When do NHS staff get paid?

The NHS has no national payday. The Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions Handbook says how annual pay is split into instalments, but each employer sets its own pay date, so ask your payroll team or look at your contract and payslip for yours. The Handbook covers both monthly and weekly payment, and payslips are viewed in the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).

What the Handbook does set

Section 7 of the Handbook (version 63) covers payment of annual salaries. It starts by saying employers must make sure pay arrangements comply with national minimum wage rules, including any local agreements.

For a full-time employee paid monthly, each calendar month’s pay is one twelfth of the annual salary. If a daily figure is needed, it is the monthly sum divided by the number of days in that particular month, counting Saturdays and Sundays. That is why a day’s pay in February is worth more than a day’s pay in a 31-day month. For a full-timer paid weekly, the weekly sum is 7/365ths of the annual salary, and the daily figure is the weekly sum divided by 7.

Standard hours for full-time staff are 37.5 a week, excluding meal breaks, as Section 10 says. The Agenda for Change pay bands guide shows what each band is worth.

Part-time and bank staff

Part-time and sessional staff are paid by the same apportionment, except in the month or week when employment starts or ends. In that month or week they are paid for the hours or sessions they worked. Part-time employees get the same entitlements on a pro-rata basis. This guide has not found a national rule on pay dates for bank work, so check with your bank office or payroll.

Joining or leaving mid-month

A full-time employee who joins or leaves part-way through a month is paid for the days involved at that month’s daily rate. Say you leave a trust on the 12th of a 30-day month. Your pay for that month would be 12 days at the monthly sum divided by 30, with the pay date set by your employer.

If you move straight from one NHS employer to another, Section 7 has a rule for weekends and public holidays. When a full-time employee leaves immediately before a weekend or public holiday and joins another NHS employer straight after, the first employer pays for the days in between. The guide to moving between NHS trusts covers what else carries over.

Seeing your payslip

Payslips are viewed and downloaded in ESR. The NHS Business Services Authority tells its own staff that payslips are not posted and are available in ESR five days before payday. They are not sent out to people on long-term sick leave or maternity leave either. People who have left can download their last three months’ payslips, P46 and P60 for three months after their leaving date, through the Leaver Portal. Trusts have their own guidance, so use that over the BSA’s figures if they differ. The payslip guide explains each line, and the take-home pay calculator can check your net figure against it.

If your pay looks wrong

Check the payslip against your contract, your band and point, and any change in hours first. Raise errors with payroll quickly, in writing. The payslip rights guide explains what you are entitled to, and the overpayment guide explains what happens if you were paid too much.

Pay dates for individual trusts, and the timing of overtime and enhancement payments, are not in the national Handbook sections read for this guide, so ask payroll.