Private and lance corporal pay 2026/27

Take-home pay a month

£1,930.37

£23,164.44 a year from a salary of £27,282.00

Your details

Where you pay income tax EnglandWalesNorthern IrelandScotland

Pay level Initial Pay — Trade Supplement 1Initial Pay — Trade Supplement 2Initial Pay — Trade Supplement 3Initial Pay — Trade Supplement 4OR2-01 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-01 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-01 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-01 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-02 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-02 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-02 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-02 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-03 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-03 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-03 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-03 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-04 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-04 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-04 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-04 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-05 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-05 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-05 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-05 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-06 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-06 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-06 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-06 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-07 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-07 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-07 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-07 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-08 / OR3-01 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-08 / OR3-01 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-08 / OR3-01 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-08 / OR3-01 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-09 / OR3-02 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-09 / OR3-02 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-09 / OR3-02 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-09 / OR3-02 — Trade Supplement 4OR2-10 / OR3-03 — Trade Supplement 1OR2-10 / OR3-03 — Trade Supplement 2OR2-10 / OR3-03 — Trade Supplement 3OR2-10 / OR3-03 — Trade Supplement 4

Share of full time %

Percent of a full-time post

Student loan NonePlan 1Plan 2Plan 4 (Scotland)Plan 5 Postgraduate loan as well

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Where your salary goes

	A year
Salary	£27,282.00
Income tax	£2,940.60
National Insurance	£1,176.96
Take-home pay	£23,164.44

How this was worked out

1. Salary: £27,282
2. Personal allowance: £12,570. Payroll applies it as tax code 1257L, which gives £12,579 of tax-free pay.
3. Taxable income: £27,282 − £12,579 = £14,703
4. Basic rate: £14,703 × 20% = £2,940.60
5. Income tax: £2,940.60
6. National Insurance: (£27,282 − £12,570) × 8% = £1,176.96
7. Take-home pay: £27,282 − £2,940.60 − £1,176.96 = £23,164.44

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.

OR2 and OR3 cover the most junior trained ranks in the Regular Forces. Pay runs from £27,282 to £41,164 in 2026/27, which leaves roughly £1,930.37 to £2,763.29 a month after income tax and National Insurance.

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

Who is on this scale

The Ministry of Defence rank glossary places a Private in the Army, an Able Rating in the Royal Navy, a Marine in the Royal Marines and the Junior Technician, Leading Aircraftman and Senior Aircraftman grades of the RAF at OR2. Lance Corporal is OR3. The Royal Navy has no OR3 rank.

The two ranks share one run of pay. The top three OR2 levels are the same rows as the three OR3 levels, so a lance corporal is paid at the upper end of the private's scale.

How the levels climb

The table has 11 rows, starting with Initial Pay. Initial Pay and the first OR2 level pay the same, and so do the second and third levels. After that each level adds more, and the trade supplements begin to separate from the fourth level onwards.

Every OR2 and OR3 salary is taxed at the basic rate only for a taxpayer outside Scotland. For a Scottish taxpayer, part of the pay falls in the intermediate rate band from the fourth level up.

Student loans at the lowest levels

The lowest levels sit under the Plan 2 repayment threshold for 2026/27, so a graduate on Plan 2 repays nothing there from base pay. From the fourth level up, repayments start. Plan 5 has a lower threshold and applies at every level. The student loan repayment calculator works out the amount for each plan.

Questions

What does a private take home a month?

About £1,930.37 a month at the start of the scale in 2026/27, after income tax and National Insurance. There is no pension deduction.

Is a lance corporal paid more than a private?

A lance corporal is paid on the three highest levels of the shared scale, which are also the top of the private's range. The rank does not add a separate premium in the base pay table.

Does the trade supplement matter at this rank?

From the fourth level upwards, yes. Below that, every supplement pays the same salary.