Money Worked Out

Band 6 nurse pay after tax 2026/27

Estimated take-home pay a month

£2,429.93

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

Your details

Full time is 37.5 hours a week

Your NHS pay and deductions
Pay or deductionA yearA 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
  1. Basic pay: £39,959.00 × 37.5 ÷ 37.5 = £39,959.00 a year. Standard week.
  2. 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.
  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 £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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  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: £39,959
  12. Pension (net pay): £39,959 × 9.8% = £3,915.98, 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: £36,043.02 − £12,579 = £23,464.02
  15. Basic rate: £23,464.02 × 20% = £4,692.80
  16. Income tax: £4,692.80
  17. National Insurance: (£39,959 − £12,570) × 8% = £2,191.12
  18. Take-home pay: £39,959 − £4,692.80 − £2,191.12 − £3,915.98 = £29,159.10

Band 6 nurses in England earn £39,959 to £48,117 in 2026/27. Take-home runs from about £2,429.93 to £2,866.11 a month once deductions are made.

NHS Band 6 pay after tax

Nursing roles at Band 6

The national job profiles have two Band 6 nursing profiles. One covers nurses who care for patients with complex needs, often in a specialist area or with their own community caseload. The other covers nurses who support and supervise registered and unregistered staff and may run the team when the manager is away.

NHS careers guidance gives school nurse as a Band 6 role, and says district nurses and health visitors typically start at this band.

Pay points and pension

There are 3 points in England's Band 6. The guidance links the entry point to under two years in the band, the middle point to two to five years, and the top point to five years or more. The jump to the top point is the largest step in the band.

All three England points share one NHS Pension tier, so the contribution rate, 9.8%, stays the same across the band. The NHS Band 6 page gives take-home at each point, including the Scottish scale.

Wales

NHS Wales pays slightly more than England at every Band 6 point in 2026/27. The Welsh points stay inside the same pension tier as England's, so the whole difference in pay feeds through to take-home after tax and National Insurance.

Questions

What does a Band 6 nurse take home a month?

From about £2,429.93 at the entry point to £2,866.11 at the top in 2026/27, on basic pay in England.

Does a Band 6 nurse pay higher rate tax?

Not in England on basic pay. The pension comes off first, and taxable pay stays in the basic rate band at every Band 6 point.

Which nurses start on Band 6?

NHS careers guidance says district nurses and health visitors typically start at Band 6, after further training beyond registration.