NHS nurses in England are paid on the Agenda for Change scale, spanning Band 5 for newly registered staff through Band 7 for advanced practitioners and ward managers. Enter your salary below to see your monthly and annual take-home pay after Income Tax, National Insurance and NHS Pension for the 2026/27 tax year.
Salary · pension · 2026/27
| Band | Role | Entry | Intermediate | Top of band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 5 | Staff nurse / newly registered | £32,073 | £34,592 | £39,043 |
| Band 6 | Senior nurse / specialist | £39,959 | £42,170 | £48,117 |
| Band 7 | Ward manager / advanced practitioner | £49,387 | £51,932 | £56,515 |
Source: NHS Health Careers — Agenda for Change pay rates (April 2026). Pay scales change; check the source before relying on a figure.
Every NHS nurse employed under the Agenda for Change (AfC) framework is assigned a pay band that reflects their role, responsibility and clinical scope. Most newly qualified nurses enter at Band 5, earning £32,073 on appointment in the 2026/27 pay year. With experience you move through defined pay points within the band; Band 5 tops out at £39,043. Promotion to Band 6 — typically a senior staff nurse, community nurse specialist or charge nurse role — starts at £39,959. Band 7 covers ward managers, advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, starting at £49,387 and reaching £56,515 at the top.
Progression between pay points usually happens annually, subject to meeting the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) gateway requirements set by your trust. There is no automatic time-served escalation: your line manager must confirm that you have demonstrated the competences for the next point. The 2026/27 pay scales reflect a 3.3% uplift applied from 1 April 2026, as agreed between the government and NHS Staff Council.
Pay bands are the same across England (with supplements for high-cost areas — see below). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland negotiate separately and may have slightly different values.
Your gross AfC salary is reduced by three main deductions before you receive take-home pay.
Income Tax (2026/27, England and Wales): The Personal Allowance remains at £12,570, so you pay no tax on the first £12,570 of earnings. Income between £12,571 and £50,270 is taxed at the basic rate of 20%. Earnings from £50,271 to £125,140 attract the higher rate of 40%. Above £100,000 the Personal Allowance is gradually withdrawn, creating an effective marginal rate of 60% on income between £100,000 and £125,140 — relevant for Band 7 nurses with significant unsocial hours or London supplements.
National Insurance (Class 1, 2026/27): Employees pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on earnings above £50,270. Your employer also pays secondary NICs, but these do not reduce your take-home pay.
NHS Pension: The NHS Pension Scheme is a defined-benefit scheme. Member contribution rates for 2026/27 are tiered by pensionable pay. A Band 5 nurse on £32,073 pays 7.1% of pensionable earnings; a Band 6 nurse on around £42,000 pays 8.3%; and a Band 7 nurse above £49,387 pays 9.8%. These contributions are taken before tax (relief at source), reducing your taxable income. Opting out of the pension is rarely advisable because of the employer contribution (around 23.7% of pensionable pay) and the guaranteed retirement income.
Use the calculator above to model your exact deductions. If you have a student loan, select your repayment plan to see its effect as well.
NHS staff working at trusts inside the London commuter belt receive a High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) on top of basic pay. For 2026/27 the three zones and their rates are:
For a Band 5 nurse starting on £32,073, the Inner London supplement adds £6,415 (20% of basic, within the min/max range), bringing total pay to £38,488 before deductions. This supplement is pensionable under the NHS Pension Scheme but is not included in unsocial hours enhancement calculations.
HCAS rates rose by 3.3% in April 2026, in line with the main AfC pay award. Outside these zones no geographical supplement applies, though some trusts offer local recruitment and retention premiums for hard-to-fill posts.
Source: NHSBSA — High Cost Area allowance.
Hospital nursing involves nights, weekends and bank holidays. The AfC handbook sets nationally agreed unsocial hours enhancements calculated as a percentage of your basic hourly rate for each hour worked outside the standard window of Monday–Friday 06:00–20:00.
For Bands 4–9, which covers all registered nurses, the enhancements are:
Lower bands receive higher percentages to compensate for lower base pay. These enhancements are pensionable and are calculated on basic salary only — HCAS and other supplements are excluded.
A Band 5 nurse on £32,073 has a basic hourly rate of approximately £16.45 (based on 37.5 hours per week, 52.143 weeks). A Saturday shift therefore pays roughly £21.39 per hour, and a Sunday shift about £26.32 per hour. Over a year, a nurse regularly working nights and weekends can add several thousand pounds to gross pay.
Overtime — hours beyond the contracted 37.5 per week — is paid at time-and-a-half for weekdays and double-time for Sundays and bank holidays under most trust policies, though the national agreement allows local variation.
Source: NHS Health Careers — Agenda for Change.
Most nursing careers follow a clear trajectory through the AfC bands:
Beyond Band 7, nurse consultants sit at Band 8a (£55,877–£64,223) and above. These roles are fewer in number and typically require doctoral-level education or extensive research portfolios.
Choosing a specialism — critical care, emergency, mental health, district nursing, health visiting — can affect both the speed of progression and the availability of posts at higher bands. Areas facing recruitment shortages sometimes offer accelerated development programmes or retention premiums.
Consider a Band 6 nurse at the intermediate pay point, earning £42,170 gross in 2026/27, working at a non-London trust with no student loan.
NHS Pension (8.3%): £42,170 × 8.3% = £3,500 (rounded). Pension is deducted before tax, so taxable income becomes £42,170 − £3,500 = £38,670.
Income Tax: Personal Allowance £12,570 is tax-free. Remaining £38,670 − £12,570 = £26,100 taxed at 20% = £5,220.
National Insurance: Earnings between £12,570 and £42,170 = £29,600 at 8% = £2,368.
Total deductions: £3,500 + £5,220 + £2,368 = £11,088.
Annual take-home: £42,170 − £11,088 = £31,082, or roughly £2,590 per month.
Adding regular unsocial hours (for example, two weekend shifts per month) could increase gross pay by £3,000–£4,000 per year before deductions. Use the calculator at the top to model your own figures precisely.
A newly qualified registered nurse in the NHS starts on Band 5 of the Agenda for Change pay scale, with an entry salary of £32,073 from April 2026. You remain on Band 5 while progressing through its pay points up to £39,043.
A Band 6 nurse at the intermediate pay point (£42,170) takes home roughly £31,082 per year, or about £2,590 per month, after Income Tax, National Insurance and an 8.3% NHS Pension contribution. Unsocial hours payments increase this figure.
Yes. Nurses working at trusts in the London area receive a High Cost Area Supplement: 20% for Inner London (capped at £8,746), 15% for Outer London (capped at £6,137) or 5% for the Fringe zone (capped at £2,270). These rates apply from April 2026.
Registered nurses (Bands 4–9) receive a 30% enhancement on their basic hourly rate for weekday night shifts (20:00–06:00) and all Saturday hours. Sunday and bank holiday shifts attract a 60% enhancement. These payments are pensionable.
Almost always, yes. The NHS Pension Scheme is a defined-benefit scheme backed by the government, and your employer contributes around 23.7% of your pensionable pay on top of your own contribution. Opting out means losing that employer contribution and guaranteed retirement income, which is difficult to replicate with a private pension.
