NHS band 5 vs band 6

Band 6 pays more than band 5 at every point. In England from April 2026 band 5 runs from £32,073 to £39,043 and band 6 from £39,959 to £48,117, so the move from the top of band 5 adds £916 a year and from the entry point it adds £7,886. Band 5 is where most newly registered nurses, midwives and allied health professionals start. Band 6 is for experienced staff.

The pay gap point by point

Step	Band 5	Band 6	Difference
Entry	£32,073	£39,959	£7,886
Middle	£34,592	£42,170	£7,578
Top	£39,043	£48,117	£9,074

Band 5 reaches its middle point after two years and its top after a further two, four years in all. Band 6 has its middle point after two years and its top after a further three, five years in all.

Someone who spends four years at band 5 and then gets a band 6 post goes from £39,043 to £39,959, a rise of only £916. The larger gains come from the steps that follow: £42,170 after two years at band 6 and £48,117 after five.

What you keep

Take-home pay rises by less than the gross figure. For an England employee with a 1257L tax code and NHS Pension Scheme membership, both £39,043 and £39,959 are in the 9.8 per cent pension tier, which covers pensionable pay from £35,156 to £52,778. The extra £916 therefore loses about £90 to pension, £165 to income tax at 20 per cent on what is left and £73 to National Insurance at 8 per cent. About £588 reaches your pay packet, roughly 64p in each extra pound. A Plan 2 student loan would take another 9 per cent of the extra, about £82. Basic pay at both points is below £50,270, so the higher rate does not apply to it outside Scotland.

If you move from band 5 entry or the middle point, the pension rate also rises. Those points are in the 8.3 per cent tier, which covers pay from £28,855 to £35,155, so a move to band 6 entry takes you to 9.8 per cent. The band 5 take-home guide works through the monthly figures, and the take-home pay calculator will do band 6 for your own circumstances.

Roles at each band

Health Careers says adult nurses typically start at band 5 on the Agenda for Change scale. Band 6 jobs ask for more: leading a shift, a caseload of your own, or a specialist area. NHS band 5 and NHS band 6 list the roles at each. The band for a job comes from job evaluation, so the job title alone does not settle it.

How people move up

Bands do not overlap, so promotion takes you to the entry point of band 6 whatever step you held at band 5. No national rule says how long you must spend at band 5. Adverts for band 6 usually ask for evidence of leading, teaching students, audit work or a post-registration course, and some trusts run development posts that move from band 5 to band 6 when set competencies are signed off. Applying for a job above your current band covers how to present that evidence and career progression in the NHS covers the wider path.

Scotland and Wales

In Scotland band 5 runs from £34,494 to £42,977 and band 6 from £43,169 to £52,603, so the entry gap is £8,675. Scottish income tax takes a larger share at band 6, where the 42 per cent higher rate begins at £43,663. In Wales the 2026/27 scale is £32,557 to £39,631 at band 5 and £40,559 to £48,841 at band 6. The NHS Scotland pay bands and NHS Wales pay bands guides have every band.

London and the fringe

London supplements add the same percentage to both bands, with a minimum and a maximum. At band 5 entry the supplement takes inner London pay to £38,488. At band 6 entry it takes it to £47,951. The high cost area supplement guide explains the limits.