Guides

Understand the rules behind your figures. Each guide includes a worked example and a calculator you can try.

• State Pension age: the full timetable by date of birth

  When you can claim State Pension, based on your date of birth.

• How much is the State Pension in 2026/27?

  £241.30 a week at the full rate, what each qualifying year is worth, filling gaps, deferring, claiming and tax.

• The 60% tax trap between £100,000 and £125,140

  Why the personal allowance taper makes each pound in that range cost 60p, and the two ways to step around it.

• Salary sacrifice for pensions

  What it saves in tax and National Insurance, what your employer saves, and when it works against you.

• Tax codes explained

  1257L, K codes, BR, D0, 0T, and the Scottish and Welsh prefixes, with the arithmetic behind each.

• Student loan plans 1, 2, 4, 5 and postgraduate

  The 2026/27 thresholds, the two-plan rule, and why the deduction is rounded down.

• Salary or dividends in 2026/27

  How company and personal taxes affect the money you take as salary or dividends.