Band 5 is where most newly qualified nurses, midwives and many allied health professionals start. Pay for 2026/27 rose by 3.3% from 1 April 2026, so the entry point is now £32,073 a year before deductions.

This guide shows what that becomes on your payslip. It covers Band 5 take home pay at each pay point, the 8.3% pension rate at entry, London weighting, part-time hours, night and weekend shifts, and student loan plans. Use the calculator above to try your own numbers.

In this guide

1. What changed for Band 5 take home pay in 2026/27
2. Who is on Band 5?
3. Band 5 take home pay at a glance
4. Band 5 pay scale for 2026/27
5. How much is Band 5 take home pay a month?
6. Where your Band 5 pay goes
7. NHS Pension at Band 5
8. Band 5 with London weighting
9. How to work out Band 5 take home pay yourself
10. Why Band 5 take home pay jumps at the top point
11. Working part-time at Band 5
12. Nights, weekends and bank holidays at Band 5
13. Overtime and bank shifts
14. Student loan deductions at Band 5
15. Moving up: pay progression at Band 5
16. Three Band 5 take home pay examples
17. Band 5 compared with the bands either side
18. Salary sacrifice and other changes to Band 5 take home pay
19. Ways to increase your Band 5 take home pay
20. Common mistakes when estimating Band 5 take home pay
21. Checking your Band 5 payslip
22. Frequently asked questions
23. Sources

What changed for Band 5 take home pay in 2026/27

Basic pay rose by 3.3% on 1 April 2026, which lifts the Band 5 entry point by roughly £1,024 a year to £32,073. The NHS Pension tier ceilings also rose by 3.8%, so fewer people are pushed into a higher pension rate by the pay rise. The tax rules didn’t change: a £12,570 tax-free allowance, 20% basic rate and 8% employee National Insurance.

The net effect for Band 5 is a modest gain. Our 2026/27 pay rise guide covers the award in each nation, and the pay rise calculator shows what it means for your own salary.

Who is on Band 5?

Band 5 is the usual starting band for newly qualified nurses and midwives. Many allied health professionals begin here too, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers and dietitians. Some healthcare scientists and pharmacy staff also start at Band 5.

It’s also the band that many healthcare assistants aim for. A Band 2 or Band 3 worker who completes a nursing degree or apprenticeship usually moves to Band 5 on qualifying. That’s a big jump in pay, from £27,476 at the top of Band 3 to £32,073 at Band 5 entry.

Job titles vary between trusts, so always check your contract. The band on your contract decides your pay point, not the job title. If you believe your job is under-banded, ask your manager about the job evaluation process, and read our Agenda for Change guide for how banding works.

Band 5 take home pay at a glance

This table puts the most common situations side by side. Every row is a full-time, England-based example unless it says otherwise, and every row uses 2026/27 rules.

Situation	Gross a year	Take-home a month
Entry point, no extras	£32,073	£2,040.21
Middle point	£34,592	£2,177.41
Top point	£39,043	£2,380.80
Entry point, Plan 2 student loan	£32,073	£2,020.05
Entry point, 30 hours a week	£25,658	£1,721.62
Entry point, Fringe zone	£33,677	£2,127.55
Entry point, Outer London	£36,943	£2,268.52
Entry point, Inner London	£38,488	£2,351.10

Band 5 pay scale for 2026/27

Band 5 has three pay points in England. You start at the entry point, move to the middle point after 2 years, and reach the top point after 2 more years. The minimum time to the top is 4 years.

Pay point	Per year	Per month	Per hour
Entry	£32,073	£2,672.75	£16.40
Middle	£34,592	£2,882.67	£17.69
Top	£39,043	£3,253.58	£19.97

These are gross figures. Tax, National Insurance and pension come out before the money reaches your bank. The hourly rates are the official NHS Employers rates for England. If you work in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, your scale is different. See our guide to NHS pay in the other UK nations.

How much is Band 5 take home pay a month?

Band 5 take home pay at the entry point is £2,040.21 a month, or £24,483 a year. At the top point it is £2,380.80 a month. The gap between the two is £340.59 a month.

Pay point	Gross a month	Pension rate	Take-home a month	Take-home a year
Entry	£2,672.75	8.3%	£2,040.21	£24,483
Middle	£2,882.67	8.3%	£2,177.41	£26,129
Top	£3,253.58	9.8%	£2,380.80	£28,570

Notice that the rise from middle to top is smaller than the pay rise suggests. At the top point your pensionable pay crosses £35,155, so your pension rate steps up from 8.3% to 9.8%. More of every extra pound goes into your pension.

Your weekly take-home works out at roughly £469.53 at entry, though most NHS staff are paid monthly.

Where your Band 5 pay goes

At the entry point, 76.3% of your gross pay reaches your bank. The rest goes on three things: NHS Pension, Income Tax and National Insurance.

Line	Per month	Per year	Share of gross
Gross pay	£2,672.75	£32,073	100%
NHS Pension	£221.84	£2,662	8.3%
Income Tax	£280.68	£3,368	10.5%
National Insurance	£130.02	£1,560	4.9%
Take-home pay	£2,040.21	£24,483	76.3%

Income Tax is 20% on pay above the £12,570 personal allowance. National Insurance is 8% on pay between £12,570 and £50,270. Pension contributions come off before tax is worked out, so you pay less Income Tax than you would without the scheme.

NHS Pension at Band 5

Your pension rate depends on your pensionable pay, not your band. At Band 5 entry and middle you pay 8.3% (pay from £28,855 to £35,155). At the top point you pay 9.8% (pay from £35,156 to £52,778).

The cost is £221.84 a month at entry. Because the contribution comes out before tax, your take-home falls by less than that. Without the pension, entry take-home would be about £2,217.68 a month, so the real cost to your pocket is roughly £177.47.

In return, your employer pays 23.7% of your pensionable pay into the scheme. At Band 5 entry that is about £7,601 a year. You also build pension each year equal to one fifty-fourth of your pensionable pay, which is £593.94 at entry.

Want the full picture? Our NHS Pension calculator shows your tier, your yearly cost and what you build. The pension contribution rates guide explains all six tiers.

Band 5 with London weighting

If you work in or near London you also get the High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS). It is a percentage of basic pay, held between a minimum and maximum for each zone. HCAS is taxable and counts as pensionable pay.

Zone	HCAS a year	Annual pay with HCAS	Take-home a month	Extra a month
No HCAS	£0	£32,073	£2,040.21	£0.00
Fringe (5%)	£1,604	£33,677	£2,127.55	+£87.35
Outer London (15%)	£4,870	£36,943	£2,268.52	+£228.31
Inner London (20%)	£6,415	£38,488	£2,351.10	+£310.89

At Band 5 entry the Inner London minimum of £5,794 is higher than 20% of basic pay, so the minimum is what you receive. Extra pay is taxed, so you keep less than the headline amount. Use our London weighting calculator for other bands and zones, or read the full HCAS rates guide.

How to work out Band 5 take home pay yourself

You don’t need a spreadsheet to estimate your Band 5 take home pay. Follow these five steps. The worked figures use the entry point of £32,073 and a standard tax code.

1. Start with gross pay. Take your annual salary: £32,073.
2. Take off pension. Find your tier. At £32,073 the rate is 8.3%, so pension is £2,662. That leaves £29,411 to be taxed.
3. Work out Income Tax. Subtract the £12,570 allowance from £29,411 to get £16,841. At 20% the tax is £3,368.
4. Work out National Insurance. Use your gross pay, not the reduced figure. £32,073 minus £12,570 is £19,503. At 8% that’s £1,560.
5. Subtract and divide. £32,073 less £2,662, £3,368 and £1,560 leaves £24,483. Divide by 12 for £2,040.21 a month.

If you have a student loan, take 9% of pay above your threshold from the result. If you receive HCAS, add it to gross pay in step 1 and check whether it changes your pension tier. The calculator at the top of this page does all of this for you.

Why Band 5 take home pay jumps at the top point

Most pay bands feel smooth as you climb them. Band 5 has a kink. Between the middle and top points, gross pay rises by £4,451 a year, but take-home rises by only £2,441. The reason is the pension tier line at £35,155.

At the middle point your pensionable pay is £34,592, so you pay 8.3%. At the top point it is £39,043, which is above the line, so the whole amount is charged at 9.8%. You also pay 20% tax and 8% National Insurance on the extra.

That doesn’t make the top point a bad deal. A higher pension rate buys you a bigger pension, and your employer pays 23.7% on the larger salary as well. But if you’re budgeting month to month, plan on keeping around 55p of each extra £1 between the middle and top points, not the 76p you keep on average at entry.

Working part-time at Band 5

Part-time pay is your full-time salary multiplied by your hours divided by 37.5. A 30-hour week is 80%, so the entry salary becomes £25,658 a year.

Weekly hours	Pro-rata pay a year	Pension rate	Take-home a month
37.5	£32,073	8.3%	£2,040.21
30	£25,658	6.5%	£1,721.62
22.5	£19,244	6.5%	£1,364.54

Your pension tier uses your actual pay. At 30 hours, entry pay is £25,658, which sits in the 6.5% tier. Dropping hours cuts take-home by less than the share of hours you give up, because tax and pension both fall. Try your own pattern in the part-time pay calculator.

Nights, weekends and bank holidays at Band 5

Band 5 gets +30% for Saturdays and for weekday hours between 8pm and 6am, and +60% for Sundays and public holidays. At the entry rate of £16.40 an hour, that is £21.32 and £26.24.

A 12-hour Sunday shift at the entry rate pays £314.88 before tax, compared with £196.80 on a plain-rate day. On a 7pm to 7am weekday night shift, ten of the twelve hours attract the +30%. Hours between 7pm and 8pm, and between 6am and 7am, are paid at the plain rate.

Shift work is a big part of Band 5 pay on wards. A nurse working a pattern with one Sunday and two weekday nights a month will see the extra rows on the payslip as separate enhancement lines.

Our unsocial hours guide lists every band, and the unsocial hours calculator totals up your own rota.

Overtime and bank shifts

Overtime is paid at time and a half, with double time on general public holidays. At entry that is £24.60 and £32.80 an hour. Part-time staff get the plain rate for extra hours up to full-time hours, and overtime rates apply after that.

Bank shifts are different. Your trust sets the rate, so check its rate card. Extra pay is taxed at your top rate, so a basic-rate taxpayer keeps about 72p of each extra £1. If you have a student loan, it is nearer 63p. Read more in our guide to bank shift pay and overtime rules.

Student loan deductions at Band 5

Repayments are 9% of pay above your plan’s threshold, or 6% for a postgraduate loan. The figures below are for the entry point.

Plan	Threshold	Repayment a month	Take-home a month
Plan 1	£26,900	£38.80	£2,001.41
Plan 2	£29,385	£20.16	£2,020.05
Plan 4	£33,795	£0.00	£2,040.21
Plan 5	£25,000	£53.05	£1,987.16
Postgraduate	£21,000	£55.37	£1,984.84

At this pay point, Plan 4 pays nothing because the threshold is above the salary. You can check your plan on your student finance account. Our student loan deductions guide explains each plan, and the repayment calculator lets you test your own pay.

Moving up: pay progression at Band 5

You move to the next pay point on your pay-step date, normally the anniversary of starting in the band. It is not always your start date, so ask payroll to confirm yours in writing.

Progression depends on more than time served. Most trusts expect a review and evidence that you meet the skills and performance needed for the post. Our pay progression guide walks through what usually happens.

Over 4 years, gross pay at Band 5 rises by £6,970. After deductions, take-home rises by £4,087 a year. Band 5 is one of the few bands with a four-year climb, so planning your first review early pays off.

Three Band 5 take home pay examples

Real situations are rarely the plain entry-point case. These three examples show how the same band can produce quite different pay.

Example 1: a newly qualified nurse in the Midlands. She works 37.5 hours on the entry point with no student loan. Her Band 5 take home pay is £2,040.21 a month.

Example 2: a physiotherapist in Inner London on 30 hours. He earns £30,790 a year after HCAS and a pro-rata salary, pays 8.3% into the pension, and has a Plan 5 student loan. His take-home is £1,926.91 a month. The London weighting more than offsets the shorter week, but the loan takes £43.43 a month.

Example 3: a nurse at the middle point with a Plan 2 loan. Two years in, her pay is £34,592. Pension is still 8.3%. The Plan 2 repayment is £39.05 a month, so take-home is £2,138.36.

Compare each with the headline figure on your payslip. Small differences of a few pounds usually come from rounding or a different tax code. Larger gaps are worth a conversation with payroll.

Band 5 compared with the bands either side

Moving from Band 4 to Band 5 matters most for people who start as a healthcare assistant and then train. The Band 4 top point is £31,157, so the Band 5 entry point is only £916 higher. A move to Band 6 is bigger. Entry pay rises from £32,073 to £39,959, and take-home rises by about £389.57 a month.

You can see the next step in our Band 6 take home pay guide.

You can compare every band on the NHS pay bands page.

Salary sacrifice and other changes to Band 5 take home pay

Several things can move your Band 5 take home pay up or down: a cycle to work scheme, a car lease, extra shifts, a change of hours or a new tax code. A salary sacrifice of £600 a year lowers entry take-home by roughly £32.68 a month for a benefit worth £50 a month. The saving comes from tax and National Insurance.

Check what a scheme does to your pensionable pay before you sign. Try the salary sacrifice calculator, or read about how the schemes work.

Ways to increase your Band 5 take home pay

Band 5 take home pay is set mostly by your pay point, but a few things are in your control.

• Reach your pay-step date. Moving from entry to middle adds £137.20 a month. Make sure your review happens on time.
• Pick up enhanced shifts. One 12-hour Sunday shift pays £118.08 more than the same shift on a weekday.
• Check your London weighting. If your work base is in an HCAS zone and you aren’t being paid it, ask HR straight away.
• Work extra hours as overtime or bank. Overtime rates apply after full-time hours, and bank rates depend on your trust.
• Review your tax code. An old or wrong code can cost you money every month. Tell payroll if it changes after a second job.
• Look at promotion. Band 6 entry pay is £7,886 a year higher than Band 5 entry.

Be realistic about extra work. A basic-rate taxpayer keeps about 72p of each extra £1, and less with a student loan. Rest matters too, so don’t rely on extra shifts to fix a monthly gap.

Common mistakes when estimating Band 5 take home pay

People often get their Band 5 take home pay wrong in the same few ways.

• Using the gross figure from a job advert and forgetting pension, tax and National Insurance.
• Applying one pension rate to every pay point. Rates change when pay crosses a tier line.
• Forgetting that HCAS is taxed and counts towards your pension tier.
• Assuming a student loan is taken from net pay. It’s calculated on gross pay above the threshold.
• Using the wrong hours. A 30-hour week is 80% of full-time, not 75%.
• Expecting the same figure every month. Overtime, enhancements and tax code changes all move it around.

A calculator gives an estimate. Your payslip is the final word, so compare the two and ask payroll about any gap you can’t explain.

Checking your Band 5 payslip

Four checks catch most mistakes. First, make sure your band and pay point match your contract. Second, compare the hours paid with your roster. Third, confirm your pension rate is 8.3% at entry. Fourth, check your tax code, which is normally 1257L for one job.

If a line looks wrong, tell payroll in writing and keep a copy. Our guides on the NHS payslip and on overpayments and underpayments explain what to do next.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• NHS Employers: pay and pensions
• NHS Business Services Authority: NHS Pension Scheme
• GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and allowances
• GOV.UK: National Insurance rates and categories

• GOV.UK: student loan repayments

• Our own sources and methodology page explains how every figure here is calculated.