£40,000 salary with 5 hours overtime in London
On a £40,000 salary in London, 5 hours of overtime at time and a half (£30.77 an hour) pays £154 gross. After Income Tax and National Insurance you keep £110 of it. If you worked 5 extra hours every week for a year, your take-home pay would rise by £5,760.
| Base hourly rate | £20.51 |
| Overtime rate (1.5x) | £30.77 |
| Gross pay for 5 overtime hours | £154 |
| Kept after tax and NI | £110 |
| Take-home with no overtime | £32,320 |
| 5 hours every week for 52 weeks: extra take-home | £5,760 |
How this is worked out
The base hourly rate assumes a 37.5 hour week, so 1,950 hours a year. Overtime is paid at time and a half. Your contract may set a different overtime rate or none at all.
The tax on overtime is the difference between the tax on your salary plus the overtime and the tax on your salary alone, over a full tax year. Overtime is not taxed at a special rate: it is added to your other pay.
Figures use the 2026-27 rates for England: tax code 1257L with the £12,570 Personal Allowance, no other income and no student loan. Income Tax at 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140 and 45% above. The Personal Allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of income over £100,000. Employee Class 1 National Insurance is 8% on pay between £12,570 and £50,270 a year and 2% above.
Sources: Income Tax rates and allowances (GOV.UK), National Insurance: how much you pay (GOV.UK)