Armed forces pay

New recruits joining the British armed forces as other ranks start on £27,282 a year in 2026/27, and new junior officers start on £35,926. Those figures include a 3.6 per cent rise backdated to 1 April 2026, which followed the recommendation of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB). They come from reporting by the Forces Pension Society; the official MoD pay tables were not checked for this page, so confirm against the current recruitment information before relying on them.

Starting pay for 2026/27

Entry route	Starting pay from 1 April 2026
Other ranks (soldiers, ratings, aircraftmen)	£27,282
Junior officers	£35,926

The other ranks figure applies across the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Marines and RAF. It is above the annual equivalent of the National Living Wage, which is £24,853 at 37.5 hours a week, though service hours are not measured in the same way as a civilian job and long days are normal in training and on operations.

How pay is set each year

Pay for the armed forces is not negotiated with unions, and service personnel cannot take industrial action. Instead the AFPRB, an independent body, takes evidence from the MoD, the services and personnel, then recommends a pay award to the government. For 2026/27 the award was 3.6 per cent, paid from 1 April 2026 and backdated where it reached payslips later.

The AFPRB’s remit covers pay for the regular forces up to and including the rank of brigadier or equivalent. Senior officers above that are covered by the Senior Salaries Review Body.

Pay after training

Pay is arranged by rank, and within each rank there are pay levels. You move up a level with time served in the rank, usually once a year, as long as your performance is satisfactory. Promotion moves you onto the scale for the higher rank.

Many trades also attract additional pay. Examples include pay for specialist skills such as flying, diving, submarine service or parachuting, and pay for certain technical trades. These are set out in the tri-service regulations, and the amounts were not part of the sources for this page, so check the current figures with the recruiting office or the service you are joining.

X-Factor

Basic military pay includes an element called X-Factor. It recognises the conditions of service life that civilian jobs do not have: being liable for deployment, the risk of operations, being on duty at any time, frequent moves and limits on personal freedom. X-Factor is built into the pay scales rather than paid separately, so you will not see it as a line on a payslip. Its percentage is reviewed periodically by the AFPRB.

Pension and other benefits

Regular service personnel are members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme. Unlike the NHS, teachers’ and Civil Service schemes, members do not pay contributions out of their salary, which makes a real difference to take-home pay compared with a civilian job on the same gross salary. The scheme is a defined benefit scheme and has its own rules on early departure payments and when the pension can be paid.

Other parts of the package include subsidised accommodation and food, which are charged for but at rates below most civilian rents, and paid annual leave. Charges and allowances change, so the figures you are quoted at the careers office are the ones to use.

Take-home pay

Service personnel pay income tax and National Insurance through PAYE. With no pension deduction, a recruit on £27,282 keeps more of each payslip than a civilian on the same salary who pays into a workplace pension, though accommodation and food charges come off as well. The take-home pay calculator shows the tax and National Insurance side.

The routes in are covered in our profiles for joining the Army as a soldier, the Royal Navy and the RAF. For how the overall package compares with civilian work, see public sector vs private sector pay.