Rates and thresholds for employers 2025 to 2026
Source: gov.uk (2025-12-01)

Use these rates and thresholds when you operate your payroll or provide expenses and benefits to your employees.

Unless otherwise stated, the following figures apply from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.

PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance contributions

You normally operate PAYE as part of your payroll (https://www.gov.uk/paye-for-employers) so HMRC can collect Income Tax and National Insurance from your employees.

Your payroll software will work out how much tax and National Insurance to deduct from your employees’ pay. If you decide to run payroll yourself, you need to find payroll software (https://www.gov.uk/payroll-software) to do this.

Tax thresholds, rates and codes

The amount of Income Tax you deduct from your employees depends on their tax code (https://www.gov.uk/employee-tax-codes) and how much of their taxable income is above their Personal Allowance (https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates/current-rates-and-allowances).

England and Northern Ireland

The standard employee personal allowance for the 2025 to 2026 tax year is:
- £242 per week
- £1,048 per month
- £12,570 per year
Scotland

The standard employee personal allowance for the 2025 to 2026 tax year is:
- £242 per week
- £1,048 per month
- £12,570 per year
Wales

The standard employee personal allowance for the 2025 to 2026 tax year is:
- £242 per week
- £1,048 per month
- £12,570 per year
Emergency tax codes

The emergency tax codes from 6 April 2025 are:
- 1257L W1
- 1257L M1
- 1257L X
Find out more about emergency tax codes (https://www.gov.uk/tax-codes/emergency-tax-codes).

Class 1 National Insurance thresholds

Class 1 National Insurance rates

Employee (primary) contribution rates

Deduct primary contributions (employee’s National Insurance) from your employees’ pay through PAYE.

Employer (secondary) contribution rates

You pay secondary contributions (employer’s National Insurance) to HMRC as part of your PAYE bill.

Find out more about running payroll and paying HMRC (https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/paying-hmrc) and how to Pay employers’ PAYE tax and National Insurance (https://www.gov.uk/pay-paye-tax).

Director’s contribution rates

The rates also apply to directors. You can read more information about:
- the methods used for working out National Insurance contributions for company directors (https://www.gov.uk/employee-directors)
- the rules for paying National Insurance contributions for company directors (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ca44-national-insurance-for-company-directors)
Class 1A National Insurance: expenses and benefits

You must pay Class 1A National Insurance on work benefits you give to your employees, for example a company mobile phone. You report and pay Class 1A on expenses and benefits at the end of each tax year.

The National Insurance Class 1A rate on expenses and benefits for 2025 to 2026 is 15%.

Find out more about expenses and benefits for employers (https://www.gov.uk/employer-reporting-expenses-benefits).

Class 1A National Insurance: termination awards and sporting testimonial payments

Class 1A National Insurance contributions are due on the amount of termination awards (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-and-national-insurance-contributions-treatment-of-termination-payments) paid to employees which are over £30,000 and on the amount of sporting testimonial payments (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sporting-testimonials-income-tax-and-national-insurance-payments) paid by independent committees which are over £100,000. You report and pay Class 1A on these types of payments during the tax year as part of your payroll.

The National Insurance Class 1A rate on termination awards and sporting testimonial payments for 2025 to 2026 is 15%.

Pay employers’ Class 1A National Insurance (https://www.gov.uk/pay-class-1a-national-insurance).

Class 1B National Insurance: PAYE Settlement Agreements (PSAs)

You pay Class 1B National Insurance if you have a PAYE Settlement Agreement (https://www.gov.uk/paye-settlement-agreements/overview). This allows you to make one annual payment to cover all the tax and National Insurance due on small or irregular taxable expenses or benefits for your employees.

The National Insurance Class 1B rate for 2025 to 2026 is 15%.

Pay Class 1B National Insurance (https://www.gov.uk/pay-psa).

National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers are entitled to by law. Find out more about who can get the minimum wage (https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/who-gets-the-minimum-wage).

Use the National Minimum Wage calculator (https://www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-calculator-employers) to check if you’re paying a worker the National Minimum Wage or if you owe them payments from past years.

These rates apply from 1 April 2025.

Check National Minimum Wage rates for previous years (https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates).

Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental, Parental Bereavement and Neonatal Care Pay

Use the maternity, adoption and paternity calculator for employers (https://www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator) to work out your employee’s:
- Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
- paternity or adoption pay
- qualifying week
- average weekly earnings
- leave period
These rates apply from 6 April 2025.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

The same weekly Statutory Sick Pay rate applies to all employees. However, the amount you must actually pay an employee for each day they’re off work due to illness (the daily rate) depends on the number of ‘qualifying days’ they work each week.

Use the Statutory Sick Pay calculator (https://www.gov.uk/calculate-statutory-sick-pay) to work out your employee’s sick pay, or read how to work out your employee’s Statutory Sick Pay manually (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/statutory-sick-pay-manually-calculate-your-employees-payments) using these rates.

7 qualifying days in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 7 qualifying days in a week.

6 qualifying days in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 6 qualifying days in a week.

5 qualifying days in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 5 qualifying days in a week.

4 qualifying days in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 4 qualifying days in a week.

3 qualifying days in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 3 qualifying days in a week.

2 qualifying days in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 2 qualifying days in a week.

1 qualifying day in a week

Use these rates to work out how much Statutory Sick Pay you need to pay an employee who works 1 qualifying day in a week.

Student loan and postgraduate loan recovery

If your employees’ earnings are above the earnings threshold, record their student loan and postgraduate loan deductions (https://www.gov.uk/new-employee/student-loans) in your payroll software. It will automatically calculate and deduct repayments from their pay.

Company cars: advisory fuel rates

Use advisory fuel rates to work out mileage costs if you provide company cars to your employees.

These rates apply from 1 December 2025.

Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for this purpose.

Check advisory fuel rates for previous periods (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/advisory-fuel-rates).

Advisory electricity rate for fully electric cars from 1 December 2025

Electricity is not a fuel for car fuel benefit purposes.

Employee vehicles: mileage allowance payments

Mileage allowance payments are what you pay your employees for using their own vehicle for business journeys.

You can pay your employees an approved amount of mileage allowance payments each year without having to report them to HMRC. To work out the approved amount, multiply your employee’s business travel miles for the year by the rate per mile for their vehicle.

Find out more about reporting and paying mileage allowance payments (https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-business-travel-mileage/rules-for-tax).

Employment Allowance

Employment Allowance allows eligible employers (https://www.gov.uk/claim-employment-allowance/eligibility) to reduce their annual National Insurance liability by up to the annual allowance amount.

Apprenticeship Levy

Employers and connected companies with a total annual pay bill of more than £3 million, are liable to the Apprenticeship Levy (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-apprenticeship-levy), which is payable monthly. Employers who are not connected to another company or charity will have an annual allowance that reduces the amount of Apprenticeship Levy you have to pay. Apprenticeship Levy is charged at a percentage of your annual pay bill.