2026/27 tax year · working patterns

Should one of us go part-time?

Dropping a day costs less than the salary suggests: you pay less tax, and less childcare. Sometimes it costs far less. Fill in the two of you and your childcare, then try a different working pattern.

Step 1

The two of you

Filled in with an example. Replace with your own.

Enter full-time salaries; the calculator scales them to the days you work.

Step 2

Your children

Children you get Child Benefit for

Children in paid childcare (fees for 5 days a week)

Your nursery's hourly rate

Childcare is needed on days you're both at work, and fees are scaled to those days.

Your household now

Step 3

Try a different pattern

Who would change

To how many days a week

What it changes

Household money each month, after childcare

The working

General information, not financial advice. A simplified model for employed income using 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scottish income tax differs). Salaries scale with days worked; childcare fees scale with the days both parents work. Childcare support: England's 30 funded hours for working parents (38 weeks, valued at your nursery's rate; 3 to 4 year olds keep 15 hours whatever you earn) and Tax-Free Childcare (20% up to £2,000 a child). Both need each parent to earn at least 16 hours a week at the minimum wage (about £10,576 a year) and neither over £100,000. Child Benefit: £27.05 a week for the first child, £17.90 for others, charged at 1% per £200 over £60,000 on the higher earner. Student loan thresholds 2026/27: Plan 1 £26,900, Plan 2 £29,385, Plan 4 £33,795, Plan 5 £25,000, Postgraduate £21,000. Speak to a regulated adviser before acting.

The worked example

Should one of us go part-time? What dropping a day really costs

Cutting to three days looks like losing 40% of a salary. Once tax and nursery fees are counted, it's often a fraction of that, and sometimes a family ends up better off.

Read the worked example