Payslips explained: What is a payslip?
Lots of numbers and letters, but what do they mean?
Below we will show you an example payslip (they do all differ slightly) and talk you through each section and what this actually means.
Let’s go from the top to the bottom:
Employer - this will be the legal name of your employer, if it is a weird name that will be because the business has a different trading name to their legal name - this is perfectly normal!
Employee - this will be your name
Department - the area of the company which you work in, if it is small this may be blank or not appear at all.
Tax Code - this is a code which determines how much tax you pay. For most people it will be 1250L representing the £12.5k personal allowance. It could be different for a number of reasons. See HMRC’s guidance here.
NI Number - this is a unique identification number which you receive (usually) just before your 16th birthday. This should be treated with the same level of care as your passport as it is how HMRC identify you.
Tax Reference - similarly, this is another way to identify you. This won’t be something that you receive and is given to you through your payslip.
Pay Period - the month, week etc. that you are being paid for.
Payment Date - when you are being paid the amount on the payslip.
Gross Pay - the amount you are being paid in total for the period. (eg - if you earn £12k/ yr this will be £1,000)
Salary - if you are on an hourly contract this will show your hourly rate and the hours worked, if you are on a salary this will be your monthly gross pay.
Deductions/ Adjustments - this is where amounts you owe are taken from your pay before you receive it.
P.A.Y.E. - “Pay As You Earn” is the amount of tax deducted from your pay at source. For more on tax click here.
N.I. - “National Insurance” is another deduction you will likely pay on earnings. N.I. is explained here.
Pension Net - If you are contributing to a workplace pension this will be your contributions into the pension scheme. This is “net” as these are treated as gaining tax relief (eg - you pay 80% and HMRC pays the other 20%) For more on pensions click here.
Total Pay - this is what you will be paid in total, after these deductions have been paid.
NIable Pay - the amount you have been paid since 6 April which your N.I deductions have been based on.
Taxable Pay - as above, but the amounts your tax deductions have been based on, for most at the end of the tax year this will likely be your annual salary minus your £12.5k personal allowances.
Tax deduct. - how much you have paid in tax since 6 April (start of the tax year.)
Pension Net Pay - your pension contributions so far this tax year.
Employer’s Contributions - how much your employer has paid into your workplace pension for the pay period and also for the tax year to date.
That sums up quite how much information is included in such a small form, and has hopefully helped you to understand what you are reading every month.
If you think there are mistakes on your payslip always speak to your employer.
Have we missed anything? Is there anything on your payslip which we haven’t included that you are confused about? Please let us know and we will get back to you as soon as possible!