NHS band 6 take-home pay

A band 6 nurse, midwife or therapist in England takes home about £2,350 a month on the entry point of £39,959 in 2026/27 if they pay into the NHS Pension Scheme and have a Plan 2 student loan. Without a loan it is about £2,430. At the top point, £48,117, take-home pay is about £2,725 with a Plan 2 loan or £2,866 without. Those figures are basic pay only, before any unsocial hours enhancements.

Take-home pay at each band 6 point

The figures assume a 1257L tax code, England, full-time hours of 37.5 a week and the 2026/27 pay scale from NHS Employers. Everything is worked out on the full annual figure and divided by twelve.

Pay point	Gross salary	Monthly take-home, no loan	Plan 2 loan	Plan 5 loan
Entry (2 years)	£39,959	£2,429.77	£2,350.47	£2,317.58
Intermediate (3 years)	£42,170	£2,547.99	£2,452.10	£2,419.21
Top	£48,117	£2,865.96	£2,725.47	£2,692.58

All three points fall in the 9.8% NHS pension tier, which covers pensionable pay from £35,156 to £52,778. The tier is set from your actual pensionable pay, so a part-time band 6 worker is placed by what they really earn. The top of band 5 (£39,043) is in the same tier, so moving up from band 5 to band 6 does not change your pension rate. Band 5 take-home pay shows the tier change that happens earlier, at the top of that band.

One year at the entry point

Take a band 6 entry salary of £39,959 and a Plan 2 loan. Over a year the deductions are:

• NHS pension at 9.8%: £3,915.98
• Income Tax at 20% on £39,959 less the pension less £12,570: £4,694.60
• National Insurance at 8% on pay above £12,570: £2,191.12
• Plan 2 student loan at 9% on pay above £29,385: £951.66

That leaves £28,205.64, or £2,350.47 a month. The pension is deducted before tax, so it cuts your Income Tax bill. National Insurance and the student loan are charged on the full salary. Student loan Plan 2 repayments explains how the threshold is applied each payday.

A worked example with unsocial hours

Band 6 jobs on wards, in community teams and in ambulance services often include nights and weekends. In England the handbook adds 30% of basic pay for time worked on Saturdays and between 8pm and 6am on weekdays, and 60% for Sundays and public holidays. The enhancement is worked out on basic salary only, it is pensionable, and it usually arrives a month in arrears.

Say you are on the intermediate point, £42,170, and enhancements come to £3,000 over the year. That is a hypothetical figure, not an average, because rotas differ widely.

	Basic pay only	With £3,000 of enhancements
Gross pay	£42,170	£45,170
Pension (9.8%)	£4,132.66	£4,426.66
Income Tax	£5,093.47	£5,634.67
National Insurance	£2,368.00	£2,608.00
Plan 2 loan	£1,150.65	£1,420.65
Monthly take-home	£2,452.10	£2,590.00

The extra £3,000 gross adds £137.90 a month, about 55 per cent of it. Without a student loan the same enhancements add £160.40 a month. Overtime above 37.5 hours is paid at time and a half for bands 1 to 7, but the extra half is not pensionable, so overtime pay is taxed and charged National Insurance without raising your pension rate.

Where band 6 sits against the tax thresholds

The higher rate of Income Tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland starts at £50,270. Your taxable pay is your salary minus your pension contribution, so even the top point of £48,117 gives taxable pay of about £43,400. You would need about £56,300 of pensionable pay before anything is taxed at 40%. National Insurance falls to 2% only above £50,270 of gross pay, which band 6 also stays under.

In Scotland the Scottish bands apply instead, with a 42% higher rate starting at £43,663, and NHS Scotland has its own pay scale and pension tiers. Band 6 pay in England runs above £43,663, so a move north changes your tax. The Scottish tax codes guide explains the S code.

London and other additions

The high cost area supplement in London is pensionable and raises your gross pay, which can change the numbers above. London weighting for NHS staff lists the rates, and the take-home pay calculator works out your own case with enhancements, supplements and a different loan plan.