Why does this calculator show two tax scenarios?

Until your employer's Starter Checklist is processed, there's no way to know in advance whether HMRC will assign a cumulative 1257L code (full backdated Personal Allowance) or emergency BR (no allowance at all) to your first payslip. This calculator shows both outcomes side by side.

How are bank holidays and short weeks handled?

Every pay period is a Monday-Sunday week. First and last weeks are clipped to the contract's actual start/end dates, and any UK bank holiday (England & Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland) landing on a normal working day is excluded from that week's hours.

When does pension auto-enrolment start on a temp contract?

This calculator defaults to week 13 of the contract, the standard practical implementation of the statutory up-to-3-months postponement for weekly-paid agency workers, calculated on qualifying earnings rather than a flat percentage of gross pay.

Contract Pay Schedule 2026/27

Contract start date:

Contract end date:

Pay rate £/hour:

Tax Year: Informational only — each week's tax is worked out from its actual date.

Hours/week:

Days/week:

Region:

Pension % (from week 13):

Student loan plan:

Postgraduate Loan

No NI (under 16 / State Pension age)

Show accrued holiday pay (12.07% of hours worked)

No tax code to enter — the result always shows both best-case (1257L, cumulative) and worst-case (BR, no allowance) scenarios side by side, since you won't know which one HMRC assigns until your first payslip.
NI, pension and gross pay are identical in both scenarios — only the tax code assigned changes what's deducted.

Contract Pay Schedule

For agency/temp workers on a weekly PAYE assignment. Builds the full week-by-week schedule — gross, NI, pension and take-home for every payment — comparing best-case and worst-case tax code outcomes.

Clear

How this calculator works

Built for agency and temp workers starting a fixed-term weekly PAYE assignment — enter your contract's start date, end date, hourly rate and hours/week, and it builds a full week-by-week pay schedule: gross, National Insurance, pension, and take-home for every single payment, from your first partial week to your last.

Why two tax scenarios?

When you start a new job, HMRC needs to know how much of your Personal Allowance you've already used this tax year before it can tax your first payslip correctly — and until your employer's Starter Checklist is processed, there's no way to know in advance which tax code you'll actually get. Best case (Statement A — this is your first job since 6 April) applies your full backdated allowance under a cumulative 1257L tax code. Worst case (emergency BR) applies no allowance at all, taxing everything at the basic rate from day one. Real HMRC PAYE reconciles the difference eventually via a tax code correction or a P800 — but it can take weeks, so this calculator shows you both outcomes upfront rather than leaving you to guess.

How are short weeks handled?

Every pay period is a Monday-Sunday week, paid the following Friday. Your first and last weeks are automatically clipped to your actual start/end dates, and any UK bank holiday landing on what would otherwise be a working day is excluded from that week's hours — using the real England & Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland calendar depending on where the work is based.

What about pension auto-enrolment?

UK auto-enrolment allows a new employer to postpone enrolling you for up to 3 months — in practice, weekly-paid agency payroll almost always implements this as "from week 13 of employment," which is what this calculator applies by default. Pension is calculated on qualifying earnings (the same DWP-defined band the rest of this site's calculators use), not a flat percentage of gross pay.