About PaySlipCheck

PaySlipCheck is an independent set of free UK tax and salary calculators, built to demystify what actually happens to your gross pay between the offer letter and the bank account.

Published by the PaySlipCheck Editorial team · Last reviewed: May 2026

Why we built it

Every UK payroll department uses the same HMRC rules, but most online calculators are years out of date or hide their assumptions. We wanted a tool that:

  • Updates the day HMRC publishes new figures.
  • Shows its working — every band, every threshold.
  • Works on a phone with one thumb.
  • Doesn't need a sign-up or send your salary to a server.

Who's behind PaySlipCheck

PaySlipCheck is maintained by a small editorial team based in the UK with backgrounds in payroll software, personal finance journalism and accountancy support. We don't publish individual contributor names because tax content needs to be treated as a single, consistent voice — but every calculator and explainer page goes through the same review process before it's published or updated.

Our editorial process

  1. Source from HMRC directly. Every band, threshold, rate and cap on this site is taken from official HMRC and Gov.uk publications — never from secondary sources or other calculators. Each figure is cross-checked against the relevant guidance before it goes live.
  2. Implement transparently. The logic is in plain JavaScript inside tax-engine.js — viewable from any browser. We deliberately keep it readable rather than minified so anyone can audit it.
  3. Test with worked examples. Before publishing a change, we run the calculator against published HMRC examples and against payslips from real (anonymised) UK employees, contractors and pensioners.
  4. Date-stamp every page. Each calculator carries a "Last reviewed" date so you can see when we last confirmed the figures match HMRC.
  5. Update on the budget. We refresh the site after every UK Budget and Spring Statement, and again on 6 April when new tax-year figures take effect.

What we don't do

We're not accountants and we don't give personal financial advice. The calculators are deliberately conservative — they don't assume tax-code adjustments, marriage allowance transfers, share-scheme income, or benefits in kind. For your specific circumstances please speak to a qualified accountant or contact HMRC directly. Where a calculation is genuinely uncertain (umbrella margins, dividend strategy, IR35 case-law nuances) we say so on the page.

Corrections policy

If we get something wrong, we want to know. We treat every correction email as a priority — bug reports get fixed within two working days where possible, and substantive errors trigger a rebuild of any landing pages that referenced the bad figure. The "Last reviewed" date is bumped on every page that's been re-checked.

How the site is funded

We run a few unobtrusive display ads (via Google AdSense) to cover hosting and development time. Ads are clearly labelled. We don't take sponsorship from financial product providers, and we don't write content in exchange for payment. We never sell, share or otherwise hand on any of the figures you enter — they don't even leave your device. See our Privacy Policy for the full breakdown.

Get in touch

Spotted a bug, a stale figure, or a calculator we should add? Drop us a note — every email gets read.