Scotland · 2026/27
£11 an hour is £21,450 a year
On a 37.5-hour week, £11 an hour is £21,450 gross — and £19,003.27 after income tax and National Insurance, which is £1,583.61 a month.
- Take-home a year
- £19,003.27
- £1,583.61 a month · £365.45 a week
- Total deductions
- £2,446.73
- 11.4% of gross pay
- On your next £100
- 28%
- You keep £72 of the next £100
- Cost to employ you
- £23,917.50
- Includes £2,467.50 of employer NI absent from your payslip
- The wedge
- 20.5%
- Share of that cost that never reaches you
£11 an hour and the minimum wage
£11 an hour is below the National Living Wage of £12.71, which is the legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over in 2026/27. It is lawful for someone aged 18 to 20, whose minimum is £10.85, or for an apprentice in the first year of an apprenticeship. For anyone 21 or over it is not a lawful rate, and the shortfall is recoverable.
At £21,450 a year this sits below or near the £12,570 personal allowance and the National Insurance primary threshold, so the effective rate here is 11.4% — much of this income is not taxed at all. That is worth knowing before comparing it with a higher rate: the gap in take-home is smaller than the gap in gross.
It depends how many hours you work
An hourly rate is not an annual salary until you fix the week. The same £11 an hour is £11,440 at half time and £22,880 on a 40-hour week — and because income tax is banded, the take-home does not scale in step with the hours.
| Week | Gross a year | Take-home a year | A month | A week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37.5 hours the common UK full-time week | £21,450 | £19,003.27 | £1,583.61 | £365.45 |
| 40 hours a 40-hour week | £22,880 | £20,032.87 | £1,669.41 | £385.25 |
| 35 hours a 35-hour week | £20,020 | £17,973.67 | £1,497.81 | £345.65 |
| 20 hours half time | £11,440 | £11,440 | £953.33 | £220 |
Assumes every week is paid, including holiday. If you are paid only for weeks worked — agency or term-time — multiply by your paid weeks instead of 52.
£11 an hour by shift, day and week
An hourly rate is paid by the shift, not by the year, and the figures below are the ones that turn up on a rota. They are gross: the deduction rate rises with total annual pay, so a single shift is not taxed at a rate of its own.
| Worked | Gross | After tax at this annual rate |
|---|---|---|
| One hour | £11 | £7.92 |
| A 4-hour shift | £44 | £31.68 |
| An 8-hour day | £88 | £63.36 |
| A 12-hour shift | £132 | £95.04 |
| A 37.5-hour week | £412.50 | £297 |
| A 5-day week at 8 hours | £440 | £316.80 |
The right-hand column applies this salary's marginal rate of 28%, which is what an EXTRA shift is worth once you are already earning £21,450. A first shift in a year with no other income would be taxed at nothing at all, because the personal allowance covers it.
Where the money goes
- Take-home £19,003.27 79.5%
- Your NI £710.40 3.0%
- Income tax £1,736.33 7.3%
- Employer NI £2,467.50 10.3%
£11 an hour elsewhere in the UK
Income tax is devolved to Scotland and National Insurance is not, so the same hourly rate leaves a different amount either side of the border.
| Where you live | Gross a year | Take-home | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | £21,450 | £19,003.27 | — |
| England & Wales | £21,450 | £18,963.60 | −£39.67 |
The arithmetic on £21,450
| Step | Applied to | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | — | — | £21,450 |
| Personal allowance | tax-free | 0% | −£12,570 |
| Taxable income | — | — | £8,880 |
| Starter rate | £3,967 of it | 19% | £753.73 |
| Basic rate | £4,913 of it | 20% | £982.60 |
| Income tax | — | — | £1,736.33 |
| National Insurance — main rate | £8,880 of it | 8% | £710.40 |
| National Insurance | — | — | £710.40 |
| Take-home pay | — | — | £19,003.27 |
Adding the deductions gives £2,446.73, and £21,450 less that is the £19,003.27 take-home above. National Insurance is charged per pay period rather than annually, so a month containing a bonus can pay more than this.
What £21,450 a year is close to
An hourly rate is only a salary once the hours are fixed, so everything below is measured against the £21,450 that £11 an hour comes to on a 37.5-hour week. Work different hours and the thresholds do not move — your position between them does.
£21,450 sits between two things that matter. £450 below you is the Postgraduate Loan repayment threshold, and £3,550 above you is the Plan 5 repayment threshold — so this salary is already past one change and approaching another.
| What changes | At | From here | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate Loan repayment threshold | £21,000 | −£450 | passed |
| Plan 5 repayment threshold | £25,000 | +£3,550 | ahead |
| Basic rate | £16,538 | −£4,912 | passed |
| Plan 1 repayment threshold | £26,900 | +£5,450 | ahead |
| Plan 2 repayment threshold | £29,385 | +£7,935 | ahead |
Measured against the 2026/27 parameters for Scotland. Distances are on gross pay before any salary sacrifice, because that is the figure every one of these thresholds is tested against.
- £21,000 — Postgraduate Loan has just started biting: 6% of the £450 above the threshold, which is a small amount now and grows with every rise.
- £25,000 — Plan 5 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £3,550 more, and then 9% of the excess.
- £16,538 — Crossing it does not re-tax what you already earn — only the pounds above it move to the higher rate, which is the single most misunderstood thing about Scottish income tax.
- £26,900 — Plan 1 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £5,450 more, and then 9% of the excess.
- £29,385 — Plan 2 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £7,935 more, and then 9% of the excess.
If your rate or hours changed
A swing of ten per cent either way from £21,450 does not cross a single band: the rate on further pay stays at 28% across the whole range from £19,305 to £23,595. That makes this an unusually predictable place to be paid, and it means the arithmetic below scales — a rise of any size in that range is worth the same proportion in your hand.
| If pay moved | Gross | Take-home | Change | Next £100 taxed at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| −10% | £19,305 | £17,458.87 | −£1,544.40 | 28% |
| −5% | £20,378 | £18,231.43 | −£771.84 | 28% |
| +5% | £22,523 | £19,775.83 | +£772.56 | 28% |
| +10% | £23,595 | £20,547.67 | +£1,544.40 | 28% |
What a pension contribution buys at this rate
£21,450 is £4,912 above the basic rate, and that is the number a pension contribution is measured against here. Sacrificing exactly £4,912 takes your taxable pay back to £16,538, costs £3,536.64 in take-home, and puts £4,912 into your pension — 1.39 pounds saved for every pound of spending power given up. That ratio is the ordinary one for this band, which is itself the useful finding — there is no windfall here, just the normal trade. Employer National Insurance of 15% is saved on the sacrificed amount too, which some employers add to the pot and some keep.
Student loans at this rate
1 of the five repayment thresholds are behind £21,450 and 4 are still ahead — Plan 5 at £25,000, Plan 1 at £26,900, Plan 2 at £29,385, Plan 4 (Scotland) at £33,795. Which plan you are on is not a choice, and the difference between them at this salary is £0 a year, so it is worth knowing which one your payslip is deducting.
| Plan | Starts at | Repaid a year | A month | Your next £100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000 | £27 | £2.25 | 34% |
A postgraduate loan is repaid alongside an undergraduate one rather than instead of it, so someone with both pays both.
Questions people actually ask
£11 an hour is how much a year?
£21,450 a year before tax, on a 37.5-hour week for 52 weeks. After income tax and National Insurance that is £19,003.27. On a 40-hour week it is £22,880 gross instead.
£11 an hour is how much a month?
£1,787.50 a month gross, or £1,583.61 after tax, on a 37.5-hour week.
£11 an hour is how much a week?
£412.50 gross for a 37.5-hour week — £365.45 after tax. Fortnightly that is £730.90.
Is £11 an hour a good wage?
That is a judgement this site will not make for you, but here is the arithmetic it needs: £21,450 a year gross, £19,003.27 in your hand, an effective tax and NI rate of 11.4%, and 28% taken from anything extra you earn. Your employer pays £23,917.50 for the role once employer National Insurance is counted.
Is £11 an hour legal?
Only for someone under 21 or an apprentice in their first year. The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour for 2026/27, and for 18 to 20 year olds it is £10.85. Underpayment can be reclaimed for past years.
One PAYE job, standard tax code, 2026/27 rates, employment income only. What this does and does not model →