National Insurance Rates 2026-27 (Class 1 Employee)

How the two rates stack

For 2026-27, the main rate of 8% applies to earnings between the primary threshold of £12,570 a year and the upper earnings limit of £50,270. Above £50,270, the rate drops to 2% and continues at that lower rate on all further earnings.

The thresholds also have weekly and monthly equivalents, because National Insurance is usually calculated per pay period rather than annually: roughly £242 a week or £1,048 a month for the primary threshold. Someone paid unevenly across the year can therefore see their National Insurance move around even when their annual total does not.

The step down from 8% to 2% above £50,270 is deliberate: it caps the marginal rate of National Insurance on high earnings, which is the opposite shape to income tax, where the marginal rate rises as income grows.

Charged on gross, not taxable pay

Income tax is charged on taxable pay, after the Personal Allowance is removed. National Insurance is not - it is charged on gross earnings from the £12,570 threshold upwards, with no allowance-style deduction. That is why the National Insurance line and the income tax line on a payslip rarely match, and why National Insurance can be due on earnings that attract little or no income tax.

Because the base is different, the two deductions also respond differently to pension contributions and other adjustments, depending on whether a contribution is made by salary sacrifice or out of taxed pay.

The same across the UK, including Scotland

National Insurance is not devolved. The 8% and 2% rates and the £12,570 and £50,270 thresholds are set at Westminster and apply identically across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. A Scottish taxpayer pays different income tax but exactly the same National Insurance as someone on the same salary elsewhere in the UK.

This is worth keeping in mind when comparing take-home pay between Scotland and the rest of the UK: any difference comes entirely from income tax, never from National Insurance.

Frozen thresholds

Like the income tax thresholds, the National Insurance primary threshold and upper earnings limit are frozen until April 2028. As wages rise against fixed thresholds, a larger share of pay falls into the 8% band, so National Insurance quietly takes a growing slice - the same fiscal-drag effect that applies to income tax.