Return to Office Cost Calculator UK — Equivalent Salary
Return to Office Cost Calculator
What extra office days really cost — in cash, in commuting time, and in the salary that would offset it
Compare your current office-working pattern with a new or proposed one. This calculator shows the extra cash it could cost you each year, the extra commuting time, and — the part most commute calculators skip — the gross salary that would leave you with similar disposable income once tax, National Insurance and any student loan are taken into account. Every cost below is the extra cost of an office day compared with working from home, not the gross cost.
1 · Your pay
£
›
Advanced tax options — pension contribution, student loan
%
2 · Working pattern
days
days
days
days
days
Estimate: working weeks a year = 52 − (annual leave + bank holidays) ÷ working days per week. This spreads leave and bank holidays evenly across your working days, which is right on average but can’t know which specific days you attend the office, so treat the annual figures as approximate. If your leave already includes bank holidays, enter 0 for bank holidays.
3 · Office-day costs (extra cost vs a working-from-home day)
£
£
£
£
£
Costs you save by being in the office — per office day, subtracted from the total
£
£
£
£
£
4 · Commuting time
hrs
mins
Return to office cost
—
—
Additional annual cost
£0
Equivalent gross salary difference
£0
Additional commuting hours / year
0 hrs
Equivalent working days spent commuting
0 days
Equivalent salary
£0
Gross difference: £0
Kept after tax, NI & student loan: —
Extra cash cost per month: £0
This is a modelled equivalence, not a real pay change: the gross salary at which your take-home pay (after tax, NI, student loan and pension) would cover the extra cash cost. It is solved against the real tax bands rather than a flat percentage, so it stays accurate when the raise crosses a band boundary or the £100,000–£125,140 Personal Allowance taper.
Where the extra cost comes from
| Cost | Current pattern / yr | New pattern / yr | Change |
|---|
What if it were a different number of office days?
Office days per week to compare
| Office days / week | Annual office cost | vs current | Commute hours / yr | Equivalent salary |
|---|
"Vs current" and the equivalent salary compare each row with your current pattern. Annual office cost is the total extra cost of that many office days a week compared with working from home.
Illustrative only — not financial, tax or employment advice. Based on 2026/27 PAYE rates for an employee (income tax, Class 1 National Insurance, student loan, Personal Allowance taper and Scottish bands where selected), the same engine as the Take-Home Pay Calculator. Net hourly pay (if you choose to value your time) uses your contracted weekly hours (default 37.5) across 52 weeks, and a standard 7.5-hour working day is used for "equivalent working days". Salary sacrifice and employer-provided parking as a benefit in kind are not modelled. Your employer's own policies, allowances and tax treatment may differ.
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