2nd lieutenant and lieutenant pay 2026/27

Take-home pay a month

£2,448.95

£29,387.40 a year from a salary of £35,925.00

Your details

Where you pay income tax

Pay level

Share of full time %

Percent of a full-time post

Student loan Postgraduate loan as well

Where your salary goes
	A year
Salary	£35,925.00
Income tax	£4,669.20
National Insurance	£1,868.40
Take-home pay	£29,387.40

How this was worked out

Salary: £35,925
Personal allowance: £12,570. Payroll applies it as tax code 1257L, which gives £12,579 of tax-free pay.
Taxable income: £35,925 − £12,579 = £23,346
Basic rate: £23,346 × 20% = £4,669.20
Income tax: £4,669.20
National Insurance: (£35,925 − £12,570) × 8% = £1,868.40
Take-home pay: £35,925 − £4,669.20 − £1,868.40 = £29,387.40

The government accepted the AFPRB's 2026 Armed Forces pay award recommendations in full.

Tax year: 2026/27. Tax code: 1257L. Income tax nation: England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Pension: No Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 member contribution is taken from salary. Student loan: none unless selected in the calculator.
Full-time basic pay, for a full tax year. Money is rounded to the nearest penny.

Officers at OF1 are paid £35,925 to £47,351 in 2026/27. After income tax and National Insurance that is about £2,448.95 to £3,134.51 a month.

2nd lieutenant and lieutenant pay 2026/27 Regular Forces pay after tax, 2026/27
Pay level	Trade supplement	Salary	Take-home a year	Take-home a month
OF1-01	—	£35,925	£29,387.40	£2,448.95
OF1-02	—	£42,948	£34,443.96	£2,870.33
OF1-03	—	£44,415	£35,500.20	£2,958.35
OF1-04	—	£45,883	£36,557.16	£3,046.43
OF1-05	—	£47,351	£37,614.12	£3,134.51

Pay scale: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a27f8383b15d05a7ce31f52/AFPRB_55th_Report_2026.pdf

Ranks at OF1

OF1 is Second Lieutenant or Lieutenant in the Army and the Royal Marines, Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and Pilot Officer or Flying Officer in the RAF. A Royal Navy Lieutenant is one grade higher, at OF2, even though the title matches the Army rank.

Officer salaries sit on a single table for all three services, with no trade supplements.

A large first step

The OF1 scale has 5 levels. The rise from the first level to the second is much larger than any later step, worth several thousand pounds a year. After that the levels climb in even amounts.

The whole OF1 scale is in the basic rate band for a taxpayer outside Scotland. In Scotland the upper levels pay the Scottish higher rate on a small slice.

Loans and early career costs

Many officers join after university, and the whole OF1 scale is above the Plan 2 repayment threshold. The student loan repayment calculator shows the monthly repayment at any salary.

Questions

Why is a Navy lieutenant paid more than an Army lieutenant?

They hold different grades. The Royal Navy Lieutenant is OF2, equal to an Army Captain, while the Army Lieutenant is OF1.

What does a new officer take home?

About £2,448.95 a month at the first OF1 level in 2026/27, before any student loan.

Does an OF1 officer pay into a pension?

No, the forces pension scheme takes nothing from salary, at every rank.