Umbrella take-home pay calculator
The assignment rate is not your gross pay, and that single misunderstanding causes more anger about umbrella companies than anything else they do.
That is £45,358 a year after income tax, National Insurance and anything else coming off your pay.
- Income tax
- £11,432
- National Insurance
- £3,210
- Effective rate
- 24.4%
- Marginal rate
- 42.0%
| Year | Month | Week | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | £60,000.00 | £5,000.00 | £1,153.85 | £30.77 |
| Income tax | £-11,432.00 | £-952.67 | £-219.85 | £-5.86 |
| National Insurance | £-3,210.00 | £-267.50 | £-61.73 | £-1.65 |
| Take-home pay | £45,358.00 | £3,779.83 | £872.27 | £23.26 |
The waterfall, in order
| Step | Amount | What is left |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment rate | £80,000 | £80,000 |
| Less umbrella margin (about £25 a week) | −£1,300 | £78,700 |
| Less employer National Insurance at 15% | −£9,613 | £69,087 |
| Less Apprenticeship Levy at 0.5% | −£394 | £68,693 |
| = Your taxable gross | £68,693 | |
| Less income tax and employee NI | −£18,293 | £50,400 |
Employer National Insurance is the line that shocks people. It is a cost the end client would have paid if you were an employee, and in an umbrella arrangement it comes out of the assignment rate before your gross is worked out. It is not the umbrella keeping it; it goes to HMRC. But it is money you never see, and it is why an £80,000 assignment rate is not an £80,000 salary.
Holiday pay at 12.07% is either rolled into the rate or held back and paid when you take leave. Check which, because rolled-up holiday pay presented as a higher rate is the oldest trick in the sector.
Questions people actually ask
Why does my umbrella payslip show employer National Insurance?
Because in an umbrella arrangement the assignment rate has to cover it. The umbrella is your legal employer, so it owes employer National Insurance, and the rate you negotiated is the budget it comes out of.
What is a reasonable umbrella margin?
Around £20 to £30 a week. Anything much above that, or a percentage-based margin, is worth questioning. The margin is the only part the umbrella actually keeps.
Related
Figures on this page are for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) and were last checked on 29 August 2026. Every rate we use is listed on the sources page.