Calculator
Day Rate ↔ Salary Calculator
Convert a contractor day rate to a perm-salary equivalent (or back the other way). Adjustable working-days and benefits-uplift assumptions, both visible, neither baked in.
Reviewed 27 April 2026 · 2026/27 rates verifiedEquivalent perm salary
£91,667
£110,000 contractor gross at 20% benefits uplift
Show full breakdown
Sensitivity to working-days assumption
| 200 days£100,000 contractor gross | £83,333 |
|---|---|
| 220 days£110,000 contractor gross | £91,667 |
| 240 days£120,000 contractor gross | £100,000 |
| 250 days£125,000 contractor gross | £104,167 |
Bolded row matches your input. The £91667 answer is for 220 working days.
How this calculator works
The maths is two multiplications. The interesting part is making the assumptions explicit.
Day rate → salary
perm equivalent = (day rate × working days) / (1 + benefits uplift)
A £500/day rate at 220 days = £110,000 contractor gross. To compare like-for-like with a perm role at 20% benefits, divide by 1.20: a £91,667 perm with full benefits is roughly equivalent in total compensation. Above that, the contracting offer wins on pure money. Below that, you should ask for more.
Salary → day rate
equivalent day rate = (perm salary × (1 + benefits uplift)) / working days
A £60k perm at 20% benefits = £72,000 total comp. Spread over 220 working days, that's £327.27/day. This is thematching day rate; contractors usually want a premium on top to compensate for income volatility, so a £60k-perm equivalent in practice is more like £400–£450/day.
Why 220 not 250
220 working days is the realistic UK contractor average. 5 days × 52 weeks = 260 weekdays, minus statutory-equivalent leave (you take it; you just don't get paid for it), minus bank holidays, minus a few sick/admin days. Most online converters use 250 because the maths gets prettier but the answer is wrong. The sensitivity table in the result card shows how dramatically the answer shifts with the assumption, always run the conversion at days you'll actually bill.
Why 20% benefits
A typical UK perm benefits package adds 15–25% to base salary in soft compensation: 5% pension, employer NI on your behalf (15% above £5,000, a meaningful amount on a £60k salary), paid holiday and sick pay (worth ~10% in time-equivalent value), training budget, sometimes private medical and life cover. 20% is mid-range. FAANG-tier 30% exists; small-business 12–15% is also common. Adjust the slider to whatever you're actually getting (or would get).
What this calculator doesn't cover
- The volatility premium. Contracting income is lumpy; perm is steady. Most contractors want £50–£150/day on top of the matching rate to compensate for downtime risk.
- Career value.Some roles have non-monetary value (mentorship, equity in a growing company, name on the CV) that doesn't fit into a benefits-uplift number.
- Tax differences. A £500/day umbrella nets £65,519 (per our umbrella calc); a £91,667 perm nets about £62,510 after PAYE, close but not identical. Run the other calculators for the after-tax picture.
- VAT-Flat-Rate-Scheme uplift.If you're VAT-registered on FRS, you keep a small slice of the VAT charged. Adds maybe 1–2% to retention; not modelled here.
- Public-sector vs private-sector benefits. Public-sector pension is often worth way more than 5% employer contribution suggests; treat the public-sector uplift number as 25%+ if it's a defined-benefit scheme.
Frequently asked questions
- How many working days should I assume?
- 220 days is the realistic default for a UK contractor on a typical engagement: 5-day weeks × 52 weeks = 260, minus ~28 days statutory-equivalent leave (you don't get paid leave but you still need to take it), minus ~8 bank holidays, minus ~5 sick/admin days. That gives ~219 actually-billable days. 250 is the assumption most online converters use silently, it implies you bill every working day, take no holiday, and never get sick. Realistic at the edges, never sustainable.
- What's a fair benefits uplift?
- Industry surveys put the cost of a typical UK perm benefits package at 15–25% of base salary: pension contribution (3–8%), employer NI (15% above £5k), 25–30 days paid leave (worth ~10–12% in time-equivalent value), sick pay, training budget, sometimes private medical (£500–£1,500/year) and life cover. A FAANG-tier package at 30%+ exists; a public-sector or small-business package at 12–15% is also common. 20% is mid-market.
- Why does the answer change so much with working days?
- Because the multiplication is linear and the days number is large. £500/day at 220 days = £110,000 contractor gross. At 250 days that's £125,000, a 13.6% jump, and most people don't bill 250 days. Always run the conversion at the days you actually expect to work.
- Is the day rate worth it after benefits?
- Depends on your priorities. At £500/day × 220 = £110,000 gross with no benefits, the perm equivalent at 20% benefits is £91,667. So yes, pure compensation is higher. But factor in: contractor income is uncertain (gaps between contracts), no sick pay (a 3-week illness costs you ~£8k of day-rate income), no employer pension contribution, and you self-insure for things perms get bundled. The financial picture favours contracting; the stability picture favours perm.
- Should I include VAT in the day rate?
- No, use the VAT-exclusive figure. The agency pays you a day rate plus VAT (if you're VAT-registered). The perm-comparison maths is on the bit that's actually yours, which is net of VAT. If you're on the Flat Rate Scheme, you may keep a small portion of the VAT charged, see the (coming) VAT FRS calculator for that detail.
- What about agencies' margins?
- Agencies typically take 15–25% on top of what the client pays, so a £500/day rate to you might mean £575–£625/day to the client. That doesn't affect your day-rate-to-salary maths (the £500 is what you actually receive). It does affect your negotiating range: knowing the client is paying £625 means you have room to ask for £540 directly if you can cut the agency out for renewals (they often have non-poaching clauses, but those expire).
- Does this work for self-employed sole traders?
- Yes, the gross-to-perm conversion works the same for sole traders. The only difference is downstream: a sole trader pays Class 4 NI (6%/2%) on profit instead of Class 1 on salary, and there's no Ltd / dividend split. For raw day-rate-to-salary equivalence, sole traders use the same uplift logic.
- What's the inverse calculation?
- Switch the direction toggle to "Salary → day rate". A £60k perm at 20% benefits = £72k total comp. Spread over 220 working days, that's £327.27/day. Most contractors find they need ~£100–£150/day above their pure-multiplication-out salary equivalent to feel they're matching the perm overall, once you factor in the loss of stability. Counter-intuitively this means people often switch from perm to contract for £350+/day if they were on £60k, not the £273/day a naive ÷220 would suggest.
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Reviewed: 27 April 2026 · See how we calculate · not financial advice.