Compare salary or bonus sacrifice with paying into your pension yourself, and with taking the money as pay. Includes National Insurance, your employer's match and NI saving, student loans, the Child Benefit charge and the £100,000 trap.
How much better off salary sacrifice leaves you
| Saving | Against taking it as pay | Against paying in yourself |
|---|
Your pay and everything your employer puts in, split three ways
Every figure behind the totals
| Sacrifice | Yourself | As pay |
|---|
These figures are an illustration, not financial advice. They use 2026/27 rates, with thresholds assumed frozen. National Insurance, employer NI and student loans are worked out month by month, with any bonus paid in one month, as most payrolls do; company directors pay NI on the year instead. Income tax is worked out on the year. Other income is taxed as if it were pay; savings interest and dividends have their own rates and allowances, so the tax on them is approximate, but the adjusted net income limits are exact. Student loan repayments on other income over £2,000, collected through self-assessment, aren't included. "Pay in yourself" assumes relief at source or a net pay scheme, with any relief above the basic rate claimed back. Employer NI is 15% above £5,000 a year. The Child Benefit charge runs from £60,000 to £80,000 of adjusted net income, and childcare support stops above £100,000 (your partner has to be under it too). With the April 2029 rules, the first £2,000 sacrificed (from salary first) is free of NI and the rest is treated as pay for NI and student loans; HMRC hasn't published the payroll detail yet. We don't model the tapered annual allowance or carry forward.