Money Worked Out

Band 5 nurse pay after tax 2026/27

Estimated take-home pay a month

£2,040.36

£24,484.31 a year from gross pay of £32,073.00

Your details

Full time is 37.5 hours a week

Your NHS pay and deductions
Pay or deductionA yearA month
Basic pay£32,073.00£2,672.75
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£32,073.00£2,672.75
Pensionable pay£32,073.00£2,672.75
NHS Pension (8.3%)£2,662.06£221.84
Income tax£3,366.39£280.53
National Insurance£1,560.24£130.02
Student loans£0.00£0.00
Take-home pay£24,484.31£2,040.36

How this was worked out
  1. Basic pay: £32,073.00 × 37.5 ÷ 37.5 = £32,073.00 a year. Standard week.
  2. Hourly rate shown: £16.40. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Extra hours at plain time: exact hourly rate × hours up to the standard week × 365 ÷ 7 = £0.00 a year. Extra hours rule.
  6. 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.
  7. Gross pay: the five rounded annual components total £32,073.00. 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.
  8. Pensionable pay: basic pay + regular unsocial pay + HCAS + plain-time extra hours up to the standard week = £32,073.00. 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.
  9. NHS Pension tier 3: 8.3% of actual pensionable pay = £2,662.06 a year. This is taken before income tax but does not reduce National Insurance or student loan pay. NHS Pension tiers.
  10. 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.
  11. Salary: £32,073
  12. Pension (net pay): £32,073 × 8.3% = £2,662.06, taken off before tax
  13. Personal allowance: £12,570. Payroll applies it as tax code 1257L, which gives £12,579 of tax-free pay.
  14. Taxable income: £29,410.94 − £12,579 = £16,831.94
  15. Basic rate: £16,831.94 × 20% = £3,366.39
  16. Income tax: £3,366.39
  17. National Insurance: (£32,073 − £12,570) × 8% = £1,560.24
  18. Take-home pay: £32,073 − £3,366.39 − £1,560.24 − £2,662.06 = £24,484.31

A Band 5 nurse in England is paid £32,073 to £39,043 in 2026/27. After the NHS Pension, income tax and National Insurance, that is about £2,040.36 to £2,380.95 a month.

NHS Band 5 pay after tax

What Band 5 nurses do

Band 5 is the usual starting band for a registered nurse. The national job profile for Band 5 nursing describes assessing patients, planning and carrying out programmes of care, giving clinical supervision to other staff and students, and giving health promotion advice. Some Band 5 nurses also allocate and check the work of support staff.

The three points and when they apply

England's Band 5 has 3 points. NHS careers guidance links them to experience: the entry point for under two years, the middle point for two to four years, and the top point after four years.

The top point moves into a higher NHS Pension tier, so the pension deduction rises faster than pay on that step. The NHS Band 5 page has the full table, including Scotland, and shows the tier change row by row.

Band 5 in Wales

A Band 5 nurse in Wales is paid a little more than one in England at each of the three points in 2026/27. The pension tiers line up with England's, so the Welsh nurse keeps slightly more each month on the same hours.

Questions

What does a newly qualified nurse take home?

At the Band 5 entry point in England, about £2,040.36 a month in 2026/27, before any student loan, unsocial hours or overtime.

How long until a Band 5 nurse reaches the top point?

NHS careers guidance gives the top point as applying after four years of experience in the band.

Do Band 5 nurses repay their student loan?

Yes, if the loan is on Plan 2 or Plan 5, because every Band 5 salary is above those thresholds. The repayment is not in the table.