Pro rata salary calculator
A job says £30,000 pro rata and you would work three days a week. This tells you what that comes to: a year, a month, a week, and what one day is worth.
This is gross pay, before tax and National Insurance. Your take-home will be lower.
What pro rata actually means
Pro rata is Latin for "in proportion", and on a job advert it means one thing: the salary quoted is the full-time one, and you will be paid the share of it that matches the hours you work.
So "£30,000 pro rata" for a three-day week is not £30,000. Three days out of five is 60%, so it is £18,000. The advert quotes the full-time figure because that is the rate for the job; the pro rata part is the warning that you will not be working full time.
Worked example. £30,000 full time, five days a week is the standard. You work three. 3 ÷ 5 = 60%, and 60% of £30,000 is £18,000 a year, or £1,500 a month. One working day is worth about £115.
Days or hours, whichever your contract uses
The sum is the same either way: your share of full time, applied to the full-time salary. Use whichever your contract is written in.
- By days. Three days against a five-day week is 60%.
- By hours. 22.5 hours against a 37.5-hour week is also 60%. Hours are the better measure if your days are not all the same length.
Watch the full-time figure itself. A "full-time week" is not a fixed thing: 37.5 hours is common, but 35, 40 and 39 all exist, and the pro rata share changes with it. Twenty-two and a half hours is 60% of a 37.5-hour week but only 56% of a 40-hour one, which is nearly £1,200 a year on a £30,000 salary. Use the number in your contract, not the one you assume.
Starting part way through the year
Pro rata also gets used for a partial year: join in October and you are paid for the part of the year you are actually there. Tick the box above and it scales for that too. The two stack, so someone joining in October on three days a week gets 60% of the salary, and then only for the share of the year that is left.
This is gross pay
The figure here is your salary before tax, National Insurance, pension and anything else comes out. Your take-home will be lower.
We have not built a take-home calculator, on purpose. Getting it right needs your tax code, your pension contributions, whether you have a student loan and which plan, and the current bands. A number that looks authoritative and is quietly wrong about your pay is worse than no number, so we would rather give you the honest gross figure and point you at HMRC's own estimator for the rest.
Pro rata holiday is a different sum
Part-time work scales your holiday as well as your pay, but the arithmetic is not the same, because statutory holiday is capped at 28 days. Our holiday entitlement calculator handles that one.
Common questions
What does pro rata mean?
In proportion. On a job advert it means the salary quoted is the full-time rate, and you will be paid the share of it matching the hours you work. £30,000 pro rata for a three-day week is £18,000.
How do I calculate pro rata salary?
Divide your days or hours by the full-time days or hours, then multiply the full-time salary by that share. Three days out of five is 60%, so 60% of £30,000 is £18,000. The calculator above does it, including the monthly figure and what one day is worth.
Is £30,000 pro rata the same as £30,000?
No, and this is the bit that catches people. £30,000 pro rata is what you would get if you worked full time. Working part time, you get the matching share of it. If the job is genuinely full time, then pro rata makes no difference and you get the full £30,000.
Does this show my take-home pay?
No. This is gross pay, before tax, National Insurance and pension. Take-home depends on your tax code, pension, and any student loan, so use HMRC's estimator for that figure.
What if I start part way through the year?
Tick the box above and give the dates. You are paid for the share of the year you are there, and that stacks with the part-time share: three days a week from October gets 60% of the salary, for the part of the year that is left.
Is pro rata holiday worked out the same way?
Similar, but not identical, because statutory holiday is capped at 28 days no matter how many days you work. Use the holiday entitlement calculator for that.