NHS take-home pay calculator
Pick your Agenda for Change band for a starting point, then fine-tune. We apply income tax, National Insurance and your NHS pension contribution to show what actually lands in your bank.
An NHS staff member on around £38,000 (a typical Band 6) contributing 10.7% to the NHS Pension Scheme takes home roughly £27,626.80 a year — about £2,302 a month — after income tax, National Insurance and pension. NHS pension contributions are tiered by pensionable pay (roughly 5% to 12.5%), so set yours below to match your payslip.
- Personal allowance
- £12,570
- Applies in
- England, Scotland & Wales supported
- Calculation
- NHS Pension via net-pay (reduces tax, not NI)
Salaries are typical 2025/26 examples — adjust the slider to your exact figure. NHS pension contributions are tiered by pay; confirm your rate on your payslip or at the NHS pension cost page.
Parsed as: 1257L (£12,570 allowance, England & NI)
Taken before tax — reduces your income tax, but not your NI.
How NHS pay is taxed
NHS pay runs through PAYE like any employment: income tax and National Insurance come off first. The distinctive part is the NHS Pension Scheme, which is a net-payarrangement — your contribution is taken before income tax, so it reduces your tax bill (but not your NI). That’s already built into the figures above.
Contribution rates are tiered by pensionable pay, currently ranging from around 5% to 12.5%. Because higher earners pay a higher percentage, the take-home difference between bands is smaller than the headline salary gap suggests. It’s a career-average scheme, so what you pay now builds a guaranteed inflation-linked pension — see how pension contributions save tax.
Questions people ask
For others like you
Sources: NHS Pension Scheme contribution rates — NHSBSA · NHS Agenda for Change pay — gov.uk · Income tax rates — gov.uk