From Foundation Year 1 through to senior specialty registrar, enter your NHS basic salary to see your take-home pay after Income Tax, National Insurance, NHS pension and student loan for the 2025/26 tax year. Nodal-point pay scales below reflect the current resident doctor contract in England.
Salary · pension · 2026/27
| Grade | Nodal point | Basic salary |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation Year 1 (FY1) | 1 | £38,831 |
| Foundation Year 2 (FY2) | 2 | £44,439 |
| Core / Specialty Trainee (CT1–2 / ST1–2) | 3 | £52,656 |
| Registrar (CT3 / ST3–5) | 4 | £65,048 |
| Senior Registrar (ST6–8) | 5 | £73,992 |
Source: GOV.UK — Pay Offer to Resident Doctors (March 2026) (2025/26). Pay scales change; check the source before relying on a figure.
NHS resident doctors in England are paid on a five-point nodal scale set out in the 2016 terms and conditions of service. Unlike Agenda for Change bands used for most NHS staff, doctors do not receive annual increments within each nodal point. Instead, basic pay rises only when a doctor moves to the next training grade — for example, from FY2 to core training or from ST2 to ST3.
A Foundation Year 1 doctor starting in August 2025 earns a basic salary of £38,831. After completing FY1, basic pay rises to £44,439 at FY2. Entering core or specialty training at CT1/ST1 lifts basic pay to £52,656, which remains the same at CT2/ST2. At the ST3 nodal point, pay jumps to £65,048, covering ST3 through ST5. Senior registrars at ST6–ST8 earn £73,992.
These figures are basic salary only. Most doctors earn significantly more once supplements for unsocial hours, weekend work and on-call availability are added. The government's June 2026 offer proposes further uplifts from April 2026: FY1 rising to £41,226 (6.2%) and FY2 to £47,610 (7.1%), with 3.5–5.1% increases across other grades.
Under the 2016 resident doctor contract, additional pay for unsocial hours is structured into three main components that typically add 20–40% to a doctor's total earnings.
Weekend allowance is a percentage of basic salary determined by rota frequency. A doctor working one weekend in two receives 15%, one in three receives 10%, one in four receives 7.5%, one in five receives 6%, one in six receives 5%, one in seven receives 4%, and one in eight receives 3%. Most hospital rotas place foundation and core trainees on roughly one-in-four or one-in-five weekends.
Night enhancement applies at 37% of the basic hourly rate for all hours worked between 21:00 and 07:00. A full night shift therefore carries a substantial premium.
On-call availability allowance is a fixed annual sum paid to doctors who are available but not necessarily called in. For 2025/26 these are approximately £3,107 for FY1, £3,556 for FY2, £4,213 at nodal point 3, £5,204 at nodal point 4 and £5,920 at nodal point 5. Flexible pay premia also exist for hard-to-fill specialties: GP trainees receive £10,691 and psychiatry core trainees receive £4,347 per year.
Your take-home pay depends on three major deductions from gross income.
Income Tax (2025/26): The personal allowance is £12,570, with 20% basic rate on income up to £50,270, 40% higher rate up to £125,140 and 45% additional rate above that. An FY1 doctor on £38,831 basic salary pays entirely within the basic rate band. A senior registrar on £73,992 crosses into the 40% band on roughly £23,700 of their income.
National Insurance: Class 1 employee contributions are 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above that threshold.
NHS Pension (2015 scheme): All doctors are automatically enrolled in the NHS Pension Scheme. Employee contribution rates for 2025/26 are tiered by pensionable pay: 5.2% up to £13,259; 6.5% from £13,260 to £28,854; 8.3% from £28,855 to £35,155; 9.8% from £35,156 to £52,778; 10.7% from £52,779 to £67,668; and 12.5% above £67,668. An FY1 doctor pays 9.8%, while a senior registrar pays 12.5%. Pension contributions are taken before tax, reducing your Income Tax bill. The employer contributes a further 23.7%.
Source: NHSBSA pension contribution rates 2025/26.
Doctors working in and around London receive a High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) on top of basic salary. The supplement is pensionable and split into three zones.
Inner London: 20% of basic salary, subject to a minimum of £4,714 and a maximum of £5,941 per year. An FY1 doctor in inner London therefore receives roughly £5,941 extra, lifting total basic-equivalent pay to around £44,772.
Outer London: 15% of basic salary, with a minimum of £4,551 and a maximum of £5,735.
Fringe areas: 5% of basic salary, minimum £1,303, maximum £2,198. Fringe zones include towns such as Watford, Slough and parts of Surrey and Kent that border Greater London.
HCAS is added to pensionable pay, so both your pension contributions and your eventual pension benefits increase. However, it also pushes more of your income into higher tax bands, so the net gain is smaller than the headline figure. Use the calculator above to model the effect on your take-home pay.
An FY1 doctor earning the basic salary of £38,831 with a 9.8% NHS pension contribution and no student loan takes home approximately the following each year:
Adding a typical weekend allowance of 6% (£2,330) and occasional night shifts could lift gross earnings to around £43,000–£46,000, raising monthly take-home to roughly £2,650–£2,850. Enter your actual gross figure above for a precise breakdown.
Junior doctor pay has risen sharply since the 2023–24 industrial action. FY1 basic salary increased from £29,384 in 2022/23 to £36,616 in 2024/25 — a 24.5% cumulative uplift over two years — and to £38,831 in 2025/26 after a further award of approximately 5.4% (a 4% pay-point increase plus a £750 consolidated sum).
The government's June 2026 offer, if accepted, proposes a further 6.2% for FY1 (to £41,226) and 7.1% for FY2 (to £47,610), with 3.5–5.1% across other grades, backdated to April 2026. The offer also restructures the scale from five to ten nodal points, meaning doctors would receive a pay rise at more stages of training rather than staying on the same point for up to three years.
Source: BMA resident doctor pay campaign.
A Foundation Year 1 doctor in England earns a basic salary of £38,831 per year in 2025/26. With weekend allowance, night enhancements and on-call supplements, total gross pay typically reaches £43,000 to £48,000 depending on rota intensity.
The highest basic salary for a resident doctor is at nodal point 5, covering ST6 to ST8 senior registrars, at £73,992 in 2025/26. With supplements, total earnings for a busy surgical registrar can exceed £90,000.
NHS pension employee contributions are tiered. An FY1 or FY2 doctor pays 9.8% of pensionable pay. Core and specialty trainees at nodal point 3 pay 10.7%, while registrars above £67,668 pay 12.5%. Contributions are deducted before Income Tax, providing tax relief.
Yes. Doctors working in inner London receive a High Cost Area Supplement of 20% of basic salary, capped at £5,941 per year. Outer London pays up to £5,735 and fringe areas up to £2,198. The supplement is pensionable.
The 2016 contract replaced the old banding system with a basic salary at five nodal points, plus separate weekend allowance (3–15% of basic), night enhancement (37% hourly uplift for 21:00–07:00 hours), and an on-call availability allowance. Total pay therefore depends heavily on rota pattern rather than a single banding multiplier.
