How the 2026 public sector pay awards change take-home pay

The 2026 awards add roughly £48 to £63 a month to take-home pay at the example salaries below, against gross rises of £76 to £99 a month. NHS staff in England and council and school support staff on NJC terms got 3.3% from 1 April 2026. Police constables got 3.5% from 1 September 2026, and teachers in England were awarded 3.5% from the same date. You keep about 53 to 67 per cent of each rise once pension, tax, National Insurance and any student loan are taken.

The awards in brief

Group	Award	Effective	Status on 23 October 2026
NHS Agenda for Change, England	3.3%	1 April 2026	Paid in April salaries
NJC (council and school support staff)	3.3%	1 April 2026	Agreed, paid at each employer’s own pace
Police constables, England and Wales	3.5%	1 September 2026	Confirmed
Teachers, England	3.5%	1 September 2026	Accepted, awaiting the pay document

The NHS pay award guide covers the other nations, and the NJC award guide lists pay points. Scotland has its own deals, which this page does not work through.

What each award adds to a month

These examples are hypothetical full-time workers with a 1257L code in England. Old salaries are worked back from the 2026/27 rates by dividing out the award, so they can be a pound out. Both salaries are taxed under 2026/27 rules, which isolates the effect of the rise itself. Each example is in its own pension scheme: NHS at 8.3%, local government at 5.8% or 6.5%, teachers at 7.4% and police at 12.88%.

Example	Salary before	Salary after	Extra gross a month	Extra take-home, no loan	Extra take-home, Plan 2
NHS band 5 entry	£31,049	£32,073	£85.33	£55.77	£48.09
NJC point 10	£27,694	£28,608	£76.17	£51.30	£51.30
NJC point 20	£32,597	£33,673	£89.67	£59.89	£51.82
Teacher, first main scale point	£32,917	£34,069	£96.00	£63.44	£54.80
Police constable, PP3	£33,789	£34,972	£98.58	£60.82	£51.94

NJC point 10 pays nothing towards a Plan 2 loan before or after the rise, because the salary stays below £29,385. The NJC salaries are the calculated 2025/26 figures and the 2026/27 rates on the NJC award page. The teacher figures use the first point on the main pay range in the STRB recommendation the government accepted.

Why the cash is smaller than the headline

Take the NHS band 5 entry nurse with a Plan 2 loan. A rise of £1,024 a year adds £85.33 a month before deductions. Of that, £7.08 goes to a larger pension, £15.65 to Income Tax, £6.83 to National Insurance and £7.68 to the student loan, leaving £48.09. How much of a pay rise do you actually keep? explains the marginal rates behind this.

Police constables put £12.70 a month more into the pension, the most of the five examples, because 12.88% of the rise goes into the scheme. With no loan they keep about 62 per cent of the rise, against 66 to 67 per cent for the NJC and teacher examples.

Student loan thresholds matter here. The Plan 2 threshold is held at £29,385 until the end of 2029/30, so as awards raise pay, more of each year’s pay sits above it and more of each rise is repaid.

When the money arrives

NHS staff in England already have it. For council and school support staff the Devon notice told maintained schools the increase would arrive with September pay, backdated to April, and other employers may differ. The 2026 teachers’ pay document was published on GOV.UK on 16 October 2026 and applies from 1 September 2026, so maintained schools apply the new rates, backdated where needed. Academies may move earlier or later.

Arrears are taxed through PAYE in the month they are paid. A six-month NJC backdate on point 10 comes to about £457 gross, from £76.17 a month. Net of deductions it is roughly £308. How backdated pay awards are taxed explains why the month can look heavily taxed.

Check your own payslip

If your payslip does not show the new rate, ask payroll for the date and a breakdown of arrears. The take-home pay calculator works out a before and after for your own salary, pension scheme and loan plan.