Maternity & paternity pay calculator — month-by-month take-home

About the leave

Type of leaveAdoption follows the same 90%-then-flat-rate structure as maternity; paternity and shared parental pay are flat-rate only, with no 90% opening weeksLeave startsSets which tax year each week of leave falls into — matters most if it crosses 6 AprilTotal weeks of leavePaid weeks depend on the type of leave and your employer's scheme — unpaid weeks are shown too, not just the paid onesAverage weekly earningsOver the 8 weeks that set statutory pay — usually close to salary ÷ 52, but check if pay recently changedEmployer schemeWhat your contract or staff handbook offers beyond the statutory minimum — pick "Statutory pay only" if you're not sure or your employer doesn't enhance it

About you

Gross salaryAnnual pay before tax — also sets normal weekly pay (÷52)Where you liveSets your income tax bands — Scotland's six-band schedule differs from the rest of the UKPension contributionGross annual amount — capped each month at non-statutory pay if sacrificedHow it's paidAlso saves NI and student loan — the cheapest route, but can't come out of statutory payTaxable benefits in kindP11D value: company car, private medical… 0 if noneStudent loanRepayments follow the same NIC earnings basis as NIPostgraduate loanTax code (optional)Only changes what's withheld each month, never what's actually owed

Which student loan plan am I on?

It depends on where you lived when you took the loan out, and when your course started:

Northern Ireland — always Plan 1, whatever the year.
Scotland — always Plan 4 (loans applied for through SAAS).
England — Plan 1 before Sept 2012, Plan 2 from 2012 to July 2023, Plan 5 from Aug 2023.
Wales — Plan 1 before Sept 2012, Plan 2 after (Wales doesn't use Plan 5).
Postgraduate loan — English or Welsh master's/doctoral loans only; it repays alongside your main plan. Scottish and NI postgrad loans repay through Plan 4 / Plan 1 instead.

Still unsure? Your repayment plan is shown when you sign in to your student loan account on gov.uk.

Your household

Partner with unaffected income

This leave runs into the 2027/28 tax year, which isn't published yet — 2026/27's rates are carried forward as a placeholder. Re-check once they're announced.

The shape of the leave

4 weeks at £808/week (90% of average weekly earnings), then 2 weeks at £727/week (90% of average weekly earnings), then 12 weeks at £598/week (flat statutory rate), then 21 weeks at £194/week (flat statutory rate), then 13 weeks at £0/week (unpaid).

£4,846 of this is repayable if you don't return to work for the required period — check your scheme's rules before counting on it.

Month by month

Month	Take-home (actual)	Take-home (normal)	Shortfall	% of normal
Aug 2026	£2,813	£2,813	-£0	100%
Sep 2026	£2,769	£2,813	£44	98%
Oct 2026	£2,360	£2,813	£453	84%
Nov 2026	£2,139	£2,813	£674	76%
Dec 2026	£2,201	£2,813	£613	78%
Jan 2027	£1,079	£2,813	£1,734	38%
Feb 2027	£831	£2,813	£1,982	30%
Mar 2027	£898	£2,813	£1,915	32%
Apr 2027	£833	£2,813	£1,981	30%
May 2027	£861	£2,813	£1,953	31%
Jun 2027	£0	£2,813	£2,813	0%
Jul 2027	£0	£2,813	£2,813	0%
Aug 2027	£113	£2,813	£2,700	4%
Sep 2027	£3,304	£2,813	-£491	117%
Total	£20,200	£39,386	£19,186	51%

Take-home (normal) is your own annual net pay ÷ 12 — income tax, employee NI and student loan repayments, exactly as elsewhere on this site. Take-home (actual) accounts for PAYE being cumulative (a low month can refund) and NI/student loan being per-period (a low month can't reclaim its unused threshold from a later one) — the two don't cancel out, so this figure is not simply the annual total split evenly. Doesn't include Maternity Allowance if average weekly earnings are below the lower earnings limit.

The rest of TaxCliff

The £100k / £60k tax cliff calculator
A leave year can drop your income enough to clear the childcare cliff or the child benefit charge one year and hit it again the next.
All guides
Plain-English guides to the 60% tax trap, the £100k childcare cliff and more.

2026/27 tax year. Statutory rates verified against gov.uk; your employer's scheme may pay more than the statutory minimum. The monthly figures assume a code that correctly reflects your annual income unless you enter your actual tax code, in which case only what's withheld changes, not what's owed. Income tax reconciles across the year; National Insurance and student loan are per-period and genuinely will not add up to the annual total for an uneven-pay year. If average weekly earnings are below the lower earnings limit, you may qualify for Maternity Allowance instead — not modelled here. This is a modelling tool, not financial advice — check your own position with HMRC, your employer or an adviser.