Class 1 overtime pay calculator
| Overtime rate | £24.75 |
| Overtime per week | £198.00 |
| Overtime per year | £10,296 |
| Before tax and National Insurance. | |
At a glance
At £24.75 an hour, your overtime is worth about £198.00 a week — £10,296 a year before tax and National Insurance.
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.
Assumptions and pay data
- Overtime paid at 1.5× the base rate for hours above 45 per week (market norm is 45–48)
- 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
Overtime: where Class 1 pay is really made
The 55-hour week is normal
Start with the RHA's numbers, because they reset expectations. Class C+E drivers average 55 hours a week — not 40, not 48, but 55 — at an average rate of £15.48 an hour, grossing £883 a week. Annualised, that is £45,916 a year. The 'average' Class 1 driver is already working what most professions would call serious overtime, every week, as standard.
This matters when you compare offers. A £44,000 salary for a 55-hour week is £15.38 an hour; the same salary for a 40-hour week is £21.15 an hour. Employers advertising the salary without the hours are selling you the same money for very different lives. Always convert to the hourly figure and count the hours.
It also matters for the calculator below. If your contract says 45 hours standard plus overtime, a 55-hour week means 10 hours at 1.5× — a meaningful uplift. If your contract simply says 55 hours at a flat rate, there is no uplift at all, and the headline salary is doing more work than it should.
How overtime rates actually work
The market norm is 1.5 times the base rate for hours above 45 to 48 a week. It is a norm, not a law — individual employers set their own thresholds and multipliers, and some pay flat rates for all hours. Check your contract or offer letter for the exact trigger point before you model anything.
At 1.5×, overtime hours are worth half as much again as standard hours, which changes the value of long weeks dramatically. Ten overtime hours at a £16.50 base rate pay £247.50 — the same as fifteen standard hours. Drivers who understand this negotiate differently: a lower base rate with a low overtime threshold can beat a higher base rate with no overtime at all.
Agency work handles overtime differently. There is usually no formal overtime structure; instead, nights and weekends command higher rates (£19 to £26 an hour for Class 1) that act as the premium. If you are comparing an agency role with a salaried overtime role, compare weekly gross for the same hours, not the rate structures.
What a 60-hour week really pays
Here is the arithmetic, step by step, at a £16.50 base rate with overtime at 1.5× after 45 hours. Standard pay: 45 hours × £16.50 = £742.50. Overtime: 15 hours × £24.75 = £371.25. Weekly gross: £1,113.75. Annualised over 52 weeks: £57,915.
Two things stand out. First, the overtime third of the week produces a third of the pay — 15 of the 60 hours generate £371.25 of the £1,113.75. Second, £57,915 crosses into the 40% tax band: £7,645 of it is taxed at 40p in the pound. That does not make the extra hours 'not worth it' — you still keep at least 60p of every overtime pound — but it trims the uplift.
Now the reality check: £1,113.75 a week is well above the RHA average of £883, because 60 hours at time-and-a-half is an intense pattern. Few drivers sustain it year-round, and employers cannot always offer the hours. Model the week you will actually work most weeks, not the heroic week from the interview.
Overtime vs a higher base rate
Given the choice between a higher salary with no overtime and a lower salary with generous overtime, most drivers pick wrong — they take the bigger headline number. Work it hourly instead. A £46,000 salary on a flat 55-hour week is £16.09 an hour. A £42,000 salary on 45 hours plus 1.5× overtime, worked as a 55-hour week, is £42,000 base (£17.95/hr) plus 10 overtime hours at £26.92 — £52,000 a year all-in, or £18.18 an hour across the 55.
The lower headline salary wins by £6,000 a year once the overtime is counted. But — and it is a large but — overtime is discretionary. In a quiet quarter the 55-hour week becomes a 45-hour week and the £52,000 becomes £42,000, while the flat-salary driver still gets £46,000. Guaranteed money beats potential money when you are budgeting a mortgage.
The sweet spot is a solid base rate with a low overtime threshold: you are paid well for the hours you definitely work, and the extra hours are genuinely extra. Use the calculator to test each offer's structure, not just its headline.
About this calculator
How the overtime model works
Enter your base hourly rate and total weekly hours. Hours up to 45 are paid at the base rate; hours above 45 are paid at 1.5×. The weekly gross is annualised over 52 weeks, then 2026/27 England income tax, employee National Insurance and auto-enrolment pension (5% of qualifying earnings) are applied to produce the monthly take-home.
If your employer's overtime threshold is 48 rather than 45, or the multiplier differs, treat the result as illustrative and adjust: every hour moved across the threshold changes the weekly gross by half the base rate. The tax engine itself — bands, NI, pension — is exact for 2026/27.
Reviewed and updated
Overtime norms and the RHA working-week figures were last reviewed on 23 September 2026. The tax model covers 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Overtime practice varies by employer more than any other part of driver pay — the figures here describe the market norm, and your contract is the final word.
Class 1 overtime pay FAQs
When does overtime kick in for HGV drivers?
The market norm is after 45 to 48 hours a week, but it is set by each employer — there is no legal trigger point. Some operators pay 1.5× from 45 hours, others from 48, and some pay flat rates for all hours with the 'overtime' already priced into the salary.
Check the offer letter, not the advert. 'Plenty of overtime available' means nothing until you know the threshold and the multiplier.
Is HGV overtime really paid at time-and-a-half?
Usually, yes — 1.5× the base rate is the market norm for hours above the threshold. It is custom, not law, so individual employers can and do differ. A few pay double time for Sundays or bank holidays; a few pay flat rates and call the job 'all-in'.
If the multiplier is below 1.5×, the long-week job needs a higher base rate to compensate. Run both structures through the calculator before choosing.
Do I pay more tax on overtime?
Overtime is taxed at your marginal rate, like any other earnings — there is no special overtime tax. Most Class 1 overtime falls in the 20% band. But a heavy overtime pattern can push total earnings above £50,270, where the 40% band starts: in the £57,915 example above, £7,645 is taxed at 40%.
Even then, overtime is always worth doing in cash terms — you keep at least 60p of every extra pound before NI and pension. The 'overtime is taxed more so it is not worth it' line is a myth.
How many hours can a Class 1 driver work per week?
UK drivers' hours rules cap driving time and require daily and weekly rest — the legal framework is about driving hours and rest periods rather than a single total-hours number, and tachographs enforce it. In practice, the RHA-average 55-hour week (driving plus other duties) is entirely normal and legal.
What the rules do constrain is back-to-back maximum weeks without proper rest. If an employer is asking you to work patterns that feel wrong on rest, check the current GOV.UK drivers' hours guidance — the calculator counts your pay, not your compliance.
Is overtime guaranteed?
No — and this is the central risk of long-week jobs. Overtime is the first thing cut when volumes drop, which turns a £52,000 all-in package into a £42,000 base salary overnight. Drivers who budgeted the mortgage on the overtime-inclusive figure learn this the hard way.
Budget on the base salary. Treat overtime as the accelerator for savings and debt clearance, not as the number your fixed costs depend on.
How does overtime work for agency drivers?
There is usually no formal overtime structure in agency work. Instead, the premium is expressed as higher rates for nights and weekends — £19 to £26 an hour for Class 1, against £16 to £20 for days. A Saturday night shift is the agency equivalent of time-and-a-half.
This makes agency weeks simple to model: rate × hours, with the rate depending on the shift. Use the take-home calculator with your blended rate rather than this overtime model.
Should I compare jobs by salary or by hourly rate plus overtime?
By hourly rate for realistic hours, every time. Convert each offer: (base salary ÷ 52 ÷ contracted hours) gives the standard hourly rate; then add the overtime structure. Two offers at £44,000 can be £21.15 an hour (40-hour week) or £15.38 an hour (55-hour week) — the same salary for very different jobs.
The calculator does this comparison for you: enter each offer's base rate, threshold and expected hours, and compare the monthly take-home figures side by side.
Does overtime count towards my pension?
Usually, yes. Auto-enrolment qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270 in 2026/27) include overtime pay, so regular overtime increases both your 5% employee contribution and your employer's contribution. Irregular or one-off overtime may be treated differently by some payrolls, but the standard position is that it counts.
The calculator applies pension to the full annualised figure including overtime, which matches how most large employers operate it.
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Sources
- RHA Pay Report 2026. Survey October/November 2025. Class C+E average £15.48/hr, average gross weekly £883 at 55 hours; hourly rates up 4.1% year on year. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- Aspion — HGV driver salary guide 2026. Overtime typically paid at 1.5× after 45–48 hours per week; Class 1 permanent £38,000–£50,000. 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.