Armed forces allowances stacker
Tick the allowances you receive. Daily rates come from the AFPRB 55th Report 2026 (uplifted 3.6% from 1 April 2026) and are converted to annual figures.
Tick at least one allowance to see the annual total.
At a glance
The allowances you've ticked add up to about £0.00 a month on top of base pay — most are taxable, so the take-home figure will be lower.
How reliable is this figure?
This is an estimate, not a payslip preview. It runs on the 2026/27 tax model (Personal Allowance £12,570; employee National Insurance at 8% up to £50,270, then 2%) and the pay dataset named on this page, reviewed 23 September 2026.
Your actual take-home depends on your tax code, contract terms, overtime patterns and any benefits or deductions your employer applies. If a figure here looks surprising, check it against your latest payslip and the HMRC guidance linked under Sources below.
Worked conversions: daily rate × 365 = yearly value
| Longer Separation Allowance, level 8 (£30.08/day) | £10,979.20 a year |
| Submarine pay, higher rate (£38.10/day) | £13,906.50 a year |
| Special Forces (ORs), top rate (£85.57/day) | £31,233.05 a year |
| Nursing retention (£14.73/day) | £5,376.45 a year |
Assumptions and pay data
- Annualised as daily rate × 365; actual paid days depend on qualifying service.
- Each allowance has its own qualifying criteria — the stacker counts each once.
- Allowances are taxable; they sit on top of X-Factor-included basic pay.
- Rates are 2026/27 (from 1 April 2026); see our pay guide for the award context.
Making daily rates mean something
Why annualising changes everything
The MOD quotes allowances per day because they accrue per day of qualifying service. That is administratively tidy and psychologically misleading. Nobody plans a mortgage around £8.77 a day — but Unpleasant Work Allowance at level 3 is £25.96 a day, which is £9,475.40 a year, and that is a number you can plan around.
The worst offender is Longer Separation Allowance. Sixteen levels, from £9.58 to £43.77 a day, with the rate stepping up the longer you are separated. At level 1 it is £3,496.70 a year — noticeable. At level 16 it is £15,976.05 a year — transformational. The daily framing hides a five-fold range that the yearly framing makes obvious.
The stacker does the × 365 arithmetic for every allowance and shows the running total, so a posting’s real value — basic pay plus the allowance stack — is visible for the first time in one place.
Which allowances stack — and which do not
Most allowances are additive: if you meet the qualifying criteria for two of them at once, you receive both. Separation allowances, retention pay and skill-based allowances (submarine, parachute, nursing) sit in different categories precisely so they can combine — a submariner on a long deployment can accrue submarine pay and Longer Separation Allowance simultaneously.
What does not stack is levels within a single allowance. Longer Separation Allowance has sixteen levels, but you receive one level at a time — the one matching your cumulative separated days, from level 1 (up to 280 days) to level 16 (3,161+ days). The same applies to Unpleasant Work Allowance’s three levels (£3.62, £8.77 and £25.96 a day): the rate reflects the grading of the duty, not a bundle you collect in full.
And nothing stacks with the X-Factor, because the X-Factor is not an allowance — it is the 14.5% already inside your basic pay. Treat it as part of salary, never as an add-on.
The allowances worth knowing by name
Longer Separation Allowance (£9.58–£43.77/day) is the big one for most people: sixteen levels rewarding cumulative separation, with level 8 (£30.08/day, £10,979.20/year) as a realistic mid-career figure. Unpleasant Living Allowance (£4.74/day, £1,730.10/year) and Unpleasant Work Allowance (up to £25.96/day) cover the conditions; Afloat Allowance (£2.85–£12.13/day) covers time at sea.
The skill-based retention payments are where the large numbers live. Submarine pay runs £17.33–£38.10 a day (£13,906.50 a year at the top). Parachute pay is £7.40 a day. Special Forces retention for other ranks runs £26.96–£85.57 a day — over £31,000 a year at the top end. Northern Ireland Resident’s Supplement is £10.41 a day; Recruitment and Retention Allowance for London is £5.50 a day.
New from 1 April 2026: nursing carries a £50,000 Golden Hello alongside £14.73 a day retention pay — the clearest signal in the whole report of where the services are struggling to recruit.
Allowances and tax: the fine print
Allowances are taxable employment income. They are added to your basic pay and taxed through the normal 2026/27 bands — which means a strong allowance stack can push you into the 40% band even when your basic pay sits below £50,271. A Sergeant on £48,000 basic with £11,000 of LSA is a higher-rate taxpayer on the combined £59,000.
The stacker shows gross yearly values; the interactive take-home calculator applies tax to the combined total so you can see the net effect. Remember that tax thresholds are frozen until April 2031, so as allowance rates rise with each year’s award, fiscal drag quietly takes a larger share.
About the allowances stacker
What the stacker covers
Every allowance listed above at its 2026/27 daily rate from the AFPRB 55th Report, annualised at × 365 and totalled for the allowances you select. Rates apply from 1 April 2026 and include the 3.6% uplift.
The stacker counts each allowance once and applies one level at a time within graded allowances such as LSA. It does not model partial-year qualifying periods — if you qualify for only part of the year, pro-rate the yearly figure. For the tax effect of your total, use the interactive take-home calculator.
Military allowances FAQs
How do I convert a daily allowance to a yearly figure?
Multiply by 365. Longer Separation Allowance at level 8 (£30.08/day) is £10,979.20 a year; submarine pay at the higher rate (£38.10/day) is £13,906.50 a year. The stacker does this automatically — but remember it assumes a full year of qualifying days. Pro-rate if your qualifying period is shorter.
What is Longer Separation Allowance worth?
It depends on your level: sixteen levels from £9.58 to £43.77 a day (£3,496.70 to £15,976.05 a year). Level 8 (£30.08/day, £10,979.20/year) is the verified anchor and a realistic mid-career figure. Your level reflects cumulative days separated, from level 1 (up to 280 days) to level 16 (3,161+ days).
Can I receive two allowances at the same time?
Usually yes, if you meet both sets of qualifying criteria — allowances in different categories are designed to combine, so a submariner on deployment can accrue submarine pay and Longer Separation Allowance together. What you cannot do is collect multiple levels of the same allowance: you receive one LSA level at a time.
Are military allowances taxed?
Yes. Allowances are taxable employment income, added to basic pay and taxed through the normal bands. A strong allowance stack can push you into the 40% band even if your basic pay is below £50,271 — the interactive calculator models the combined total.
What is the £50,000 nursing Golden Hello?
From 1 April 2026, armed forces nursing carries a £50,000 Golden Hello for new entrants, alongside daily retention pay of £14.73 (£5,376.45 a year). It is the largest single recruitment incentive in the 2026 settlement and reflects severe nursing shortfalls.
How much is submarine pay per year?
Submarine pay runs £17.33–£38.10 a day in 2026/27. At the higher rate that is £13,906.50 a year — on top of basic pay, and taxable. It is one of the largest skill-based allowances in the system.
Do allowance rates rise with the annual pay award?
Yes. Daily allowance rates were uplifted by the same 3.6% as basic pay from 1 April 2026. They have tracked the headline award in recent years, so the 6% (2024) and 4.5% (2025) awards lifted allowances too.
Why do rival sites not show allowance totals?
Because it is fiddly work: daily rates, sixteen LSA levels, qualifying criteria and annualisation. Most calculators skip it entirely, which understates real military earnings by thousands. Annualising the stack is this site’s whole reason for existing.
Allowance and pay-rise alerts
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Sources
- Armed Forces Pay Review Body, 55th Report (2026). Daily allowance rates (LSA, UWA, ULA, Afloat, RRA, RRP) uplifted 3.6% for 2026/27; accessed 23 September 2026.
- HMRC: 2026/27 income tax bands. Tax treatment of allowances as employment income; accessed 23 September 2026.
These are estimates for guidance only, not financial advice. Figures are taken from the sources listed above and were correct when this page was reviewed. Your actual pay depends on your contract, hours and tax code — check your payslip and HMRC guidance if anything looks off.