Class 1 night-shift premium calculator
| Night rate per hour | £20.83 |
| Base pay (night hours) | £40,622 |
| Premium on top | £8,124 |
At a glance
Your night premium adds about £156.24 a week on top of base pay — £8,124 a year before tax.
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 example: Aldi night rate, about £48,506 a year on a 40-hour contract (2026/27, England)
| Gross annual salary | £48,506.00 |
| Auto-enrolment pension (5%) | −£2,113.30 |
| Income tax (20% band) | −£6,764.54 |
| Employee National Insurance | −£2,705.82 |
| Annual take-home pay | £36,922.34 |
| Monthly take-home pay | £3,076.86 |
Assumptions and pay data
- Base hourly rate and night hours as you enter them; premium applied as a percentage uplift
- England income tax bands for 2026/27 (6 April 2026 – 5 April 2027)
- Auto-enrolment pension at 5% of qualifying earnings, salary-sacrifice treatment
- No student loan repayments and no other deductions
- Full 2026/27 tax model explained in the 2026/27 tax guide
Night trunking economics
Why nights pay 15–25% more
The premium is not generosity; it is the market price of unsocial hours. Hauliers need freight moved overnight — depots run 24 hours, roads are clear, and delivery slots at the other end are fixed. But most drivers would rather sleep in their own beds, so operators bid the rate up until enough drivers say yes. In 2026 that clearing price is 15 to 25% above the day rate.
The premium applies across the pay structure. Agency Class 1 nights and weekends run £19 to £26 an hour against £16 to £20 for days. In salaried work it is baked into night-trunking roles at £45,000 to £55,000-plus, a full band above standard Class 1 days. Wherever you see the money concentrate in HGV work, unsocial hours are the reason.
One caution: the premium is only worth what you keep. Night pay is taxed as ordinary earnings at your marginal rate — there is no special night-shift tax break. The calculator applies normal 2026/27 tax so the monthly figure is honest.
The days, lates, nights ladder
A live 2026 advert pattern from the South East shows exactly how employers structure shift pay: days £19.24, lates £22.13, nights £24.05. Lates sit 15% above days; nights sit 25% above days and nearly 9% above lates. It is a clean illustration of the 15–25% premium band in the wild.
Run the nights figure across a working week and the premium compounds. At £24.05 an hour over a 45-hour week, gross pay is £1,082.25 a week — £56,277 annualised. The same 45 hours at the £19.24 day rate is £865.80 a week, or £45,021 annualised. The shift choice alone is worth £11,256 of gross pay a year.
When an agency quotes you a single rate, ask which shift it applies to. Drivers routinely discover that the attractive headline rate was the nights figure and the days they actually wanted pay two pounds an hour less. Get the full ladder — days, lates, nights — before you commit.
Salaried night work: the Aldi anchor
Aldi's night rate is the best-known salaried anchor in the market: the 10pm to 4am window works out at about £48,506 a year on a 40-hour contract. On the 2026/27 tax model with auto-enrolment pension, that becomes £36,922.34 of take-home — £3,076.86 a month, as the worked example above shows line by line.
Set that against a £44,000 days-based Class 1 salary: £33,840.24 take-home, £2,820.02 a month. The night premium is worth £3,082.10 a year in the bank — £256.84 a month — for the same 40 contracted hours, just worked while everyone else sleeps.
Aldi is a named anchor, not an average: most salaried night-trunking roles sit in the £45,000 to £55,000-plus band. But it is a useful reality check. If a night-trunking offer comes in below £45,000, you are being paid day rates for night work — negotiate or walk.
Agency nights and weekend premiums
Agency night and weekend work is the most flexible route to premium pay: £19 to £26 an hour for Class 1, against £16 to £20 for days. A driver doing four 12-hour night shifts a week at £24 an hour grosses £1,152 a week — though few sustain that pattern long-term, and agency work carries no paid holidays, no sick pay beyond the statutory minimum and usually no pension.
Weekends stack the premium further. Friday and Saturday nights are the hardest shifts to fill, which is why the top of the £19–£26 band clusters there. Drivers who will work every weekend night can name their price with some agencies — in a market still short of 50,000-plus drivers, the leverage is real.
The honest comparison is against a salaried night role, not against day rates. £24 an hour sounds enormous next to £19.24 days — but the salaried night trunker at £48,506 gets paid holidays, sick pay and a pension. Run both through the calculators before deciding the agency premium is pure profit.
About this calculator
How the premium is applied
Enter your base hourly rate (the day rate), the number of night hours you work per week, and the premium percentage. The calculator uplifts the night hours by the premium, annualises the result over 52 weeks, then applies 2026/27 England income tax, employee National Insurance and auto-enrolment pension at 5% of qualifying earnings.
The defaults — £17.36 an hour and 45 night hours — reflect a typical Class 1 night-trunking pattern. Adjust them to your actual offer: the monthly take-home figure updates to show what that specific shift pattern leaves in the bank.
Tax on night pay
Night-shift premiums are taxed as ordinary earnings. There is no special allowance or lower rate for unsocial hours — the premium is added to your gross pay and taxed at your marginal rate (20% up to £50,270, 40% above). National Insurance and pension apply normally too. The calculator handles all of this; the monthly figure is what actually arrives.
Class 1 night-shift pay FAQs
What counts as night work for HGV drivers?
It depends on the employer — there is no single legal definition for pay purposes. Aldi defines its night window as 10pm to 4am; other operators use 6pm to 6am or similar. What matters is what your contract or agency agreement says attracts the premium.
Always get the night window in writing before you start. 'Nights' on the advert and nights on the payslip are occasionally different things.
How much extra do Class 1 drivers get for night shifts?
Typically 15 to 25% over the base rate. Agency Class 1 nights and weekends pay £19 to £26 an hour against £16 to £20 for days. The South East advert pattern — days £19.24, lates £22.13, nights £24.05 — shows nights 25% above days.
In salaried work the premium is folded into night-trunking roles at £45,000 to £55,000-plus. If a 'night' role is advertised near day-rate money, the premium is missing — query it.
Is night-shift pay taxed differently?
No. Night premiums are ordinary taxable earnings, taxed at your marginal rate: 20% up to £50,270, 40% from £50,271 to £125,140 in 2026/27. National Insurance (8% then 2%) and auto-enrolment pension apply as normal.
There is a persistent myth that unsocial-hours pay gets special treatment. It does not — the calculator applies standard tax to the uplifted figure.
What is trunking?
Trunking is depot-to-depot driving: full trailer from one distribution centre to another, usually overnight, with no customer drops and no handballing freight. It is the backbone of Class 1 work and the best-paid standard pattern because it runs through the night.
Trunk drivers typically do the same route repeatedly, which some drivers find monotonous and others find ideal — you learn every roundabout and fuel stop within a month.
Is the Aldi night rate typical?
It is a top-end anchor rather than the average. At about £48,506 on a 40-hour contract for the 10pm–4am window, it sits in the upper half of the £45,000 to £55,000-plus night-trunking band. Most salaried night roles cluster lower in that band; agency nights at £19–£26 an hour can match or beat it on gross, without the benefits.
Use it as a benchmark: any permanent nights offer should be judged against £45,000-plus, not against day-rate salaries.
Do tramper drivers earn more than night trunkers?
Usually, yes — tramping is night trunking plus living in the cab all week, and the market pays for the extra sacrifice. Culina advertised £57,722 for tramper drivers at Barnsley plus a £1,200 safe-driver bonus: £42,759.29 take-home (£3,563.27 a month), against £36,922.34 for the Aldi night rate.
The gap in the bank is about £5,837 a year. Whether that buys your willingness to live in a cab Monday to Friday is a personal call — the tramper calculator works through the full picture including £30-a-night out allowances.
Can I mix day and night shifts in the calculator?
Enter a night-shift pattern: base rate, night hours and premium percentage. If you work a genuine mix, the simplest honest approach is to calculate the night portion here and the day portion on the Class 1 take-home calculator, then add the two monthly figures.
For mixed agency weeks, many drivers just use a blended hourly rate — total weekly gross divided by total hours — on the take-home calculator instead.
Does night work affect my pension or holiday entitlement?
As an employee, no: night workers get the same auto-enrolment pension, the same paid annual leave and the same sick pay rights as day workers. Night work does carry specific health-and-safety rules on average weekly hours, but your pay-related entitlements are identical.
As an agency driver, the position is the same as for days — which is to say, minimal: usually no pension, unpaid time off and statutory-minimum sick pay, regardless of shift.
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Sources
- Aspion — HGV driver salary guide 2026. Night premiums 15–25% over base; agency Class 1 nights/weekends £19–£26/hr vs days £16–£20/hr; night trunk and specialist £45,000–£55,000-plus. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- 2026 employer advertised rates. Aldi night rate (10pm–4am) approx £48,506/yr on a 40-hour contract; live South East advert pattern: days £19.24, lates £22.13, nights £24.05. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- GOV.UK — Income Tax rates and allowances 2026/27. Personal Allowance £12,570; 20% to £50,270, 40% to £125,140, 45% above; bands frozen to 5 April 2031. 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.