Gross Salary
Your salary after employer-side deductions (employer NI, apprenticeship levy, umbrella margin) but before income tax and employee NI.
Gross salary is the figure your umbrella company sets as your employment income after deducting all employer-side costs from the assignment rate. It is the base from which income tax and employee NI are calculated.
The deductions between assignment rate and gross salary are: employer NI (15% above £5,000/year), apprenticeship levy (0.5%), and the umbrella margin (typically £15–£40/week). Holiday pay is then added to gross salary at 12.07%.
On a £500/day rate (£120,000 annual assignment, 48 weeks), gross salary is approximately £100,950 before holiday pay — around 84% of the assignment rate.
Gross salary is what appears on your employment contract and is reported to HMRC for income tax and NI purposes.