NHS take-home pay calculator
Calculate NHS Agenda for Change take-home pay after tax, national insurance, NHS pension contributions and student loan deductions.
Other settings
Other settings
Results
| Pay item | Yearly | Monthly | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic pay | £32,073 | £2,673 | £617 |
| NHS pension | -£2,662 | -£222 | -£51 |
| Income tax | -£3,368 | -£281 | -£65 |
| National Insurance | -£1,560 | -£130 | -£30 |
| Take-home pay | £24,483 | £2,040 | £471 |
Where your NHS pay goes
A quick visual split of gross pay into take-home pay and deductions.
How to use the NHS take-home pay calculator
Use this calculator to estimate NHS Agenda for Change take-home pay for the selected pay year. Start with the basic NHS pay details, then open other settings for pension, overtime, tax code, student loan and salary sacrifice inputs.
Steps
- Select the NHS pay year, band, region, pay step and weekly contracted hours.
- Use the England HCAS region options if your role receives inner London, outer London or fringe HCAS.
- Open other settings to opt out of NHS pension, add overtime, choose student loans or enter other payroll adjustments.
- Review the headline results for the monthly and weekly take-home pay, then check the breakdown table for the full detail.
Input notes
- Band
- Use the Agenda for Change band for your role. Band 8 is split into 8a, 8b, 8c and 8d.
- Region
- Select the country or the England HCAS option that applies to your workplace.
- Pay step
- Entry, intermediate and top step options are shown where the selected band has them.
- Weekly hours
- Use contracted weekly hours. Extra paid hours should be entered as overtime in other settings. For part-time staff, additional hours up to full-time weekly hours are treated as plain-time pensionable pay.
- NHS pension
- The calculator defaults to NHS pension being included because most eligible staff are automatically enrolled.
- Weekly overtime
- Enter regular weekly overtime hours above your contracted hours. Agenda for Change overtime rates apply only to bands 1 to 7; additional hours up to full-time hours are treated as plain-time pensionable pay.
- Public holiday overtime
- Enter regular weekly public holiday overtime hours. These are estimated using the Agenda for Change public holiday overtime multiplier for eligible bands and are treated as non-pensionable.
- State pension age
- People over State Pension age usually stop paying employee national insurance. Select this option to remove employee national insurance from the estimate.
- Student loan
- Choose yes if student loan or postgraduate loan repayments should be included in the take-home pay calculation.
- Student loan plan
- Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5 and postgraduate loans use different thresholds and repayment rates. Select every plan that applies.
- Tax code
- Enter a PAYE tax code such as 1257L, S1257L, BR, D0, D1, 0T or a K-code. The calculator applies recognised allowance and rate instructions.
- Blind persons allowance
- Select this if blind person's allowance applies. The allowance of GBP 3,250 for 2026/27 is added on to the basic personal allowance.
- Benefits in kind
- Enter the taxable value of benefits in kind received e.g. a company car or private medical insurance. Do not use this if you have already entered a tax code that accounts for the benefit.
- Salary sacrifice
- Enter non-pension salary sacrifice amounts here. Pension salary sacrifice should be entered in the NHS pension settings.
- Other deductions before tax
- Use this for deductions that reduce taxable pay before income tax is calculated, such as some payroll benefit arrangements.
- Other deductions after tax
- Use this for deductions taken after tax and national insurance, such as repayments or workplace deductions. These reduce the final take-home pay shown.
What the results mean
- Total gross salary includes pro-rated basic pay, HCAS where selected, and overtime entered in other settings.
- Monthly and weekly take-home pay show the amount expected to be paid monthly and weekly after tax and all other deductions.
- NHS pension is calculated on pensionable pay before income tax, including part-time additional hours up to full-time weekly hours and after salary sacrifice, but does not reduce national insurance.
- The chart gives a visual representation of how the annual salary is split between take-home pay, tax, national insurance and all other deductions.
Common questions
Does the calculator include part-time NHS hours?
Yes. Enter your contracted weekly hours and the calculator will pro-rate basic Agenda for Change pay. Extra hours up to full-time hours are treated as plain-time pensionable pay.
Can I use this for NHS Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Yes. Select the relevant region. The calculator uses separate pay and pension contribution data where available, including different Scottish standard weekly hours.
Does this include unsocial hours?
No. This version excludes unsocial hours and bank shifts.
Does the calculator include London weighting or HCAS?
Yes, for England. Choose inner London, outer London or fringe HCAS from the region dropdown if it applies to your role.
Why is the pension a yes/no setting?
NHS pension contribution rates are set by scheme tiers, so the calculator can select the contribution percentage from pensionable pay without asking for a manual pension amount.
Why does my NHS pension rate change when I change hours or salary sacrifice?
NHS pension contribution tiers are based on pensionable pay. Changing contracted hours, additional hours or salary sacrifice can move the estimated pensionable pay into a different contribution tier.
Does NHS pension reduce national insurance?
No. The calculator treats NHS pension as a net-pay pre-tax deduction, so it reduces taxable pay for income tax but does not reduce national insurance.
Does the calculator include salary sacrifice schemes?
Yes, you can add non-pension salary sacrifice in advanced settings. NHS pension is handled separately because it uses scheme contribution tiers.
Why might my payslip be different from the calculator result?
Actual NHS payroll can differ because of payroll timing, tax code changes, student loan deductions by pay period, local deductions, unsocial hours, bank shifts, arrears, back pay or one-off adjustments.
Assumptions
- Agenda for Change basic pay uses the published NHS salary figures for the selected NHS pay year, band, pay step and region.
- England HCAS is calculated from the published minimum, maximum and percentage rules and is treated as pensionable pay.
- NHS pension is treated as a net-pay pre-tax deduction based on actual annual pensionable pay after any salary sacrifice has been applied.
- Extra hours up to full-time weekly hours are included at plain time for part-time staff and treated as pensionable pay.
- Hours above full-time weekly hours use Agenda for Change overtime rates for bands 1 to 7 only. Enhanced overtime is calculated from the basic hourly rate, excludes HCAS and is treated as non-pensionable.
- Unsocial hours, bank shifts and local payroll adjustments are not modelled.
- Wales hourly rates are derived from the official annual pay circulars because the located Welsh circulars publish annual rates only.
- Northern Ireland 2026/27 pay rates are provisional: they apply the NHSPRB recommended 3.3% uplift to the Department of Health 2025/26 HSC AfC pay circular rates pending a final 2026/27 HSC AfC pay circular.
Source notes
- NHS Employers pay scales for 2026/27England Agenda for Change annual, hourly and HCAS rates.
- NHS Employers pay scales for 2025/26Previous England Agenda for Change pay year.
- Scottish Government NHS pay ratesScotland Agenda for Change 2025 to 2027 annual and hourly rates.
- NHS Wales AfC(W) 02/2026Wales Agenda for Change pay circular for 2026/27.
- NHSBSA cost of being in the SchemeNHS Pension contribution tiers for England and Wales.
- NHSBSA pay and contributionsPensionable additional hours for part-time NHS staff up to whole-time equivalent.
- NHS Terms and Conditions of Service HandbookAgenda for Change overtime eligibility, part-time additional hours and overtime rates.
- SPPA NHS pension contributionsNHS Scotland pension contribution tiers.
- HSC Pension Service membership, contributions and payNorthern Ireland HSC pension contribution tiers.