NHS Band 6 pay after tax

A full-time Band 6 salary in England starts at £39,959. After income tax, National Insurance and NHS Pension contributions you take home £2,429.93 a month.

A full-time Band 6 salary in England is £39,959 at entry, £42,170 at the middle point and £48,117 at the top in 2026/27. After deductions that gives £2,429.93 to £2,866.11 a month. In Scotland the Band 6 top point is the lowest NHS point with some pay taxed at the Scottish higher rate.

Estimated take-home pay a month

£2,429.93

£29,159.10 a year from gross pay of £39,959.00

Your details

Where you work

Band

Pay point

Hours a week

Contracted hours, from 1 to 37.5 a week.

I pay into the NHS Pension Scheme

Student loan Postgraduate loan as well

Add nights, weekends, London weighting and extra hours

Use weekly averages for a typical week. Unsocial hours form part of your contracted hours. Put hours above your contract in extra hours.

Night and Saturday hours a week

Part of your contracted hours, after applying the whole-shift rule below.

Sunday and public holiday hours a week

Part of your contracted hours. Do not count these again as night or Saturday hours.

London weighting area (England only)

High cost area supplement (HCAS), scaled to your contracted hours.

Extra hours a week

All hours above your contracted hours, including public holiday extra hours.

Public holiday extra hours a week

The public holiday share of your extra hours. These count as overtime first.

Whole-shift rule: if more than half of a continuous weekday evening or night shift falls between 8pm and 6am, count the whole shift at the first rate. Apply this before entering your night hours. Sunday and public holiday hours use the second rate.

Your NHS pay and deductions
Pay or deduction	A year	A month
Basic pay	£39,959.00	£3,329.92
Nights and weekends	£0.00	£0.00
London weighting (HCAS)	£0.00	£0.00
Extra hours at plain time	£0.00	£0.00
Overtime	£0.00	£0.00
Gross pay	£39,959.00	£3,329.92
Pensionable pay	£39,959.00	£3,329.92
NHS Pension (9.8%)	£3,915.98	£326.33
Income tax	£4,692.80	£391.07
National Insurance	£2,191.12	£182.59
Student loans	£0.00	£0.00
Take-home pay	£29,159.10	£2,429.93

How this was worked out

Basic pay: £39,959.00 × 37.5 ÷ 37.5 = £39,959.00 a year. Standard week.
Hourly rate shown: £20.44. We use the exact rate: full-time salary × 7 ÷ 365 ÷ 37.5. Weekly pay rule. The handbook sets weekly pay as 7/365 of salary but does not fix an hourly divisor for overtime. Your employer may differ by a few pence an hour.
Nights and weekends: exact hourly rate × (0 hours × 30% + 0 hours × 60%) × 365 ÷ 7 = £0.00 a year. HCAS is excluded from the base. Unsocial hours rates.
London weighting (high cost area supplement, HCAS): £0.00 a year. The full-time percentage is limited by the area's minimum and maximum, then multiplied by 37.5 ÷ 37.5. Part-time rule.
Extra hours at plain time: exact hourly rate × hours up to the standard week × 365 ÷ 7 = £0.00 a year. Extra hours rule.
Overtime above 37.5 hours: exact hourly rate × overtime hours × 1.5 (or 2 for public holidays) × 365 ÷ 7 = £0.00 a year. Public holiday extra hours count as overtime hours first, up to the hours above the standard week. Overtime rates.
Gross pay: the five rounded annual components total £39,959.00. We round each annual component once to pennies, half up, combining both unsocial rates and both overtime rates before rounding. Monthly amounts are annual amounts divided by 12, rounded half up.
Pensionable pay: basic pay + regular unsocial pay + HCAS + plain-time extra hours up to the standard week = £39,959.00. Hours above the standard week are excluded, even when paid at plain time. Pensionable extra hours; Regular unsocial pay; Pensionable HCAS. Check your payroll's treatment of regular payments.
NHS Pension tier 4: 9.8% of actual pensionable pay = £3,915.98 a year. This is taken before income tax but does not reduce National Insurance or student loan pay. NHS Pension tiers.
This is a whole-year tax estimate using the standard tax code, rest of UK income tax and the student loans you selected. A monthly payslip can differ.
Salary: £39,959
Pension (net pay): £39,959 × 9.8% = £3,915.98, taken off before tax
Personal allowance: £12,570. Payroll applies it as tax code 1257L, which gives £12,579 of tax-free pay.
Taxable income: £36,043.02 − £12,579 = £23,464.02
Basic rate: £23,464.02 × 20% = £4,692.80
Income tax: £4,692.80
National Insurance: (£39,959 − £12,570) × 8% = £2,191.12
Take-home pay: £39,959 − £4,692.80 − £2,191.12 − £3,915.98 = £29,159.10

Where your employer may differ

The handbook sets weekly pay as 7/365 of salary but does not fix an hourly divisor for overtime. We divide weekly pay by standard weekly hours. Your employer's hourly rate can differ by a few pence.
You apply the whole-shift rule before entering your hours. We do not infer it from a rota.
For England and Wales bands 8a to 9, pay above the standard week is a local arrangement. We show plain time: check your contract.
Local HCAS harmonisation under handbook section 4.6 can change London weighting.
Sickness and annual-leave averaging of enhancements are not modelled.

This calculator does not cover ambulance staff under Annex 5, on-call pay, bank shifts on a separate contract or recruitment and retention premiums. It uses contribution tiers without modelling differences between the 2015, 1995 and 2008 pension sections. Tax is a whole-year estimate with the standard tax code. Your numbers stay in this browser.

Band 6 take-home pay in England, 2026/27
Pay point	Salary	Pension	Take-home a year	Take-home a month
Entry	£39,959	£3,915.98	£29,159.10	£2,429.93
Intermediate	£42,170	£4,132.66	£30,577.67	£2,548.14
Top	£48,117	£4,715.47	£34,393.26	£2,866.11

Pay scale: www.nhsemployers.org/system/files/2026-02/2026%20AfC%20pay%20scales.pdf, effective 1 April 2026

Band 6 take-home pay in Scotland, 2026/27
Pay point	Salary	Pension	Take-home a year	Take-home a month
Point 1	£43,231	£4,236.64	£31,203.48	£2,600.29
Point 2	£45,135	£4,739.18	£32,158.32	£2,679.86
Point 3	£52,679	£5,531.30	£36,303.22	£3,025.27

Pay scale: www.publications.scot.nhs.uk/files/pcs2026-afc-01.pdf, effective 1 April 2026

Band 6 roles

School nurse, experienced paramedic, estates officer, health records manager and clinical psychology trainee are listed as Band 6 examples on the NHS careers pay rates page.

One pension tier across England's Band 6

All three England Band 6 points fall in a single NHS Pension tier, the same one as the Band 5 top point. The contribution therefore grows in step with pay, from £3,915.98 to £4,715.47, with no sudden jump.

The widest gap on the band is between the middle and top points. Moving across it lifts take-home from £30,577.67 to £34,393.26 a year.

Income tax on England's Band 6 is charged at the basic rate only, from £4,692.80 to £6,164.51. The top salary is also below £50,270, so all of the National Insurance, £2,843.76 at the top, is at the main rate of 8%.

Scotland: two tiers and a higher rate slice

The Scottish Band 6 scale pays £43,231, £45,135 and £52,679. A new tier of the Scottish pension scheme begins exactly at the second point, so the deduction there rises to £4,739.18 and only about half of that pay step reaches take-home.

The Scottish top point is high enough for part of the taxable pay to fall in the Scottish higher rate band, taxed at 42%. Income tax there is £7,780.30, and take-home is £36,303.22. That is still more than the England top point leaves, because the Scottish salary is higher. The methodology page sets out each step of the calculation.

Questions

What is Band 6 a month after tax?

In England a full-time Band 6 employee takes home £2,429.93 a month at entry, £2,548.14 at the middle point and £2,866.11 at the top.

Does anyone on Band 6 pay higher rate tax?

Not in England, where every Band 6 point stays in the basic rate band. In Scotland the top Band 6 point has a slice of pay taxed at the Scottish higher rate.

Does the pension rate change inside Band 6?

Not in England, where all three points share one tier. In Scotland the rate steps up at the second point, and the third point stays in that same higher tier.