Nurse Salary 2026/27 — From Newly Qualified to Nurse Consultant

The nurse pay ladder — England 2026/27

Full-time, NHS Pension member, no London weighting or student loan. Take-home figures are generated by our verified calculator — run your own exact position on the homepage calculator.

How nurse pay progresses

Every registered nurse — adult, children's, mental health and learning disability fields alike — is paid on the same Agenda for Change ladder. You start at the Band 5 entry point after NMC registration, move to the intermediate step (£34,592) after about 2 years, and reach the top of Band 5 after a further 2 to 3 years. Band 6 brings senior staff nurse, junior sister and specialist nurse roles; Band 7 is where ward managers, sisters in charge and advanced nurse practitioners sit; and Bands 8a and above cover matrons, nurse consultants and senior nursing leadership. In Scotland the same ladder runs on higher scales — a newly qualified nurse starts at £34,544, taking home £2,167.21 a month, and a Band 6 nurse starts at £43,231 (£2,600.13 a month).

Why two nurses on the same band are paid differently

Basic salary is only the starting point. Nursing is a 24-hour service, so unsocial hours enhancements for nights, Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays are paid on top under Section 2 of Agenda for Change — time plus 30% for Saturday and night hours and time plus 60% for Sundays and public holidays at Bands 4 to 9 — and nurses in London receive HCAS weighting on top of basic pay. Work out your own rota with the overtime & unsocial hours calculator. Student nurses are different again: while training you are supernumerary and not paid a salary, and the financial support available differs between the UK nations.

Worked example — newly qualified nurse, Band 5 entry

Gross pay of £32,073.00 a year becomes £2,040.21 a month in your bank account: pension £2,662.06 (8.3%), income tax £3,368.19 and National Insurance £1,560.24 come off across the year first. Night and weekend enhancements, where your rota earns them, are paid on top of this figure.

Nurse pay part-time, in London and in Scotland

Working 22.5 hours a week (0.6 of full-time), a Band 5 nurse at entry point is paid £19,243.80 gross and takes home £1,364.54 a month — part-time pay is the same hourly rate pro-rata, and because pension tiers are set by your actual pay, the contribution rate can drop too. In Inner London the same Band 5 post takes home £2,351.10 a month: the High Cost Area Supplement is added to basic pay before pension and tax, which lifts both your take-home and your pension. Leave is pro-rata as well — 27 days plus bank holidays on full-time hours, rising with service; check your exact hours with the annual leave calculator. Nights and weekends lift these figures further — Saturday and night hours earn time plus 30% and Sundays time plus 60% at Bands 4 to 9; work out your rota with the overtime & unsocial hours calculator. In Scotland, a Band 5 nurse starts on £34,544 and takes home £2,167.21 a month on the 36-hour week — see NHS Scotland pay for the full Scottish scales.

Other NHS roles