NHS Pay & Take-Home Calculator 2026/27

How much will I take home? NHS take-home pay by band (2026/27)

Your NHS take-home pay depends on your AfC band, pay point, nation, hours worked, and whether you receive High Cost Area Supplement. A full-time Band 5 nurse in England on point 1 earns £32,073 gross and takes home about £2,040 per month after pension, tax and NI. Band 6 entry (£39,959 gross) nets roughly £2,430/month. Band 7 entry (£49,387 gross) nets about £2,934/month. Select your band in the calculator above for an instant personalised breakdown.

Take-home pay falls as a percentage of gross at higher bands because NHS pension tiers step up on a cliff-edge basis and income tax can reach 40% above £50,270. A Band 9 consultant on £129,783 gross pays 12.5% pension on the whole salary and significant higher-rate tax, use the tool rather than rules of thumb for senior bands.

How NHS take-home pay is calculated

Your NHS take-home pay is your Agenda for Change gross salary minus four deductions, applied in this order: NHS pension contribution (taken before tax), income tax, National Insurance, and any student loan repayment. Because pension is deducted first, you get tax relief on it.

Step 1: Gross pay: Start with your AfC basic pay for your band and pay point, add HCAS if you work in an eligible London zone (England only), then pro-rate for part-time hours: actual gross = (hours ÷ 37.5) × full-time gross.

Step 2: NHS pension: Find your cliff-edge tier based on actual pensionable pay. One percentage applies to your whole salary. Deduct this before tax.

Step 3: Income tax: We use the same income tax engine as the rest of WhatsUK. England, Wales and NI use HMRC bands (personal allowance £12,570; basic 20% to £50,270; higher 40% to £125,140). Scotland uses six Scottish bands.

Step 4: National Insurance: Employee NI at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% above, calculated on gross pay (pension does not reduce NI).

Step 5: Student loan: If applicable, repayment is calculated on gross pay above the plan threshold. Plan 2 (most English graduates since 2012) takes 9% of income above £29,385 in 2026/27. Scottish Plan 4 uses Scottish thresholds. See our student loan calculator for plan details.

Marriage allowance, blind person's allowance, salary sacrifice and non-standard tax codes are not modelled here. If you have children and pay child maintenance, that is a court-ordered deduction after net pay and is also excluded. The calculator assumes you are under state pension age and pay Class 1 employee NI.

NHS Agenda for Change pay bands 2026/27 (full table)

England's 2026/27 Agenda for Change pay scales reflect a 3.3% consolidated uplift effective 1 April 2026, published by NHS Employers. The table below shows entry and top-of-band salaries for Bands 2 to 9 (plus 8a to 8d) with typical roles.

Band 1 (£25,272) is closed to new entrants. Band 2 is a single spinal point in England. Higher bands have up to three pay points. See the full NHS pay bands guide for every band including 8b to 9. For Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, use the nation selector in the calculator, scales differ, particularly in Scotland.

How NHS pay progression and step points work

Agenda for Change pay progression moves you up one spinal point within your band, typically every two to three years, after satisfactory performance review. Band 5 illustrates the journey: point 1 (£32,073) → point 2 after ~2 years (£34,592) → point 3 top of band after a further ~2 years (£39,043). Promotion to the next band is a separate process requiring a higher-graded post.

Incremental progression is not guaranteed, trusts can withhold increments in exceptional circumstances. Pay protection may apply during organisational change. Bank and agency work is paid at the appropriate spinal point rate for the duties performed. Experienced staff who reach the top of their band must apply for promotion to access the next band's salary range, there is no further automatic progression within the same band beyond the top spinal point.

Section 2 enhancements (unsocial hours, night duty, weekend working) are calculated as a percentage of basic hourly rate and do not change your spinal point, though they increase total pensionable pay in the year earned and can affect which NHS pension tier applies to your annual total.

NHS pay in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

England and Wales both received a 3.3% AfC uplift for 2026/27, but Wales publishes separate pay scales through the Welsh Government, Band 5 entry is £32,557 in Wales versus £32,073 in England. Northern Ireland matches England's cash figures under the NHSPRB recommendation, though implementation depends on NI Executive budget approval. Scotland operates a distinct multi-year deal with a 3.75% uplift in 2026/27 and a CPI inflation guarantee; Band 5 entry is £34,544.

The calculator switches pay scales and pension tiers by nation. Scottish income tax uses six bands, so a Scottish Band 5 nurse may pay different income tax from an English colleague on a higher gross salary. HCAS applies in England only. For a general comparison across any salary, use our UK salary calculator.

Wales Band 1 is closed at £26,300 for legacy staff. Scotland uses a 36-hour reference week in its official circular for hourly rates, but AfC whole-time equivalent remains 37.5 hours for pay purposes in most contexts, this calculator uses the standard 1,957.5-hour divisor consistent with NHS Employers England.

NHS pension contributions 2026/27: the six tiers

NHS pension member contributions in England and Wales use six cliff-edge tiers based on actual pensionable pay. One rate applies to your entire salary, not a marginal slice. Your employer adds 23.7% on top.

Cliff-edge example: At £35,155 you pay 8.3% on your whole salary (£2,918/year). At £35,156 you pay 9.8% on your whole salary (£3,445/year), an extra £1 of pensionable pay costs £527 more in annual contributions. Tier boundaries are CPI-indexed each April in two steps (September CPI applied to thresholds, then adjusted again after the pay award), which usually prevents a routine 3.3% rise alone from crossing a boundary.

A basic-rate taxpayer's pension contribution effectively costs 20% less in net pay because of tax relief. Northern Ireland uses similar tiers with slightly higher rates from tier 2 upward (up to 12.7%). Scotland uses nine tiers via SPPA (5.7% to 12.7%).

London weighting (High Cost Area Supplement) explained

High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) is England's London weighting, paid as a percentage of basic pay with minimum and maximum annual caps. Inner London is 20% (min £5,794, max £8,746), Outer London 15% (min £4,870, max £6,137), and Fringe 5% (min £1,346, max £2,270). Your employer pays the higher of the percentage calculation or the minimum, capped at the maximum.

HCAS is pensionable and taxable. A Band 5 nurse in Inner London on £32,073 basic could receive up to £8,746 HCAS, lifting gross toward £40,819 and potentially shifting pension tier. There is no HCAS in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

NHS Employers publishes HCAS-inclusive annual and hourly rates for each band and zone. Where the percentage calculation exceeds the cap, you receive the maximum; where it falls below the minimum, you receive the minimum payment instead. HCAS does not affect your spinal point, it is an allowance on top of basic pay.

Part-time, hourly rate and bank shifts

Your basic hourly rate is annual salary divided by 1957.5 hours (52.143 weeks × 37.5 hours). Part-time pay is pro-rata: multiply the WTE salary by (your hours ÷ 37.5). Use our pro-rata calculator for non-standard patterns.

Bank shifts are paid at the AfC hourly rate for the band of the duties performed. Pension treatment varies, substantive employees accrue pension on pensionable hours; bank-only workers may not join the scheme. Overtime above contracted hours attracts enhancements under Section 2 but is taxed as ordinary income.

Worked examples: what real NHS staff take home

The examples below are generated by this site's calculation engine, the same code that powers the calculator above, so the figures are internally consistent with our income tax and NI logic.

For help interpreting deductions on your payslip, see our guide on how to read your UK payslip. For context on typical earnings, see average UK salary 2025.

When is the 2026/27 pay rise paid, and is it backdated?

The 2026/27 AfC pay award is effective from 1 April 2026. Salary from that date should reflect new spinal points. When the formal pay circular is agreed, sometimes months later, trusts pay arrears back to 1 April as a lump sum, which can temporarily increase pensionable pay and tax in that month.

Scotland's deal may trigger an additional inflation-guarantee payment in March 2027 if CPI exceeds the threshold. Northern Ireland has historically delayed implementation pending budget approval, with back-pay following later. If you receive a backdated lump sum, it may push your pensionable pay for that tax year higher, check with payroll whether arrears are spread for pension tier purposes.

The 2025/26 pay year toggle in the calculator lets you compare last year's figures before the 3.3% uplift. England Band 5 entry was £31,049 in 2025/26 versus £32,073 in 2026/27: a cash rise of £1,024. Pension tier boundaries were also lower in 2025/26, so a small number of staff near thresholds may have moved tier solely because of the combined pay and threshold changes.

Methodology: Pay scales sourced from NHS Employers, Welsh Government AfC(W) 02/2026, and Scottish Government PCS(AFC)2026/1. Pension tiers from NHSBSA, HSC Pension Service NI, and SPPA Scotland. Income tax and NI from HMRC 2026/27 rates. Figures verified against NHS Employers and NHSBSA, last updated 14 June 2026. More tools on the NHS pay and money hub, NHS pay bands 2026/27, NHS annual leave calculator and NHS pension contribution calculator.