NHS Pension Contributions Explained

How much do you pay into the NHS pension?

Your NHS pension contribution is a percentage of your pensionable pay, set on a tiered scale so that higher earners pay a higher rate. For 2025/26 the rates run from 5.2 percent at the bottom to 12.5 percent at the top. The rate is based on your actual annual pensionable pay, not on a full-time equivalent figure, which matters a great deal if you work part time, as explained below. Your contribution is taken straight from your salary before income tax is worked out, so you automatically receive tax relief at your highest rate, and on top of your own payment your employer contributes a far larger share. To see exactly what you would pay and what pension it builds, use our NHS pension contribution calculator at /nhs/pension-contribution-calculator/.

NHS pension contribution rates for 2025/26

The contribution you pay depends on which pay tier your pensionable earnings fall into. For the year from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, the tiers are as follows.

The pay ranges are reviewed and usually increased each April in line with the NHS pay award, so always check the current bands before relying on a figure.

[FLAG FOR BUILD: confirm these six pay thresholds against the current NHSBSA "cost of being in the scheme" page before publish, as they uprate each April. The percentage rates are the scheme structure.]

How the tiers actually work

Two points about the tiers catch people out. First, your whole pensionable pay is charged at the single rate for your tier, it is not a marginal system like income tax. So if your pensionable pay puts you in the 9.8 percent band, you pay 9.8 percent on all of your pensionable pay, not just the part above a threshold. Second, since 2022 the tier is set by your actual pensionable pay, so if you work part time you are placed on the tier that matches what you actually earn, not the full-time salary for your role. This means part-time staff usually sit in a lower tier and pay a lower percentage than they would have under the old rules. For example, on pensionable pay of £40,000 you would be in the 9.8 percent tier, so your yearly contribution before tax relief would be £3,920.

The tax relief that lowers the real cost

Because your contributions are deducted from your pay before income tax is calculated, you get tax relief at your marginal rate automatically, with nothing to claim. For a basic rate taxpayer that means every £1 of contribution really costs 80 pence, because the 20 pence that would have gone in tax stays with you. A higher rate taxpayer effectively gets 40 percent relief. Taking the £40,000 example, the headline contribution of £3,920 a year is reduced by £784 of tax relief for a basic rate taxpayer, so the real cost is about £3,136. That is one of the reasons the scheme is better value than the headline percentages suggest. You can read more about how pension tax relief works in our guide at /blog/pension-tax-relief-uk/.

What your employer pays on top

Your own contribution is only part of the money going into the scheme. Your NHS employer pays around 23.7 percent of your pensionable pay into the scheme on your behalf, plus a small administration charge, which is far more than the minimum employer contribution required in most private sector pensions. This employer share is effectively a large, tax-free addition to your overall reward that you do not have to fund yourself, and it is a key reason the NHS pension is considered so valuable even for staff on modest salaries.

[FLAG FOR BUILD: confirm the current employer contribution rate on NHSBSA before publish.]

What counts as pensionable pay

Your contribution is based on pensionable pay, which is not always the same as your total earnings. Pensionable pay generally includes your basic salary and regular contractual additions, such as unsocial hours enhancements and regularly paid supplements. It usually excludes items like non-contractual overtime, expenses, and one-off payments that are not part of your standard pay. This is why the figure your contribution is calculated on can differ from your gross pay on a busy month. If you are unsure what is pensionable in your own case, your payslip and your employer's payroll team can confirm which elements count.

What your contributions build up

Your contributions, together with the much larger employer share, fund a defined benefit pension, so what you get back is set by a formula rather than by investment returns. In the current 2015 scheme you build pension worth 1/54 of your pensionable pay each year. On pensionable pay of £40,000, that is about £741 of yearly pension earned in a single year, and the amounts you build are increased each year while you are working to keep pace with prices, by the Consumer Prices Index plus 1.5 percent. Those yearly slices add up across your career to give your total pension. For how the 1995, 2008, and 2015 sections differ, see our guide at /blog/nhs-pension-schemes-explained/. For the full picture of how the scheme pays out, see our guide to the NHS Pension Scheme at /blog/nhs-pension-scheme-uk/.

Paying more into your NHS pension

If you want to build a bigger pension, the scheme offers a few ways to pay more. You can buy Added Pension, which increases the guaranteed annual pension you will receive. You can use an arrangement to buy out the reduction that would otherwise apply if you retire before your normal pension age. And you can pay Additional Voluntary Contributions through the scheme's AVC arrangement, which builds a separate pot alongside your main pension. Each option has its own rules and costs, so it is worth requesting details from the NHS Business Services Authority and considering advice before committing, but for many members simply staying in the main scheme and benefiting from the employer contribution is already a strong position.

How to work out your own contribution

The simplest way to see your contribution, your tax relief, and the pension you are building is to use our NHS pension contribution calculator at /nhs/pension-contribution-calculator/, which applies the current tiers to your pay. If your role sits on the Agenda for Change pay scales, you can also check the salary for your band in our guide to Agenda for Change at /blog/agenda-for-change-explained/, then use that figure as your starting point. When you are ready to think about retirement, see our guide to taking your NHS pension at /blog/taking-your-nhs-pension-uk/, or our guide to the NHS pension lump sum at /blog/nhs-pension-lump-sum-uk/.