About & Methodology

What this site is for

Teacher Pay Calculator is a free set of tools that help teachers in England understand their pay. Unlike a generic salary calculator, every tool is built around the way teachers are actually paid — national pay ranges, regional weighting, the Teachers' Pension Scheme, and the allowances specific to the profession. All calculations run entirely in your browser; we never see or store the figures you enter.

Where our figures come from

Every rate and threshold on this site is taken from official, primary sources. We do not estimate or interpolate headline figures:

• Pay scales & allowances — the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), published by the Department for Education, together with the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) annual report that sets each year's uplift. See the full pay scales for every region and range.
• Income tax & National Insurance — HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) published rates, bands and thresholds for the current tax year, applied in the take-home pay calculator.
• Teachers' Pension — the Teachers' Pension Scheme contribution tiers and the 28.68% employer contribution rate published by Teachers' Pensions. Try the pension calculator to see your own tier.
• Student loans — the Student Loans Company and HMRC repayment thresholds for Plans 1, 2, 4, 5 and Postgraduate loans, in the student loan calculator.

Unfamiliar with a term? Our pay glossary explains STPCD, TLR, CARE and every other abbreviation you'll meet on a payslip.

How the take-home calculation works

Your net pay is worked out in the same order HMRC and your payroll apply deductions, which is why the sequence matters:

1. Start with your gross salary (pay point + region), plus any TLR or SEN allowance.
2. Deduct your Teachers' Pension contribution first — because it is taken before tax, it reduces your taxable income and gives automatic tax relief.
3. Apply income tax to what remains after your Personal Allowance and pension contribution.
4. Apply National Insurance to your gross pay (NI is not reduced by pension contributions, so it is calculated on a higher base than income tax).
5. Deduct any student loan repayment due above your plan threshold.

Accuracy & updates

We review every figure when the STRB report and the new STPCD are published each summer, and whenever HMRC changes tax or National Insurance rates. The current data reflects the 2026/27 tax year and the 3.5% pay award effective from September 2026. Where academies set their own pay, we flag that the national figures are a benchmark rather than a guarantee.