Scotland · 2026/27
£12 an hour is £23,400 a year
On a 37.5-hour week, £12 an hour is £23,400 gross — and £20,407.27 after income tax and National Insurance, which is £1,700.61 a month.
- Take-home a year
- £20,407.27
- £1,700.61 a month · £392.45 a week
- Total deductions
- £2,992.73
- 12.8% of gross pay
- On your next £100
- 28%
- You keep £72 of the next £100
- Cost to employ you
- £26,160
- Includes £2,760 of employer NI absent from your payslip
- The wedge
- 22%
- Share of that cost that never reaches you
£12 an hour and the minimum wage
£12 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 £23,400 a year this sits below or near the £12,570 personal allowance and the National Insurance primary threshold, so the effective rate here is 12.8% — 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 £12 an hour is £12,480 at half time and £24,960 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 | £23,400 | £20,407.27 | £1,700.61 | £392.45 |
| 40 hours a 40-hour week | £24,960 | £21,530.47 | £1,794.21 | £414.05 |
| 35 hours a 35-hour week | £21,840 | £19,284.07 | £1,607.01 | £370.85 |
| 20 hours half time | £12,480 | £12,480 | £1,040 | £240 |
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.
£12 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 | £12 | £8.64 |
| A 4-hour shift | £48 | £34.56 |
| An 8-hour day | £96 | £69.12 |
| A 12-hour shift | £144 | £103.68 |
| A 37.5-hour week | £450 | £324 |
| A 5-day week at 8 hours | £480 | £345.60 |
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 £23,400. 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 £20,407.27 78.0%
- Your NI £866.40 3.3%
- Income tax £2,126.33 8.1%
- Employer NI £2,760 10.6%
£12 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 | £23,400 | £20,407.27 | — |
| England & Wales | £23,400 | £20,367.60 | −£39.67 |
The arithmetic on £23,400
| Step | Applied to | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | — | — | £23,400 |
| Personal allowance | tax-free | 0% | −£12,570 |
| Taxable income | — | — | £10,830 |
| Starter rate | £3,967 of it | 19% | £753.73 |
| Basic rate | £6,863 of it | 20% | £1,372.60 |
| Income tax | — | — | £2,126.33 |
| National Insurance — main rate | £10,830 of it | 8% | £866.40 |
| National Insurance | — | — | £866.40 |
| Take-home pay | — | — | £20,407.27 |
Adding the deductions gives £2,992.73, and £23,400 less that is the £20,407.27 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 £23,400 a year is close to
An hourly rate is only a salary once the hours are fixed, so everything below is measured against the £23,400 that £12 an hour comes to on a 37.5-hour week. Work different hours and the thresholds do not move — your position between them does.
£23,400 sits between two things that matter. £2,400 below you is the Postgraduate Loan repayment threshold, and £1,600 above you is the Plan 5 repayment threshold — so this salary is already past one change and approaching another.
| What changes | At | From here | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 5 repayment threshold | £25,000 | +£1,600 | ahead |
| Postgraduate Loan repayment threshold | £21,000 | −£2,400 | passed |
| Plan 1 repayment threshold | £26,900 | +£3,500 | ahead |
| Plan 2 repayment threshold | £29,385 | +£5,985 | ahead |
| Intermediate rate | £29,527 | +£6,127 | 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.
- £25,000 — Plan 5 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £1,600 more, and then 9% of the excess.
- £21,000 — Postgraduate Loan takes 6% of the £2,400 above its threshold. It is not a tax, but it leaves the same pay on the same day.
- £26,900 — Plan 1 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £3,500 more, and then 9% of the excess.
- £29,385 — Plan 2 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £5,985 more, and then 9% of the excess.
- £29,527 — 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.
If your rate or hours changed
A swing of ten per cent either way from £23,400 does not cross a single band: the rate on further pay stays at 28% across the whole range from £21,060 to £25,740. 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% | £21,060 | £18,722.47 | −£1,684.80 | 28% |
| −5% | £22,230 | £19,564.87 | −£842.40 | 28% |
| +5% | £24,570 | £21,249.67 | +£842.40 | 28% |
| +10% | £25,740 | £22,092.07 | +£1,684.80 | 28% |
What a pension contribution buys at this rate
£23,400 is £6,862 above the basic rate, and that is the number a pension contribution is measured against here. Sacrificing exactly £6,862 takes your taxable pay back to £16,538, costs £4,940.64 in take-home, and puts £6,862 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 £23,400 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 | £144 | £12 | 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
£12 an hour is how much a year?
£23,400 a year before tax, on a 37.5-hour week for 52 weeks. After income tax and National Insurance that is £20,407.27. On a 40-hour week it is £24,960 gross instead.
£12 an hour is how much a month?
£1,950 a month gross, or £1,700.61 after tax, on a 37.5-hour week.
£12 an hour is how much a week?
£450 gross for a 37.5-hour week — £392.45 after tax. Fortnightly that is £784.90.
Is £12 an hour a good wage?
That is a judgement this site will not make for you, but here is the arithmetic it needs: £23,400 a year gross, £20,407.27 in your hand, an effective tax and NI rate of 12.8%, and 28% taken from anything extra you earn. Your employer pays £26,160 for the role once employer National Insurance is counted.
Is £12 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 →