News letter
National Insurance Number (NI number)
Before your first interview it is important to have a clear understanding of how much money you hope to earn because you will no doubt be asked what you expect.
  1. UK Earnings
  2. Taxation

When you work in the UK you will need an NI number

  1. National Insurance Number (NI Number)
  2. N.I. Rebate

VAT (similar to the GST) and getting it back

  1. VAT – Value added tax
  2. Reclaiming VAT

UK earnings

Knowing what your potential earnings are for the UK is not only interesting its a very good idea considering you will probably be asked what you expect in almost every job interview you attend.

Below is a rough guide of the expected earnings for workers seeking common jobs in the UK. Of course, these vary from job to job and company to company. Learn more from friends in the same field and recruitment consultants to get a grip on this important matter.

Common Employment
with 2 years experience

Rate of pay

Social worker

£14 - £25 /hour

Teacher

£110 - £130 /day

Nurse

£14 - £30 /hour

Engineer

£12 - £20 /hour

IT

£12 - £55 /hour

Secretary/Administrator

£5- £13 /hour

Bar worker

£4.85 -£5.50 / hour

Nanny

£250 - £300 /week (live-out)

UK minimum wage is £4.85 for those aged 22 and over. Since October 2004

Tax
Fortunately most countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada have reciprocal tax agreement so you do not need to pay income tax in both countries. While you are a resident in the UK you must pay UK income tax. The amount of tax deducted depends on the amount of income they are being paid.

During your UK employment you will be issued with P45's throughout the year and a P60 form at the end of the tax year. You will need to keep all of these documents to claim a tax refund as they are a record of the tax deducted from your wages.

Read on for a detailed table on the UK income tax rates of the past three financial years.

Tax tables
Below is the current and past income tax rate table for the UK.

Income tax rate table

2006/2007 2005/2006 2004/2005
Taxable income Rate of tax Taxable income Rate of tax Taxable income Rate of tax
0 - £2,150 10% 0 - £2,090 10% 0 - £2,020 10%
£2,151 -£33,300 22% £2,151 -£32,400 22% £2,021 -£31,400 22%
Over £33,300 40% Over £32,400 40% Over £33,300 40%
Sourced: HM Revenue & Customs
For example:

An employee in the UK earning £25,000/year between April 1st 2006 and March 31st 2007 (the UK financial year) would pay a yearly tax bill of - (25,000 - 2,150) x 0.22 + 2,150 x .1 = £5,242 Therefore your net take home pay is £25,000 - £5,242 = £19,758
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