NHS Bank Holiday Pay Calculator

For NHS staff on Agenda for Change who work bank holidays: choose your band and the shift, and see the enhancement, the total pay and the time off in lieu you should be owed. FrontlinePay is independent.

Short answer

Hours worked on a bank holiday are paid at your basic rate plus 94% (Band 1), 83% (Band 2), 69% (Band 3) or 60% (Bands 4 to 9) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, from midnight to midnight (Handbook Section 2, Table 2). A 12-hour shift for a Band 5 nurse on the bottom pay point earns about £118.08 in enhancement on top of £196.80 basic pay. If the holiday was deducted from your public holiday balance you are also owed equivalent time off in lieu (paragraph 13.4).

Your pay and your shift

The bank holiday rate is the same in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own table.

We use £16.40 an hour for this band and point. Enter your own to override it. Basic pay only: high cost area supplement is not included in the enhancement.

The shift

For a night shift that starts the evening before a bank holiday, enter that evening.

Automatic uses the gov.uk dates.

Matters if the shift passes midnight.

This decides whether time off in lieu is due. Your rota system or leave record shows it.

For the yearly total.

Blank means full-time (37.5). Used for the after-tax estimate.

Enhancement for this shift

£113.16 on top of basic pay

Band 5 in England: Sundays and public holidays are time plus 60%. Friday, 25 December 2026 is Christmas Day.

Paid hours (11.5 hours)£188.60
11.5 hours at time plus 60%£113.16
Total pay for the shift, before tax£301.76

Every hour is Sunday or a public holiday, paid at 60%.

Time off in lieu

11.5 hours

The holiday was deducted from your public holiday balance, so equivalent time off at plain time rates is due on top of the enhanced pay (Handbook 13.4; NHS Employers guidance, August 2025).

Christmas and New Year at a weekend

Handbook paragraph 2.28 says that when Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day falls on a weekend, arrangements must keep three public holidays in the period, and Annex 25 sets out what applies when staff work them. This tool does not model Annex 25. If the day is a weekend, set the public holiday boxes yourself and check with payroll.

Over a year

1 shift like this£113.16 gross
After income tax, National Insurance and pensionabout £73.97

Estimated on top of your Band 5 basic pay with the 2026/27 engine. Unsocial hours payments are pensionable (paragraph 2.14), so the NHS pension contribution is taken from them too, and they add to your pensionable pay.

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The bank holiday rate by band

These are the percentages added to your basic hourly rate for every hour that falls on a public holiday. Only one rate applies to any hour (paragraph 2.12), so a bank holiday that is also a Sunday is not paid twice.

Pay bandEngland, Wales, Northern IrelandScotland
Band 1time plus 94%double time
Band 2time plus 83%time plus 88%
Band 3time plus 69%time plus 74%
Bands 4 to 9time plus 60%time plus 60%

Two worked examples

Both use a Band 5 nurse on the first pay point in England (basic £16.40 an hour, from the 2026/27 pay scale), on Good Friday 2027 (26 March).

ShiftPaid hoursBasicEnhancementTotal
Friday 07:00 to 19:0012£196.80£118.08£314.88
Thursday 20:00 to Friday 08:0012£196.80£98.40£295.20

In the night shift, the four hours before midnight on Thursday are paid at the weekday night rate (30%) and the eight hours after midnight on Good Friday at the bank holiday rate (60%). If the holiday was deducted from the nurse's public holiday balance, time off in lieu is due: 12 hours for the day shift, and between 8 hours (the time worked on the holiday) and 12 hours (the whole shift) for the night shift, depending on how the trust records it.

How we calculate: method, assumptions and sources

Rates. The percentages are Table 2 in Section 2 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (version 63, published 1 October 2026), checked against the England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland versions of the section on 19 October 2026. Hourly rates come from the 2026/27 Agenda for Change pay scales held in our pay data: annual basic pay divided by the full-time week (37.5 hours, or 36 in Scotland) and 52.143 weeks, rounded to the penny. Enhancements use basic pay only, as paragraph 2.8 requires.

Hour by hour. Each minute of the shift is classified as plain time, night or Saturday, or Sunday or public holiday, and priced at one rate only. Unpaid breaks are taken off pro rata across the shift because we cannot know when you take them. Bank holiday dates come from the gov.uk list for 2026 to 2028 for your nation, and you can override either day if your trust treats a date differently.

Time off in lieu. Paragraph 13.4 gives staff who work on a general public holiday equivalent time off at plain time rates, in addition to the pay. NHS Employers' guidance (August 2025) says the time is due if the holiday was deducted from your balance, and not due if it was not deducted or your holidays are consolidated into one leave pot. The guidance does not give an hours formula and has no example of a shift crossing midnight into a holiday, so for those shifts we show a range rather than one figure.

After tax. The yearly after-tax figure uses the same 2026/27 income tax, National Insurance and NHS Pension engine as our other calculators, treating the enhancement as extra pay on top of basic pay, with the pension contribution for your band's tier taken from it.

⚠What this tool does not model

It does not apply Annex 25 (Christmas and New Year holidays at weekends), local bank or agency rates, on-call payments, overtime for hours above 37.5 in a week, or the unforeseen change payment. Your trust's own public holiday and leave policy decides how time off in lieu is recorded. FrontlinePay is independent and not payroll advice: if your payslip does not match, ask payroll for the calculation in writing, then your union representative.

Sources. NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (Sections 2, 3 and 13); NHS Employers, public holidays and time off in lieu guidance; NHS Employers, pay scales 2026/27; gov.uk bank holidays. Last checked 19 October 2026. See our editorial policy.

Frequently asked questions

How much is NHS bank holiday pay? +
Under Section 2 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, every hour worked on a public holiday, from midnight to midnight, is paid at your basic hourly rate plus an enhancement: 94% for Band 1, 83% for Band 2, 69% for Band 3 and 60% for Bands 4 to 9 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland the table is double time for Band 1, 88% for Band 2, 74% for Band 3 and 60% for Bands 4 to 9.
Is NHS bank holiday pay double time? +
Not as part of your standard hours, except for Band 1 in Scotland. For most staff it is time plus 60%, which is 1.6 times basic pay. Double time is the Section 3 overtime rate for hours worked beyond 37.5 in a week on a general public holiday, and overtime and unsocial hours payments do not stack.
Do I get time off in lieu for working a bank holiday? +
Paragraph 13.4 of the Handbook says staff required to work or be on call on a general public holiday are entitled to equivalent time off in lieu at plain time rates, on top of the pay for the duties. NHS Employers' August 2025 guidance says whether it is due depends on whether the holiday was deducted from your leave: if it was, you get the time back, and if it was not, or your public holidays are folded into one leave total, no further time off is due.
How many hours of TOIL do I get for a 12-hour shift? +
If the holiday was deducted from your balance, the guidance points to the hours that were deducted, which for a 12-hour shift you would normally have worked is the hours of that shift. The guidance gives no formula in words, so check your trust's policy. The calculator shows the hours worked on the holiday and, for shifts that cross midnight, the whole-shift figure as the upper end.
What if my night shift starts the evening before the bank holiday? +
The bank holiday rate covers the hours from midnight to midnight on the day itself. The hours before midnight are paid at whatever applies to that evening, usually the weekday night rate from 8pm, and the hours after midnight at the bank holiday rate. The calculator splits the shift in this way. Paragraph 2.11, which applies the night rate to a whole shift when more than half of it falls between 8pm and 6am, is written for weekdays that are not public holidays, so ask payroll to show its working if your payslip differs.
Does bank holiday pay include high cost area supplement? +
No. Paragraph 2.8 says unsocial hours payments are worked out using basic salary plus any long-term recruitment and retention premia, and do not include short-term premia, high cost area supplements or any other payment.
Is bank holiday enhancement pensionable? +
Yes. Paragraph 2.14 says unsocial hours payments are pensionable and count for contractual maternity, adoption and shared parental pay.
Does this work for bank staff and agency workers? +
It shows the Agenda for Change rate. Many trust staff banks pay the same enhancements, but terms are set locally and agency workers are paid under their agency's terms, so use the result as a check against your own contract rather than a promise.

Related tools and guides

NHS Bank Holiday Pay Explained

The rate, the day-by-day rules and time off in lieu in plain English.

Bank Holidays on 12-Hour Shifts and TOIL

Leave hours, part-time staff and shifts across midnight.

NHS Unsocial Hours Calculator

Price a whole rota of nights, weekends and bank holidays.

NHS Overtime Calculator

Time and a half, and double time on public holidays.

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The best days to book around 2027 and 2028 bank holidays.

NHS Annual Leave Entitlement Explained

How the 8 public holidays sit alongside your leave.