NHS pay bands 2026/27
The complete Agenda for Change scale for England, effective 1 April 2026. Each band links to a page with its own take-home working, its unsocial-hours rates and its pension tier.
Updated for 2026/27Pay circular effective 1 April 2026 - 31 March 2027
Agenda for Change sets NHS pay as a table you look yourself up in: a band that reflects the job, and a step within that band that reflects time served. There are 12 bands and 31 pay points in total, running from £25,272 to £129,783 a year for full-time work. The scale below is effective 1 April 2026 - 31 March 2027.
A full-time week is 37.5 hours excluding meal breaks, which is what the hourly column is built on. Neither column includes a high cost area supplement — that is added separately, and it is worked out on the annual figure below rather than replacing it.
The 2026/27 pay scale
| Band | Step | Annual | Hourly | Years to next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1closed to new entrants | Entry | £25,272 | £12.92 | — |
| Band 2 | Entry | £25,272 | £12.92 | 2 |
| Band 2 | Top | £25,272 | £12.92 | — |
| Band 3 | Entry | £25,760 | £13.17 | 2 |
| Band 3 | Top | £27,476 | £14.05 | — |
| Band 4 | Entry | £28,392 | £14.52 | 3 |
| Band 4 | Top | £31,157 | £15.93 | — |
| Band 5 | Entry | £32,073 | £16.40 | 2 |
| Band 5 | Intermediate | £34,592 | £17.69 | 2 |
| Band 5 | Top | £39,043 | £19.97 | — |
| Band 6 | Entry | £39,959 | £20.44 | 2 |
| Band 6 | Intermediate | £42,170 | £21.57 | 3 |
| Band 6 | Top | £48,117 | £24.61 | — |
| Band 7 | Entry | £49,387 | £25.26 | 2 |
| Band 7 | Intermediate | £51,932 | £26.56 | 3 |
| Band 7 | Top | £56,515 | £28.90 | — |
| Band 8a | Entry | £57,528 | £29.42 | 2 |
| Band 8a | Intermediate | £60,417 | £30.90 | 3 |
| Band 8a | Top | £64,750 | £33.11 | — |
| Band 8b | Entry | £66,582 | £34.05 | 2 |
| Band 8b | Intermediate | £70,896 | £36.26 | 3 |
| Band 8b | Top | £77,368 | £39.57 | — |
| Band 8c | Entry | £79,504 | £40.66 | 2 |
| Band 8c | Intermediate | £84,346 | £43.14 | 3 |
| Band 8c | Top | £91,609 | £46.85 | — |
| Band 8d | Entry | £94,356 | £48.26 | 2 |
| Band 8d | Intermediate | £100,140 | £51.21 | 3 |
| Band 8d | Top | £108,814 | £55.65 | — |
| Band 9 | Entry | £112,782 | £57.68 | 2 |
| Band 9 | Intermediate | £119,583 | £61.16 | 3 |
| Band 9 | Top | £129,783 | £66.37 | — |
Figures above from: NHS Employers / NHS Staff Council pay circular for 2026/27 (England). Effective from 2026-04-01. This site is not affiliated with the NHS, NHS Employers or the NHS Business Services Authority.
Two things in this table that surprise people
Band 2 has the same figure at its entry step and its top step, and that figure is the same as Band 1. This is not a transcription error and it is not a mistake in the circular — it is what happens when the bottom of the scale is compressed up to the National Living Wage. Progression through Band 2 currently changes nothing about the pay.
Band 1 is closed to new entrants. It still has staff on it and it still has a rate, so it is still listed here — but it cannot be joined.
Every band, in detail
Each band page carries its own steps, its own unsocial-hours rates, its own pension tier and a worked take-home example built from its own numbers.
What is not on this page
The scale above is England only. It does not cover medical and dental staff, who are on a separate contract with their own nodal points, and it does not tell you which band a particular job sits in — that is a job-evaluation question, decided against the NHS Job Evaluation Scheme, and it is not something this site can answer from the pay circular.
For what reaches your account after deductions, see take-home pay. These figures are for NHS staff in ENGLAND. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own Agenda for Change pay values and their own version of Section 2, and the numbers on this page do not apply to them.