Audience: Parent + child ages 9-11
Child age: 9-11
Total time: 25-30 min
You will need: A payslip + 10 coins
Format: Read + activity
Last reviewed: 2026-05-11

Before you start

This works best around the kitchen table after dinner, with the child genuinely curious rather than dragged. Aim for one focused sitting; don't try to teach tax in chunks across a week.

You will need:

One of your real payslips (redact the actual amount if you want — the categories and ratios are what matter), OR the example payslip in the next page
10 £1 coins, or 10 paper "pretend pounds" cut from notepaper
A pen and a piece of paper
Optional: a quick scroll through the news or gov.uk so you can show real numbers if asked

1What does tax pay for?6 min

Start with what they already see.

You say:

"When grown-ups earn money, the government takes a small portion as tax. That tax pays for things we all share. Can you guess some of them?"

They'll typically think of:

NHS hospitals and GPs
Schools and teachers
Roads and pavements
Bins and parks
Police and firefighters

Add a few they probably won't:

The army and navy
State pensions for older people
Libraries
Free buses for older people and disabled people

If we didn't pay tax, where would the money for these come from?

(There's no quick answer. The point of the question is to make tax feel like the price of sharing.)

2Coin demonstration — how much tax is it?8 min

The single most useful tax demo for under-11s. Stack of 10 £1 coins. Each coin = 10% of someone's wage.

Activity: Show the breakdown

Start with all 10 coins in front of the child. Tell them this is one month of a grown-up's wage — £100 (or however many coins you have).

Take coins away as you talk:

Take 1.5 coins (move 15p worth aside). "This is Income Tax. About 15p out of every £1 of wage goes to the government."
Take half a coin. "This is National Insurance. About 5p out of every £1 also goes to the government, but for a different reason — it pays for the State Pension and helps if a grown-up loses their job or gets ill."
Take 1 coin. "This is the workplace pension — saving for when the grown-up is old."
Keep 7 coins. "This is what actually lands in the bank account. Out of every £10, about £7 reaches the family. The rest goes to tax, NI and saving for old age."

Does 7 out of 10 feel like a lot or a little?

This is a values question. Reasonable people disagree.

3The Personal Allowance — tax-free zone5 min

Bigger idea, but 9-11 year-olds can grasp it.

You say:

"The first £12,570 a grown-up earns each year is tax-free. That's called the Personal Allowance. The government decided everyone needs that much money before tax even starts."

Translate to monthly:

"£12,570 a year is just over £1,000 a month. So if a grown-up earns less than £1,000 a month, they pay no Income Tax at all."

If a grown-up earns £15,000 a year, how much do they pay tax on?

(£15,000 − £12,570 = £2,430 of taxed income.) Work it out together. At 20% that's £486 tax for the year — about £40 a month.

4Looking at a real payslip8 min

Now the abstract becomes concrete.

Pull out a real or example payslip.

Don't skip this step. The lesson lands far harder with a real document than with talking about one.

Line	What it shows
Gross pay	Total before anything is taken off — the "salary"
Tax code	Usually 1257L for most people — the £12,570 tax-free part
Income Tax	The 20% (or 40% for high earners) taken on top of the allowance
National Insurance	Around 8% taken on top — for State Pension and benefits
Pension	The grown-up's saving for old age, often 5% from them + 3% from work
Net pay	What actually lands in the bank

Walk through line by line.

Let the child do the maths if they want: "if the gross is X and the tax is Y, what's the percentage?" 9-11 year-olds can usually do this with a calculator.

Why is the net pay so much less than the gross?

What's the biggest single thing taken off?

5Closing — what tax means3 min

Wrap up by checking understanding without making it feel like a test.

If you had to explain tax to a 5-year-old, what would you say?

If you ran the country, what would you spend tax money on first?

The second question is the more useful one. There's no right answer. The point: tax decisions are choices, and they're democratic.

You close:

"When you're older and you start working, this is going to be on your payslip too. Now you know what it all means."

After the conversation

Follow-up over the next week:

Show them an actual news story about tax (Budget Day in spring, or any tax-related headline). Watch their eyes light up when they recognise terms.
If they're curious, look up the basic Income Tax rates on gov.uk/income-tax-rates together. The official rates page is short and readable.
Mention NI when they get their National Insurance number around age 16 — "remember that conversation we had? This is the number."

Cite this pack
UK Tax Drag (2026). Tax explained — a 30-minute conversation pack for ages 9-11. Family conversation pack. Available at: https://kids.uktaxdrag.co.uk/parent-conv-tax-explained-9-11.html
CC BY 4.0. Free to share, photocopy and use in classrooms.

Not financial or legal advice. This is a conversation starter only. Tax rules, benefit thresholds and product features change between UK Budgets — always confirm current rules at gov.uk before making decisions involving real money.