Scotland · 2026/27
£14 an hour is £27,300 a year
On a 37.5-hour week, £14 an hour is £27,300 gross — and £23,215.27 after income tax and National Insurance, which is £1,934.61 a month.
- Take-home a year
- £23,215.27
- £1,934.61 a month · £446.45 a week
- Total deductions
- £4,084.73
- 15.0% of gross pay
- On your next £100
- 28%
- You keep £72 of the next £100
- Cost to employ you
- £30,645
- Includes £3,345 of employer NI absent from your payslip
- The wedge
- 24.2%
- Share of that cost that never reaches you
£14 an hour in context
£14 is £1.29 above the National Living Wage of £12.71, the legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over. On a 37.5-hour week it comes to £27,300 a year, which puts it in the basic rate with a marginal rate of 28%.
At this level the number of hours matters more than the rate. Moving from 37.5 to 40 hours a week is worth £1,820 a year gross — more than a £1-an-hour rise, which would be worth £1,950. And because the personal allowance is a fixed amount rather than a percentage, part-time work keeps a larger share of its gross: 96.3% at 20 hours against 84.2% at 40.
It depends how many hours you work
An hourly rate is not an annual salary until you fix the week. The same £14 an hour is £14,560 at half time and £29,120 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 | £27,300 | £23,215.27 | £1,934.61 | £446.45 |
| 40 hours a 40-hour week | £29,120 | £24,525.67 | £2,043.81 | £471.65 |
| 35 hours a 35-hour week | £25,480 | £21,904.87 | £1,825.41 | £421.25 |
| 20 hours half time | £14,560 | £14,022.70 | £1,168.56 | £269.67 |
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.
£14 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 | £14 | £10.08 |
| A 4-hour shift | £56 | £40.32 |
| An 8-hour day | £112 | £80.64 |
| A 12-hour shift | £168 | £120.96 |
| A 37.5-hour week | £525 | £378 |
| A 5-day week at 8 hours | £560 | £403.20 |
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 £27,300. 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 £23,215.27 75.8%
- Your NI £1,178.40 3.8%
- Income tax £2,906.33 9.5%
- Employer NI £3,345 10.9%
£14 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 | £27,300 | £23,215.27 | — |
| England & Wales | £27,300 | £23,175.60 | −£39.67 |
The arithmetic on £27,300
| Step | Applied to | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | — | — | £27,300 |
| Personal allowance | tax-free | 0% | −£12,570 |
| Taxable income | — | — | £14,730 |
| Starter rate | £3,967 of it | 19% | £753.73 |
| Basic rate | £10,763 of it | 20% | £2,152.60 |
| Income tax | — | — | £2,906.33 |
| National Insurance — main rate | £14,730 of it | 8% | £1,178.40 |
| National Insurance | — | — | £1,178.40 |
| Take-home pay | — | — | £23,215.27 |
Adding the deductions gives £4,084.73, and £27,300 less that is the £23,215.27 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 £27,300 a year is close to
An hourly rate is only a salary once the hours are fixed, so everything below is measured against the £27,300 that £14 an hour comes to on a 37.5-hour week. Work different hours and the thresholds do not move — your position between them does.
£27,300 sits between two things that matter. £400 below you is the Plan 1 repayment threshold, and £2,085 above you is the Plan 2 repayment threshold — so this salary is already past one change and approaching another.
| What changes | At | From here | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 repayment threshold | £26,900 | −£400 | passed |
| Plan 2 repayment threshold | £29,385 | +£2,085 | ahead |
| Intermediate rate | £29,527 | +£2,227 | ahead |
| Plan 5 repayment threshold | £25,000 | −£2,300 | passed |
| Postgraduate Loan repayment threshold | £21,000 | −£6,300 | passed |
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.
- £26,900 — Plan 1 has just started biting: 9% of the £400 above the threshold, which is a small amount now and grows with every rise.
- £29,385 — Plan 2 has not started. A borrower pays nothing until £2,085 more, and then 9% of the excess.
- £29,527 — £2,227 of headroom is roughly one ordinary pay rise. Worth knowing before negotiating one, because the part above this line is worth less in your hand than the part below it.
- £25,000 — Plan 5 takes 9% of the £2,300 above its threshold. It is not a tax, but it leaves the same pay on the same day.
- £21,000 — Postgraduate Loan takes 6% of the £6,300 above its threshold. It is not a tax, but it leaves the same pay on the same day.
If your rate or hours changed
A swing of ten per cent either way from £27,300 crosses a band: at £30,030 the rate on further pay is 29%, against 28% here. So a rise and a cut of the same size are not mirror images at this salary, and a bonus large enough to move you into the next band is worth proportionally less than the salary it is paid on.
| If pay moved | Gross | Take-home | Change | Next £100 taxed at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| −10% | £24,570 | £21,249.67 | −£1,965.60 | 28% |
| −5% | £25,935 | £22,232.47 | −£982.80 | 28% |
| +5% | £28,665 | £24,198.07 | +£982.80 | 28% |
| +10% | £30,030 | £25,175.83 | +£1,960.56 | 29% |
What a pension contribution buys at this rate
There is no threshold within reach below £27,300, so a pension contribution here is not about ducking under anything — it is simply the ordinary trade. Sacrificing £1,500 costs you £1,080 in take-home, because 28% of it was never going to reach you anyway, and puts the full £1,500 into the pot. That is £1,500 of saving for £1,080 of spending power — a ratio of 1.39 to one, and it is the same ratio for every pound until the next band.
Student loans at this rate
3 of the five repayment thresholds are behind £27,300 and 2 are still ahead — 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 £342 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 | £378 | £31.50 | 34% |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | £207 | £17.25 | 37% |
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | £36 | £3 | 37% |
A postgraduate loan is repaid alongside an undergraduate one rather than instead of it, so someone with both pays both.
Questions people actually ask
£14 an hour is how much a year?
£27,300 a year before tax, on a 37.5-hour week for 52 weeks. After income tax and National Insurance that is £23,215.27. On a 40-hour week it is £29,120 gross instead.
£14 an hour is how much a month?
£2,275 a month gross, or £1,934.61 after tax, on a 37.5-hour week.
£14 an hour is how much a week?
£525 gross for a 37.5-hour week — £446.45 after tax. Fortnightly that is £892.90.
Is £14 an hour a good wage?
That is a judgement this site will not make for you, but here is the arithmetic it needs: £27,300 a year gross, £23,215.27 in your hand, an effective tax and NI rate of 15.0%, and 28% taken from anything extra you earn. Your employer pays £30,645 for the role once employer National Insurance is counted.
Is £14 an hour above the minimum wage?
Yes — the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over in 2026/27, so £14 is £1.29 above it, or £2,515.50 a year on a 37.5-hour week.
One PAYE job, standard tax code, 2026/27 rates, employment income only. What this does and does not model →