About Firefighter Take-Home Pay

Firefighter Take-Home Pay (firetakehome.co.uk) is a free, independent take-home pay calculator for UK firefighters. It turns a gross salary into an itemised breakdown of income tax, National Insurance, pension contributions and student loan repayments, so you can see what actually reaches your bank account.

We built it because most salary calculators are generic: they ignore the pay framework you are actually on. This site models the real structure — the pay scales set by the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services, the allowances, the pension scheme and the working week — rather than treating your salary as an arbitrary number.

It is part of a network of UK take-home pay calculators that also covers NHS staff, doctors, police officers, firefighters, teachers and everyone else.

Last updated: 18 August 2026

Who runs this site

The site is operated by Dabble Solutions Ltd, a UK-registered company (company number 17016788), trading as Take Home Network. It is run by an independent UK-based software developer, not by a union, employer, government body or financial services firm.

We are not financial advisers, accountants or tax agents. We are engineers who think the UK pay and tax system should be legible to the people living under it. Nothing on this site is financial advice, and the figures are estimates — your payslip and your payroll department are always the authority on your actual pay.

The site is free to use, funded by advertising and occasional sponsorship. We do not collect, store or transmit any salary information you enter — the calculator runs entirely in your browser.

What this calculator models

• NJC pay awards normally take effect on 1 July, on a different cycle from NHS and civil service pay.
• The standard week is 42 hours, reflecting the 2-2-4 shift pattern averaged over the rota — not 40. Hourly rates use annual pay ÷ (42 × 52.143).
• Grey Book supplements are modelled explicitly: CPD (which varies by service), FDS at 20%, and Pre-Arranged Overtime at 1.5×.
• CPD is per-service, not national — it ranges from roughly £385 to £1,297 a year depending on your fire and rescue service.
• Retained (RDS) firefighters are modelled separately, including the full and partial cover retainer bands.

The 2026 NJC settlement is subject to the FBU ballot. Until it concludes, the site shows the 1 July 2025 scales with the offer flagged.

Corrections

If a figure looks wrong, please tell us — corrections from people who actually receive these payslips are the most valuable feedback we get, and several have been fixed within a day of being reported. Email contact@firetakehome.co.uk or use the contact page.