Quick answer
A full-time NHS Band 5 employee in England on the entry point (£32,073 a year) takes home about £2,040 a month after income tax, National Insurance and the NHS Pension. At the top of the band (£39,043) that rises to about £2,381 a month. Wales runs from about £2,067 to £2,412 a month and Scotland from about £2,167 to £2,590 a month at their own pay points.
These figures are for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and assume a full-time member of the NHS Pension Scheme with a standard tax code, no student loan, no London weighting, and no overtime or unsocial-hours pay. Northern Ireland is not covered. To work out your own figure, use our NHS pay calculator.
What is Band 5 pay in 2026/27?
Band 5 has three pay points in each nation, and the three nations pay differently. The figures below are full-time annual basic pay from 1 April 2026.
| Pay point | England | Wales | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry (point 1) | £32,073 | £32,557 | £34,544 |
| Intermediate (point 2) | £34,592 | £35,114 | £36,911 |
| Top (point 3) | £39,043 | £39,631 | £43,039 |
The England figures come from NHS Employers' 2026/27 pay scales, Wales from pay circular AfC(W) 02/2026, which raises the scales by 3.3%, and Scotland from the Scottish Government's NHS staff pay page, where the 2026/27 award is 3.75%.
The England scale shows two years at the entry and intermediate points before the next step. Do not treat that as automatic. Whether and when you move up depends on your employer's progression process, so check the pay-step date in your contract.
How much of Band 5 pay do you actually take home?
Here is the result of running each pay point through the 2026/27 tax, National Insurance and NHS Pension rules. Every figure is for a full-time employee in the NHS Pension Scheme with no student loan.
| Nation and pay point | Gross a year | Take-home a year | Take-home a month | Take-home a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England, entry | £32,073 | £24,483 | £2,040 | £471 |
| England, intermediate | £34,592 | £26,129 | £2,177 | £502 |
| England, top | £39,043 | £28,570 | £2,381 | £549 |
| Wales, entry | £32,557 | £24,799 | £2,067 | £477 |
| Wales, intermediate | £35,114 | £26,470 | £2,206 | £509 |
| Wales, top | £39,631 | £28,947 | £2,412 | £557 |
| Scotland, entry | £34,544 | £26,007 | £2,167 | £500 |
| Scotland, intermediate | £36,911 | £27,524 | £2,294 | £529 |
| Scotland, top | £43,039 | £31,080 | £2,590 | £598 |
Scotland's higher pay comes with Scottish Income Tax, which has six bands with rates of 19%, 20%, 21%, 42%, 45% and 48%, so it takes a bigger share of some pay than the rest of the UK does. The Scottish figures also use the pension rate for current pay from the Scottish pension scheme's table. Staff whose pay has not changed can be assigned a rate using last year's earnings, so your own rate may differ.
Where does the money go? A worked example
For example, imagine an England Band 5 nurse on the entry point, working full time. Here is what happens to £32,073.
| Item | Annual amount |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | £32,073.00 |
| NHS Pension at 8.3% | £2,662.06 |
| Pay that income tax applies to | £29,410.94 |
| Income tax | £3,368.19 |
| Employee National Insurance | £1,560.24 |
| Take-home pay | £24,482.51 |
Income tax is 20% on taxable pay above the £12,570 Personal Allowance, using the 2026 to 2027 rates on GOV.UK. The pension is taken out of your pay before income tax is worked out, which is why tax is charged on £29,410.94, not £32,073. The GOV.UK guide to pension tax relief says workplace pension contributions can be taken out of pay before Income Tax is deducted.
National Insurance is different. It is 8% of pay between £12,570 and £50,270, and the pension deduction does not reduce it. HMRC's manual says National Insurance must be assessed on gross earnings before deduction of any pension contributions. The rates and thresholds are the same in England, Wales and Scotland.
In total, £24,482.51 of £32,073 (about 76%) reaches your account.
Why does the pension rate matter so much at Band 5?
The NHS Pension member rate rises in tiers, and the rate applies to all of your pensionable pay, not only the part above a threshold. NHSBSA's technical guidance says that if pay rises into the next range, contributions are payable at the revised rate for all of the member's pensionable pay.
In England and Wales the 2026/27 tiers around Band 5 are:
| Pensionable pay | Member rate |
|---|---|
| £13,260 to £28,854 | 6.5% |
| £28,855 to £35,155 | 8.3% |
| £35,156 to £52,778 | 9.8% |
The entry and intermediate points sit in the 8.3% tier and the top point (£39,043) in the 9.8% tier. That is why the step from the intermediate point to the top adds £203 a month in take-home pay in England, less than you might expect from a £4,451 rise in gross pay.
To see the tier effect in its purest form, imagine someone with pensionable pay of £35,155 who then earns £1 more. The rate moves from 8.3% to 9.8%, and their take-home for the year falls by about £421. Band 5 pay points do not sit next to a boundary, but other pensionable pay, such as London weighting, can push total pensionable pay across one.
Scotland has its own nine-tier table from the Scottish Public Pensions Agency. At Band 5 the rate for current pay is 8.7% at the entry and intermediate points and 9.8% at the top point.
What changes if you have a student loan?
A student loan takes a further 9% of your earnings above the plan threshold: £26,900 for Plan 1, £29,385 for Plan 2, £33,795 for Plan 4 and £25,000 for Plan 5, according to GOV.UK's employer thresholds for 2026 to 2027. The calculations here work it out on pay before the pension deduction, as with National Insurance.
For an England Band 5 employee on Plan 2, that means:
| Pay point | Student loan a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|
| Entry (£32,073) | £241.92 | £2,020 |
| Intermediate (£34,592) | £468.63 | £2,138 |
| Top (£39,043) | £869.22 | £2,308 |
A Scottish Band 5 employee on Plan 4 at the entry point (£34,544) repays about £67 a year, taking home about £2,162 a month.
What does a basic-pay figure leave out?
All the figures above are basic pay for a full-time week. They do not include:
- Unsocial-hours enhancements, overtime and on-call payments, which depend on your contract and roster.
- London weighting (High Cost Area Supplement) in England, which is added to pay and counts towards your pension tier.
- Postgraduate Loan repayments, salary sacrifice schemes, parking, union subscriptions or court orders.
- Tax code adjustments, benefits in kind, or earlier pay in the same tax year.
Part-time pay is pro-rated. For example, an England entry-point Band 5 employee working 22.5 of 37.5 hours has gross pay of £19,243.80, falls into the 6.5% pension tier and takes home about £1,365 a month.
What should you do next?
Check your contract for your pay point, your hours and your pay-step date. Put those into our NHS pay calculator to see your own take-home pay. If your payslip is different, use our guide to understanding your payslip to check your tax code and deductions, and our NHS pension guide for what the contributions buy. For the other bands, see our NHS pay bands and take-home pay guide.
Rates and pay scales change each year, and a new NHS pay award, tax year and pension tiers arrive from April 2027, so check the current figures before you rely on any of them for a decision. This is general information, not personal financial advice.