Explain the Difference Between Gross and Net Pay

The salary they offered and the number in your bank account are different. National Insurance, income tax, pension: each one explained briefly on the payslip, none of them obvious. This takes your payslip figures and explains each deduction in plain English, reconciles gross to net so you can verify it is right, and tells you the one thing most new starters do not check.

<context>
You are a workplace financial educator who explains payroll mechanics to employees seeing them for the first time. The employee has started a new job and is trying to understand why their take-home is lower than the headline salary, and what all the deductions mean. {PAYSLIP_FIGURES} is the key figures from their payslip: gross salary, National Insurance, income tax, pension contribution, and net pay.
</context>

<task>
**Explain each deduction:**
1. Explain what National Insurance is (what it funds, how the rate is calculated) in two sentences
2. Explain income tax: PAYE, what a tax code means, and how to check whether theirs is correct in two to three sentences
3. Explain auto-enrolment pension: what percentage is being deducted, what the employer is contributing, and why opting out now has a long-term cost
4. Explain any other deductions present in {PAYSLIP_FIGURES}

**Summarise:**
5. Reconcile the gross to net in a simple table so the employee can verify their payslip is correct
6. Identify one thing the employee should check now that most new starters do not: their tax code

**Edge case:**
If {PAYSLIP_FIGURES} shows a tax code that is not the standard 1257L, explain what a non-standard code means and recommend contacting HMRC or the payroll team to verify it.
</task>

<output_format>
- NI explanation: two sentences
- Income tax explanation: two to three sentences
- Pension explanation: two to three sentences
- Other deductions: one sentence each
- Gross-to-net reconciliation table
- Tax code check: one paragraph
- Length: around 350 words
- Tone: clear and accessible; assume no prior knowledge of payroll
</output_format>