NHS Band 5 pay after tax, National Insurance and the tiered NHS pension contribution, from entry step to top of band.
NHS Band 5 is a range rather than a single salary: you join at the bottom step point and move up with service, so sourced base pay runs from about £32,073 to £39,043 before any high cost area supplement, enhancements or overtime. The NHS pension contribution tier follows from that pensionable pay, so moving up a step can also change the rate you contribute at.
Starts at the Band 5 entry step. Change the figure for a different step or for pay including enhancements.
The scheme takes the contribution before tax, so £2,662 goes into the pension but take-home only falls by £2,130. Your tier is set by pensionable pay, not by choice.
2026/27 rates, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, no student loan. Open the full calculator to change region, student loan or pension method.
Payslip showing different figures? The payslip checker works out what your pay and tax code should have produced and shows which assumption could explain the gap.
This is the NHS Band five page for England 2026/27. Its table shows sourced Agenda for Change base pay before HCAS, unsocial-hours enhancements, overtime or local additions, then estimates PAYE take-home pay using the listed NHS pension contribution tier; the combined example further down adds HCAS and a student loan with its assumptions stated.
| Pay point | Base pay | Hourly base pay | Estimated monthly take-home | NHS pension rate | Annual pension contribution | Progression note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry pay point | £32,073 | £16.40 | £2,040 | 8.3% | £2,662 | Source progression marker: around 2 years |
| Middle pay point | £34,592 | £17.69 | £2,177 | 8.3% | £2,871 | Source progression marker: around 2 years |
| Top pay point | £39,043 | £19.97 | £2,381 | 9.8% | £3,826 | Source top or final listed value |
The estimate uses England Agenda for Change base pay, the standard 37.5-hour full-time week, the current NHS Pension contribution tiers, PAYE Income Tax and employee National Insurance. It is designed to answer the band page before sending you into the interactive calculator.
Unsocial-hours enhancements, overtime, local contracts, arrears, temporary uplifts, salary sacrifice and individual tax-code changes are not included in this band table. HCAS and a student loan appear only in the combined example below, with their assumptions stated; the calculator takes any of them.
This is a planning estimate only. PayBreakdown does not decide NHS payroll correctness, pension entitlement, employment terms, tax treatment or legal rights.
Band 5 uses thirty-two thousand seventy-three pounds at the first listed pay point and thirty-nine thousand forty-three pounds at the top listed pay point. The monthly take-home estimates shown here are built from those base-pay values before local additions.
The pension row uses the central NHS Pension contribution tiers against pensionable pay. For Band 5, the visible tier can change as the listed pay point changes, so the pension contribution is shown beside each pay point rather than hidden inside one headline number.
Use this page to understand the base pay range first, then open the calculator when your own rota, hours, tax code or pension details differ from the default.
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
|---|
The figures on this page are worked from £32,073, using the values below. Open the calculator if your example salary or pension method differs.
Band 5 has 3 steps. You join at the bottom and move up with service, reaching the top in 4 years — a rise of £6,970 on base pay, before any high cost area supplement, enhancements or overtime.
Each step change also moves pensionable pay, which is what sets the NHS pension contribution tier. Crossing a tier boundary means a higher percentage on the whole of pensionable pay, so a step rise can lift the contribution by more than the pay rise alone suggests.
The table above keeps to base pay so the steps stay comparable; a real payslip stacks factors. Worked as one whole: Band 5 at the middle step is £34,592 of basic pay. Add the Inner London high cost area supplement — £6,918, 20% of basic pay — and gross pay is £41,510. The NHS pension contribution stays tiered on basic pay at 8.3%, taking £2,871 a year; a Plan 2 student loan takes £1,091 a year at this gross; and the estimated take-home lands at £2,502 a month.
Stated assumptions for this Band 5 example: tax code 1257L on England rates, full-time 37.5 hours, pension on basic pay only — whether HCAS is pensionable is not stated by the NHS sources, so this example does not decide it — and no other deductions. Change the zone, the loan plan or the step in the calculator to match your own role.
Two NHS-specific factors sit on top of the usual tax and loan assumptions. The pension contribution is tiered on pensionable pay, so the estimate's tier and your payslip's tier can differ when arrears, a step change or a top-up moves the pay the tier is tested on. And unsocial hours enhancements are paid on the hours actually worked, so they move month to month in a way no annual estimate follows — the unsocial hours calculator models them separately. When a Band 5 payslip still looks wrong after those two, the payslip checker works out what the pay and tax code should have produced and shows which remaining assumption — the tax code, a student-loan deduction, or the cumulative basis — could explain the gap.
This estimate is worked out on £32,073 annual gross and net pay pension, no contribution in this example. Change any of those and the take-home figure moves; pension method and student loan plan usually move it most. A payslip can differ from any calculator because payroll works pay period by pay period, so a tax-code change, a bonus, arrears or a refund can land in one month and not the next. See how each deduction is worked out.
This page uses the sourced 2026/27 Agenda for Change Band 5 base-pay range, from about £32,073 to £39,043 before HCAS, enhancements, overtime or local additions.
The page example includes a planning NHS pension contribution based on the central contribution tiers. Practitioner rules, split roles, arrears, additional hours and payroll handling can change the real contribution.
No. It is a planning estimate only. HCAS, unsocial-hours enhancements, overtime, tax code, student loans, salary sacrifice, local payroll rules and payslip timing can change the final amount.
Last updated 2026-08-28. Checked by Sean Elsmore. Rates last checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-07. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.