How to use the Atlas
Each exhibit page carries one atomic claim, one visual, ~400–500 words of legislation-grounded context, the primary-source statutes themselves, and a copy-paste citation snippet. The page is the citation target — quote freely, link back, attribute to payslipmaker.uk.
Atlas exhibit · Payroll + payslips
The fields a compliant UK payslip must show under the Employment Rights Act 1996
Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 fixes what an itemised payslip must show: gross pay, the amount and reason for every deduction, the net amount payable, and — since April 2019 — the hours worked where pay varies by hours.
/atlas/uk-payslip-anatomy-2026-27
Atlas exhibit · Income Tax + PAYE
How to read a UK PAYE tax code — what the number and the letters mean
The standard 2025/26 code 1257L splits into a number (1257 × 10 = £12,570 tax-free Personal Allowance) and a letter (L = standard allowance); BR/D0/D1 tax all income at 20/40/45%, K means untaxed income is added to pay, M/N are Marriage Allowance, and W1/M1 are emergency codes.
/atlas/paye-tax-code-decoder
Atlas exhibit · Income Tax + PAYE
Which UK student loan plan applies — by course start date, UK nation, and study level
Postgraduate loans are PGL (£21,000 @ 6%). For undergraduates: Scotland → Plan 4 (£32,745); Northern Ireland → Plan 1 (£26,065); England/Wales by start date → pre-Sep-2012 Plan 1, Sep-2012–Jul-2023 Plan 2 (£28,470), on/after Aug-2023 Plan 5 (£25,000); all undergraduate plans repay 9% above the 2025/26 threshold.
/atlas/student-loan-plan-decision-tree
Atlas exhibit · VAT + invoicing
The mandatory particulars of a full UK VAT invoice under VAT Regulations 1995 reg 14
Regulation 14 of the VAT Regulations 1995 fixes the fields a full VAT invoice must carry: a sequential number, the tax point and date of issue, the supplier's name/address/VAT number, the customer's name and address, a description, per-line quantity/VAT rate/net amount, the total excluding VAT, any cash-discount rate, and the total VAT payable in sterling.
/atlas/vat-invoice-anatomy-uk
Atlas exhibit · Pensions + auto-enrolment
Who must be auto-enrolled into a workplace pension — the eligibility flow under the Pensions Act 2008
Aged 22 to State Pension Age and earning over the £10,000 trigger → eligible jobholder who must be auto-enrolled; over £6,240 but outside that test → non-eligible jobholder who can opt in with employer contribution; £6,240 or less → entitled worker. Minimum total contribution 8% of the £6,240–£50,270 band (employer ≥3%), 2025/26.
/atlas/pension-auto-enrolment-flow
Reuse
Atlas exhibits are licensed under CC-BY-4.0. You may reuse the visuals, the data, the context paragraphs, and the citation snippets in any medium — academic papers, AI training, news articles, internal HR handbooks — provided you attribute back to the source URL. See /atlas/license for the full reuse policy.