Resident doctor pay after tax 2026/27
- Tax year: 2026/27. Tax code: 1257L. Income tax nation: England.
- Pension: NHS Pension Scheme contribution at the tier for the selected pay. Student loan: none unless selected in the calculator.
- Full-time basic pay, for a full tax year. Money is rounded to the nearest penny.
This calculator works out take-home pay for resident doctors in England on the 2026/27 national pay scale. It starts from basic salary at each nodal point, then takes off the NHS Pension contribution, income tax and National Insurance. Each grade has its own page with the figures for every stage of training.
| Rank or grade | Starting salary | Top salary | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation Doctor Year 1 | £41,226 | £41,226 | £2,497.67 to £2,497.67 |
| Foundation Doctor Year 2 | £47,610 | £47,610 | £2,839 to £2,839 |
| Core training | £55,355 | £67,998 | £3,245.31 to £3,741.67 |
| Specialty training | £55,355 | £77,348 | £3,245.31 to £4,135.15 |
The England pay scale
Pay for doctors in training in England is set by the 2016 contract and published by NHS Employers in the medical and dental pay circular. For 2026/27 the government accepted the pay review body's recommended rise to every pay point from 1 April 2026.
The same circular restructured the nodal pay points from five to ten, lined up with the stages of training. A doctor's pay now follows their stage, such as FY2 or ST4, more closely than before. The circular is listed on the sources page with the date it was checked.
What basic pay leaves out
The figures are basic salary only. The 2016 contract adds several payments on top: a weekend allowance for doctors rostered to work weekends often enough, an on-call availability allowance for on-call rotas, an enhancement for certain hours, flexible pay premia for some specialties and training routes, and a yearly allowance for doctors training less than full time. All of these are taxed as pay, so a doctor on a busy rota takes home more than the table shows.
The NHS Pension contribution rate is set by tier, from the doctor's actual pensionable pay. The NHS pension calculator shows the rate and what it builds for a given salary.
Scotland
NHS Scotland publishes its own resident doctor scale under a two-year pay agreement covering 2025 to 2027. For 2026/27 it has three pay positions for FY1, three for FY2, and ten resident doctor positions after the foundation years. Doctors in Scotland pay Scottish income tax and contribute to the NHS pension scheme run by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, which has its own tiers.
Wales and Northern Ireland
Wales has a new resident doctor contract for 2026. Doctors move onto its pay scale from 1 August 2026 under transitional arrangements, and the older contract closes to new entrants from that month. The new Welsh scale has one rate each for F1 and F2 and a registrar scale covering ten years of training, with each pair of years sharing a pay point.
A 2026/27 scale for Northern Ireland had not been published when the figures were last checked, so it is not included. The general take-home pay calculator works for any salary.
Questions
Are extra hours and allowances included?
No, the table shows basic salary. Weekend, on-call and other payments under the 2016 contract are added on top and taxed as pay.
Why did the England nodal points change?
Under an agreement between the government and the BMA, the nodal points were restructured from five to ten for 2026/27, matched to stages of training.
Are the Scottish and Welsh scales the same as England's?
No, Scotland and Wales publish their own scales, with different pay points and amounts. Northern Ireland also sets its own, but its 2026/27 scale is not included here.