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Tax year: 2025/26 & 2026/27 Jurisdiction: UK employment pay Last verified: May 12 2026

Hourly Rate to Annual Salary Converter

Convert hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or annual pay into the other salary figures people actually ask for: annual salary, monthly pay, weekly pay, daily rate and hourly equivalent. It also checks your implied hourly rate against the current UK minimum wage and flags long working weeks.

Convert pay frequency and check the hourly equivalent

Use 52 paid weeks for normal full-year employment, or reduce it for term-time, seasonal or unpaid-week contracts.

£

Enter the amount before tax, National Insurance and pension deductions.

Exclude unpaid breaks if they are not paid working time.

Try 39 for a simple term-time-only comparison.

2026/27 rates apply from 1 April 2026.

Current 21+ rate

£12.71/hr

National Living Wage from 1 April 2026.

Full-time example

1,950 hrs

37.5 paid hours per week over 52 paid weeks.

Pension trigger

£10,000

Annual automatic enrolment earnings trigger for 2026/27.

What this converter is really useful for

Hourly-to-salary maths looks simple, but the answer changes quickly when the job is part-time, term-time, seasonal, paid through an agency, or advertised as a day rate. A job at £15 an hour can be £29,250 a year at 37.5 hours and 52 paid weeks, but only £21,937.50 if it is paid for 39 weeks with the same weekly hours.

That difference matters when you compare job adverts, decide whether a day rate is worth the commute, or check whether a "pro rata" salary is really what you expected. The calculator therefore asks for paid weeks as well as hours. It is a small extra input, but it stops a term-time or seasonal job looking more generous than it really is.

The page is a result-first converter rather than a full payroll calculator. Once you know the gross annual figure, use the Take-Home Pay Calculator for Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan deductions.

Starting figure Annual conversion
Hourly rateRate x hours/week x paid weeks
Day rateRate x days/week x paid weeks
Weekly payWeekly pay x paid weeks
Monthly salaryMonthly pay x 12
Annual salaryAnnual pay divided back into months, weeks, days and hours

How this hourly salary calculator works

Inputs used

  • Gross pay amount and frequency: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or annual.
  • Paid hours per week, working days per week and paid weeks per year.
  • Minimum wage year and age or apprentice band for the legal-rate sense check.
  • Optional 12.07% holiday pay uplift for a rough irregular-hours or part-year worker comparison.

Calculation method

  • First convert the entered pay amount into a base annual figure using the selected pay frequency.
  • Then divide the annual figure into monthly, weekly, daily and hourly equivalents using the hours, days and paid weeks entered.
  • If the holiday uplift option is selected, add 12.07% to the base annual figure and show the uplift separately.
  • Compare the base hourly equivalent, before optional holiday uplift, with the GOV.UK minimum wage rate for the selected year and worker band.
  • Show warnings where the implied hourly rate is below the selected legal rate, where weekly hours exceed 48, or where inputs may be unrealistic.

Assumptions

  • Figures are gross pay before Income Tax, National Insurance, workplace pension, salary sacrifice, student loans or payroll deductions. Use the Take-Home Pay Calculator for net pay.
  • A full-year job is treated as 52 paid weeks. If your contract has unpaid weeks, enter the number of paid weeks actually expected.
  • Minimum wage warnings use the simple hourly equivalent. Official compliance can depend on pay reference periods, deductions, training time, travel time and the exact worker category.
  • The apprentice rate applies only where the GOV.UK apprentice conditions are met. Apprentices aged 19 or over who have completed their first year usually move to the minimum wage for their age.

What this does not cover

  • It does not calculate tax, National Insurance, student loans, workplace pension deductions, salary sacrifice or benefits in kind. For employer-side costs, use the True Cost of an Employee Calculator.
  • It does not decide employment status, whether breaks are working time, whether tips count, or whether a deduction reduces minimum wage pay. Check GOV.UK minimum wage guidance for those rules.
  • It does not calculate NHS Agenda for Change pay bands or medical pay enhancements. Use the NHS Pay Calculator or NHS Medical Pay Calculator for those routes.

Minimum wage checks for 2026/27 and 2025/26

Worker band From Apr 2026 Apr 2025-Mar 2026
21 and over£12.71£12.21
18 to 20£10.85£10.00
Under 18£8.00£7.55
Apprentice rate£8.00£7.55

GOV.UK says minimum wage rates change on 1 April each year. This calculator defaults to the April 2026 rates because they are current at the page verification date. If you are checking an older payslip from 2025/26, switch the year back before relying on the warning.

Paid weeks and holiday pay are the awkward bit

A normal salaried employee is usually paid the same monthly amount even while taking annual leave. In that case, leave the calculator at 52 paid weeks and do not add the 12.07% uplift.

For irregular-hours or part-year workers, holiday entitlement can accrue based on hours worked. The 12.07% uplift is a common way to estimate statutory holiday pay because 5.6 weeks is 12.07% of the remaining 46.4 working weeks. It is useful for comparing offers, but it is not a substitute for your contract, payslip or official holiday entitlement calculation.

If a rate is advertised as "including holiday pay", check whether that means paid leave is genuinely included and itemised correctly. If a rate is advertised as "plus holiday pay", the optional uplift can help you see the rough total value.

Worked examples

£15 an hour, full year

At 37.5 hours a week for 52 paid weeks, gross annual pay is £29,250. Monthly gross pay is £2,437.50.

£15 an hour, 39 paid weeks

The same hourly rate and hours over 39 paid weeks gives £21,937.50 before any optional holiday-pay uplift.

£120 day rate

Five paid days a week over 52 weeks gives £31,200 a year. At 37.5 hours a week, that is £16 per hour.

These examples are deliberately plain because that is how most people compare offers: "What does this rate mean over a normal month?" The important point is not just the headline rate, but whether the weeks and hours behind it match your real contract.

Common mistakes when comparing hourly and annual pay

Counting unpaid breaks as paid hours

If your lunch break is unpaid, do not include it in paid weekly hours. That can overstate both annual pay and hourly equivalent.

Using 52 weeks for term-time work

A school or seasonal contract may have unpaid weeks. Enter the paid weeks you expect, then compare the result with a full-year job.

Treating gross salary as take-home pay

The figures here are before tax. A gross salary that looks comfortable can feel different after PAYE, pension and student loan deductions.

Ignoring shift premiums and overtime

Use your base rate for a clean conversion. If overtime or unsocial-hours pay is regular, calculate a separate scenario and compare.

Working time and pensions

The working-time warning is a prompt, not a full legal test. GOV.UK explains that most workers cannot be forced to work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, unless they have opted out. Some jobs have different rules, so treat the warning as a point to check rather than a final answer.

The pension note is similar. The Pensions Regulator lists the 2026/27 automatic enrolment earnings trigger as £10,000 a year, with qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 annually. Whether you are automatically enrolled also depends on age, worker status and pay period, not only the annual equivalent.

When this is not enough

If you are checking whether a payslip is lawful, you may need to look at deductions, uniforms, travel time, sleep-in shifts, training time, tips, accommodation offset and the pay reference period. Those are minimum wage compliance questions, not just annual salary conversion.

If you are deciding between employment and contracting, compare more than the headline day rate. Contractors often need to cover unpaid leave, sick days, insurance, accounting, equipment and tax risk. The IR35 calculator can help with inside/outside IR35 comparisons where that is relevant.

Hourly salary converter FAQs

How do I convert hourly pay to annual salary?
Multiply your hourly rate by your paid hours per week, then multiply by the number of paid weeks in the year. For example, GBP 15 per hour x 37.5 hours x 52 weeks gives GBP 29,250 a year before tax.
Should I use 52 weeks or fewer paid weeks?
Use 52 if you are paid normally through holidays or have a full-year salary. Use fewer paid weeks if you have unpaid weeks, term-time-only work, seasonal work, or a contract where you are only paid for weeks actually worked.
Does this calculator include tax and National Insurance?
No. It converts gross pay before deductions. Use the Take-Home Pay Calculator after this if you want an estimate of Income Tax, National Insurance, pension deductions and student loan repayments.
Can holiday pay be added as 12.07%?
For some irregular-hours and part-year workers, 12.07% is commonly used to estimate statutory holiday pay on hours worked. It is not a universal rule for every job, so the calculator shows it as an optional uplift rather than adding it automatically.
Does the minimum wage warning prove my employer is breaking the law?
No. It is a useful sense check using the hourly equivalent you entered. Real minimum wage compliance can depend on pay reference periods, deductions, unpaid time, travel time, training time and worker category.

Official sources

Last verified: May 12 2026. Calculations are estimates based on the published rules and assumptions shown on this page.

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