Class 2 (C) take-home pay calculator
| Base pay | £32,000 |
| Income tax | −£3,628 |
| National Insurance | −£1,451 |
| Pension (auto-enrolment) | −£1,288 |
| Take-home pay | £25,632 |
2026/27 tax model. Auto-enrolment pension is 5% of qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270).
At a glance
On £32,000 a year gross, including night premiums and overtime, you'd keep about £2,136 a month after tax, National Insurance and pension.
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.
Scotland uses different income tax bands — toggle your nation in the calculator above. Wales follows the England bands.
Worked example: £32,000 Class 2 salary, 2026/27 (England, auto-enrolment on)
| Gross annual salary | £32,000.00 |
| Auto-enrolment pension (5%) | −£1,288.00 |
| Income tax (20% band) | −£3,628.40 |
| Employee National Insurance | −£1,451.36 |
| Annual take-home pay | £25,632.24 |
| Monthly take-home pay | £2,136.02 |
Assumptions and pay data
- England income tax bands for 2026/27 (6 April 2026 – 5 April 2027)
- Auto-enrolment pension at 5% of qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270), salary-sacrifice treatment
- Full-time employee — not agency, umbrella or self-employed
- No student loan repayments and no other deductions
- Full 2026/27 tax model explained in the 2026/27 tax guide
Class 2 pay, explained
Rigid work: what Class 2 drivers actually do
Class 2 work is the visible end of logistics: the builders' merchant lorry, the supermarket delivery truck, the tipper on the construction site. Rigid means the cab and the load body are one unit — no articulating trailer — and the work is overwhelmingly local and regional: multi-drop rounds, timed deliveries, and a lot of interaction with customers and site managers.
The defining feature of Class 2 life is the working day. Most Class 2 drivers start early and finish in the afternoon, sleeping at home every night. The RHA's 2026 report puts the average Class C week at 49 hours — long days, but days, not nights. For drivers with families, that structure is worth more than the pay gap to Class 1.
It is also physical work in a way trunking is not. Multi-drop means handballing, tail-lifts and paperwork at every stop; tippers and refuse work add their own demands. Employers know it, which is part of why the £28,000–£36,000 band has held firm even as the licence is cheaper to obtain than C+E.
The £4,000–£8,000 gap to Class 1
Employed Class 1 drivers earn £4,000 to £8,000 a year more than Class 2; through agencies the gap is £2 to £4 an hour. The RHA medians show it in hourly terms: £15.05 for C+E against £14.50 for C. It looks modest per hour — 55 pence — but it compounds across a full-time year.
In take-home terms the gap is concrete. A £44,000 Class 1 salary leaves £33,840.24 a year; a £32,000 Class 2 salary leaves £25,632.24. The difference in the bank is £6,208.08 a year — £517.34 a month, every month, for holding the bigger licence.
That monthly figure is the honest price of staying Class 2. For some drivers it is a price gladly paid: home every night, no cab-sleeping, no 2am starts on the M1. For others it is £517 a month left on the table. Neither answer is wrong, but make it with the number in front of you.
Upgrading to C+E: the maths
Upgrading from C to C+E costs £3,000 to £5,000-plus all-in, depending on the training provider and whether you pass first time — the CE pass rate is 57.1%, so budget for the possibility of a retest. Set against the £4,000–£8,000 annual uplift, even the bottom of the uplift range repays the top of the cost range within about fifteen months. Most drivers are in profit by the end of year one.
The upgrade also changes which jobs you can take, not just the pay for the same job. Night trunking at £45,000 to £55,000-plus, tramper work at up to £57,722, agency nights at £19 to £26 an hour — none of it is open to a Class 2 licence. The licence does not just raise your rate; it raises your ceiling.
Timing matters. Many drivers upgrade after a year or two of Class 2 work, once they have clean driving history and an employer who might contribute to the cost. Large firms sometimes fund C+E training for reliable Class 2 drivers — it is always worth asking before you pay for it yourself.
RHA reality check: the 49-hour week
The RHA's 2026 figures for Class C deserve a close look: 49 hours a week on average, at £14.78 an hour, grossing £741 a week. Annualised, that is £38,532 — which is above the £28,000–£36,000 permanent salary band. The apparent contradiction resolves when you see the hours: the band describes base salaries, while the RHA figure captures what drivers actually work and earn including overtime.
This is the Class 2 pattern in miniature: solid base salaries, longish weeks, and overtime at 1.5× after 45–48 hours doing real work on the total. A £32,000 base with regular overtime easily clears £36,000 gross — and the take-home follows.
When you evaluate a Class 2 offer, ask for the realistic weekly hours, not just the salary. A £30,000 salary on a 45-hour week (£12.82 an hour) is a worse deal than £28,000 on a 40-hour week (£13.46 an hour) — and both look identical on the advert.
About this calculator
How the tax engine works
Class 2 pay sits comfortably inside the basic-rate band, so the income tax line is the least interesting part of a Class 2 payslip. On £28,000 to £36,000, every pound of taxable pay is taxed at 20% in England — the number that actually moves your take-home is the combination of National Insurance at 8% and the 5% auto-enrolment pension, modelled here as salary sacrifice on qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270. Together they take roughly a fifth of gross before income tax is even counted.
The Scotland toggle matters more than it looks at this pay level: the 21% intermediate band starts at £29,527, so a Scottish Class 2 driver on £32,000 pays 21% on part of their pay where an English driver pays 20%. It is a small difference — tens of pounds a month — but it is real, and it is why the calculator asks for your nation. Full band tables are in the UK tax guide linked below.
Reviewed and updated
Class 2 pay bands and the worked example were last reviewed on 23 September 2026 against Aspion's 2026 salary guide and the RHA Pay Report 2026 (Class C median £14.50 an hour). The tax model covers 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.
Class 2 take-home pay FAQs
What is a good Class 2 driver salary in 2026?
£28,000 to £36,000 is the normal permanent range, so £32,000 — £25,632.24 take-home, £2,136.02 a month — sits squarely in the middle. Above £34,000 you are doing well for rigid work; the RHA-average 49-hour week annualises at £38,532 including overtime, which shows what the top end of actual earnings looks like.
As with Class 1, check the hours behind the salary: multi-drop rounds can be long days, and the hourly rate is the true comparison.
How much is £16 an hour as an annual Class 2 salary?
At a standard 40-hour week: £16 × 40 × 52 = £33,280 a year — inside the permanent band. At the RHA-average Class C week of 49 hours: £16 × 49 × 52 = £40,768.
That nine-hour difference is worth £7,488 of gross pay, which is why agency Class 2 rates of £16–£20 an hour produce such different annual figures depending on the shift pattern. Fix the hours before you compare.
Is Class 2 work easier than Class 1?
Different, not easier. Class 2 means home most nights and no artic manoeuvring, but it usually means multi-drop delivery: handballing freight, tail-lifts, customer signatures and timed slots, repeated across a long day. Many Class 2 drivers find it more physically tiring than trunking.
Choose on lifestyle, not difficulty. If you want your evenings, Class 2 wins. If you want maximum pay, Class 1 wins by £4,000–£8,000 a year.
Should I upgrade from Class 2 to Class 1?
Financially, usually yes. The upgrade costs £3,000 to £5,000-plus; the pay uplift is £4,000 to £8,000 a year employed (£517.34 a month in take-home at the £44k vs £32k comparison), so it typically pays for itself within the first year. It also opens night trunking (£45,000–£55,000-plus) and tramper work that Class 2 cannot touch.
The caveats: the CE pass rate is 57.1%, so it is not guaranteed, and you will likely work nights to earn the top money. If nights are a deal-breaker, the licence buys you less.
Do Class 2 drivers get night premiums?
Yes, where night work exists — the 15–25% premium pattern applies to Class 2 as it does to Class 1, and agency night rates reflect it. But dedicated Class 2 night roles are rarer than Class 1 night trunking; most night work in the industry is artic trunking.
Class 2 drivers chasing premiums usually do it through early starts, overtime at 1.5× after 45–48 hours, and weekend agency shifts rather than permanent nights.
Agency or permanent for Class 2 drivers?
The same trade-off as Class 1, at lower numbers: agency £16–£20 an hour against permanent £28,000–£36,000. Agency headline take-home is usually higher, but there is no paid holiday, minimal sick pay, usually no pension, and self-funded Driver CPC (£300–£500 every five years).
Our agency-versus-employed comparison page works through the full package with the caveats costed — the Class 1 numbers illustrate the structure, and the logic is identical for Class 2.
I drive in Scotland — does the Class 2 calculator handle it?
Yes — tick the Scotland option and the engine uses Scottish bands (19% to £16,537, 20% to £29,526, 21% to £43,662, 42% to £75,000, 45% to £125,140, 48% above). On Class 2 salaries the Scotland/England difference is modest — a few pounds a month — because most of the income sits in the 20% (England) vs 19–21% (Scotland) zone.
National Insurance and auto-enrolment pension are identical UK-wide.
I have a student loan — how does it change the monthly figure?
This calculator does not deduct student loan repayments; the £2,136.02 monthly figure at £32,000 assumes no student loan. Repayments come off after tax and NI as a percentage of earnings above the threshold, so your true take-home will be lower.
Run your salary through our student loan calculator and subtract the monthly repayment from the figure shown here for the complete picture.
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Sources
- Aspion — HGV driver salary guide 2026. Class 2 permanent £28,000–£36,000; agency £16–£20/hr; Class 1 vs Class 2 gap £4,000–£8,000/yr employed, £2–£4/hr agency. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- RHA Pay Report 2026. Survey October/November 2025. Class C median £14.50/hr, average £14.78/hr, average gross weekly £741 at 49 hours. 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.