NHS Part-Time Pay Calculator 2026/27 — Pro-Rata Pay & Real Take-Home
Part-time NHS salary is pro-rata — but your take-home is slightly better than the fraction, because your pension tier is set by the pay you actually earn and your tax allowance stays whole. A Band 5 nurse at entry point working 22.5 hours takes home £1,364.54 a month — not the £1,224.13 a straight 60% split would suggest. Enter your band and hours for your own figure.
Last updated November 2026 · Figures checked against NHS Employers and the Scottish Government in November 2026. Next scheduled check: the April 2027 pay award.
Calculate your part-time pay
| Gross pay | £19,243.80 (FTE £32,073.00) |
| NHS pension | |
| Income tax | |
| National Insurance | |
| Take-home pay (year) |
Gross hourly rate for this step: . Estimates only — unsocial hours, overtime and bank pay are not included.
Part-time take-home at common hours — worked from the engine
| Band & step | Hours | WTE | Pro-rata salary | Pension rate | Take-home / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 5, entry (England) | 22.5 | 0.60 | £19,243.80 | 6.5% | £1,364.54 |
| Band 5, top (England) | 22.5 | 0.60 | £23,425.80 | 6.5% | £1,597.34 |
| Band 5, entry (England) | 30 | 0.80 | £25,658.40 | 6.5% | £1,721.62 |
| Band 6, entry (England) | 22.5 | 0.60 | £23,975.40 | 6.5% | £1,627.93 |
| Band 7, entry (England) | 22.5 | 0.60 | £29,632.20 | 8.3% | £1,907.27 |
| Band 5, point 1 (Scotland) | 18 | 0.50 | £17,272.00 | 6.4% | £1,258.92 |
All figures from this page's calculator on the official 2026/27 scales, NHS Pension member, no London weighting or student loan, standard tax code 1257L.
How part-time NHS pay actually works
Salary is a straight fraction — deductions are not
Your basic salary is your full-time salary multiplied by your WTE: hours ÷ 37.5 in England, hours ÷ 36 in Scotland. But three deductions refuse to scale in a straight line, and all three work in your favour:
Pension tier. Your contribution rate is set by your actual pensionable pay, not the full-time equivalent. A Band 5 nurse drops from the 8.3% tier to 6.5% at 22.5 hours; a Band 6 nurse at 22.5 hours also lands on 6.5% instead of 9.8%.
Income tax. Your personal allowance (£12,570 on the standard 1257L code) is the same whether you work 15 hours or 37.5, so a smaller share of a part-time salary is taxed at all.
National Insurance is charged per pay period on earnings above the same threshold, full-time or part-time.
What else is pro-rata
London weighting (HCAS) is paid at your WTE fraction, between pro-rata minimum and maximum amounts. Annual leave is the same entitlement converted to hours — at 22.5 hours a week with under 5 years' service, 157.5 hours a year including bank holidays (the annual leave calculator works yours out). Unsocial hours enhancements are percentages of your hourly rate, so they scale automatically. Your pension builds up on the pay you actually earn — 1/54 of each year's pensionable pay in the 2015 Scheme.
Scotland: the 36-hour week changes the fraction
Because Scotland's full-time week is 36 hours, the same contracted hours are a bigger WTE there: 30 hours is 0.80 WTE in England but 0.83 WTE in Scotland, and 18 hours is exactly half-time. The calculator's Scotland mode uses the 36-hour week and Scottish tax and SPPA pension tiers throughout.
Worked example — Band 5 nurse, entry point, 22.5 hours
Full-time salary £32,073 × 0.60 WTE = £19,243.80 gross. Pension at the 6.5% tier takes £1,250.85 a year (£104.24 a month) — the full-time tier would have been 8.3%. Income tax is £1,084.59 a year and National Insurance £533.90, because the £12,570 personal allowance covers most of the salary. Take-home: £16,374.46 a year, £1,364.54 a month. A naive 60% of the full-time take-home (£2,040.21) would be £1,224.13 — so the real part-time figure is £140.41 a month better than the straight fraction.
Assumptions, stated plainly: standard tax code 1257L; NHS Pension tier set by your actual pensionable pay; National Insurance at 2026/27 rates; a student loan is only deducted if you select a plan.
Part-time NHS pay — frequently asked questions
Is part-time NHS pay exactly pro-rata?
Your salary is exactly pro-rata — your hours divided by the full-time week (37.5 hours in England, 36 in Scotland) times the full-time salary. Take-home pay is slightly better than the same fraction, because your NHS pension tier is set by your actual pay and your tax-free personal allowance is not reduced. A full-time Band 5 nurse at entry point takes home £2,040.21 a month; at 22.5 hours (0.60 WTE) the take-home is £1,364.54 — more than 60% of the full-time figure.
How is my WTE calculated?
WTE (whole time equivalent) is your contracted hours divided by the full-time week: 37.5 hours in England and 36 hours in Scotland. Working 22.5 hours in England is 0.60 WTE; working 18 hours in Scotland is 0.50 WTE.
How does working part-time affect my NHS pension?
Two ways. Your contribution percentage is set by your actual pensionable pay, so part-time staff often pay a lower tier rate — a Band 5 nurse at 22.5 hours pays 6.5% instead of 8.3%. And your pension builds up on the pay you actually earn: each year banks 1/54 of that year's pensionable pay.
Do part-time staff get London weighting?
Yes. High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) is paid pro-rata to your hours, between the same minimum and maximum amounts scaled to your WTE.
Does working part-time change my annual leave?
You get the same entitlement, recorded in hours rather than days: the full-time entitlement in hours multiplied by your WTE. At 22.5 hours a week with under 5 years' service that is 157.5 hours a year including bank holidays.
How every figure on this site is calculated and checked: our methodology.