.
• Hourly rate: £15.90 on a 37.5-hour week (£14.90 on 40 hours) — 1.25× the National Living Wage of £12.71.
• A £1,000 pay rise to £32,000 adds £720 a year, or £60.00 a month.
• Effective tax rate: 16.6% of your salary goes on income tax and NI, while your top rate on extra earnings is 28%.

Nearby salaries: £30,000 after tax (£2,093.30/month) · £32,000 after tax (£2,213.30/month). Every salary from £15,000 to £200,000 is in the salary after tax table.