Part-time planning journey

Reducing your hours affects gross pay, any enhancements, how much leave you can take and what you take home. Work through the four steps below in order for your role.

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What this journey covers

Each step uses a separate calculator. Together they give an illustrated picture of part-time working: pay on your hours, common allowances, leave entitlement at your contracted time, then net pay after deductions.

Figures are illustrative. Your employer, contract and payroll rules always take precedence.

Who should use this journey

Use it when you are weighing a move to reduced hours, a four-day week, job share or term-time-only pattern and want a consistent picture across pay, allowances, leave and take-home — without retyping band and FTE on every calculator.

It is especially useful for NHS band roles with HCAS or unsocial hours, classroom teachers with TLR, and council or Civil Service staff where London weighting or local supplements matter. If you only need a quick FTE comparison, start at Step 1 and skip to Step 4.

For a single role calculator instead of the four-step path, open your role from search and use the Work patterns hub.

How the four steps connect

Step 1 — Work patterns: Set your band, years in band and target FTE (for example 0.8 for a four-day week). You see gross basic pay on reduced hours.

Step 2 — Allowances: Add enhancements that apply to you — HCAS or London weighting for NHS roles, TLR for teachers, local supplements for councils. Skip this step if allowances are a small part of your pay.

Step 3 — Annual leave: See pro-rated days and hours at your contracted time. Teachers and term-time-only staff may need local formulas; use your role calculator and our part-time FTE guide.

Step 4 — Take-home pay: Estimate net pay after tax, National Insurance and pension on the gross picture from earlier steps. Open Advanced deductions if you need student loan or tax code options.

Example: an NHS Staff Nurse on Band 5 at 0.8 FTE might compare Step 1 gross, add HCAS in Step 2, check leave in Step 3, then view monthly net in Step 4 — without retyping band or FTE thanks to saved browser details.

Saved details between steps

After you run a calculator, choose Continue planning on the results page (or use the step links below). We save your band, years in band and FTE or contracted hours in this browser for that role only.

When you open the next step for the same role, those fields are filled in automatically. Nothing is sent to our servers. Clear saved details any time from the notice on the calculator page.

Before you start

  • Know your band or pay range and roughly how many years you have been on it.
  • Decide your target FTE (for example 0.8 for four days) or weekly contracted hours.
  • On Step 2, only add allowances that actually apply to you (HCAS, TLR, London weighting, unsocial hours, and so on).
  • On Step 4, open Advanced deductions if you need student loan, tax code or salary sacrifice.

In-depth guides

Longer articles on FTE, allowances and leave before you run the calculators.

Work patterns Part-time FTE, pay and leave 8 min read Allowances HCAS, TLR and sector allowances On this site

Browse all guides

Choose your role

Follow Steps 1 to 4 in order for one of these examples, or find your own role with search.

Your role not listed?

Use search in the header to open your role, then start at Work patterns and use Continue planning on each results page to move through the same four steps.

Common questions

Do I have to complete all four steps?

Step 1 (work patterns) is the core part-time pay estimate. Steps 2 to 4 add allowances, pro-rated leave and take-home pay. For a quick comparison, Step 1 and Step 4 are often enough; Step 2 matters if HCAS, TLR or London weighting is a large part of your pay.

Why are my details saved between steps?

So you do not re-enter band, years in band and FTE on each calculator. Saved details stay in this browser only for the role you selected. Open a different role or clear the notice on a calculator page to reset.

Is annual leave always pro-rated by FTE?

Most UK public sector employers pro-rate statutory and contractual leave by contracted weekly hours. Teachers and term-time-only staff can use different formulas. Use Step 3 for your role and read our part-time FTE guide for sector nuance.

Can I compare full-time and part-time take-home pay?

Run Step 1 at 1.0 FTE, note gross pay, then run again at your target FTE. Step 4 shows net pay after tax, NI and pension. For a like-for-like check, keep band, years and allowances the same and only change FTE.