Which NHS Band Will I Start On?

Starting band by NHS role, 2026/27

The same table the estimator uses, with full-time pay at the bottom of the band on the England scale (choose Wales or Scotland in the estimator for theirs). Scottish figures are in the estimator when you pick Scotland.

Support roles (no degree needed)

Assistant and apprentice routes

Registered professionals (degree and registration)

Other starting points

Sources: NHS Careers role pages (healthcare support worker, adult nurse, paramedic, pharmacist, nursing associate) and FrontlinePay's career guides, checked 7 October 2026. Pay from NHS Employers' 2026/27 pay scales.

Why your band depends on the job, not on you

The NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook (Section 1, England) says all staff on Agenda for Change are assigned to a pay band on the basis of job weight, as measured by the NHS Job Evaluation Scheme. Jobs that match a national profile get the profile's score, and other jobs are evaluated locally. The score decides the band:

That is why two people with the same degree can be offered different bands for different jobs, and why a bigger job title does not by itself mean a higher band. If you think a job is banded too low, see our guide to band regrading and appeals.

Where will I start on the pay scale?

Annex 23 of the Handbook says it is expected that staff new to the NHS will be appointed to the bottom of the relevant pay band, and that the pay step date is the anniversary of the date you started in the band. Previous NHS service counts towards pay step eligibility, and employers can choose to count relevant service outside the NHS. As a worked example, a newly qualified nurse in England starts on £32,073, and in Inner London the High Cost Area Supplement lifts that to £38,488. See how long band progression takes and use the NHS pay calculator for take-home pay.

Starting an NHS job from overseas

Once you are registered with the UK regulator you sit on the same bands and pay points as a UK-trained colleague. Before registration you may be offered a different, support-level job, which has its own band, so read the advert and your offer carefully. If you need a visa, check the Health and Care Worker visa eligibility checker (the usual salary minimum is £25,000, and every band from 2 upwards starts above it), and if the employer is paying for your move, see what a tie-in clause could cost with the return of service calculator. The international relocation calculator puts your pay against UK living costs.

What to do next

• ✓ Find the real band in the advert on NHS Jobs, and the job description's person specification
• ✓ Check the entry route for your target role in the matching how to join the NHS guide
• ✓ Run the take-home pay for that band in the NHS pay calculator
• ✓ Tighten your CV and supporting statement and practise values-based interview questions
• ✓ Read how an NHS supporting statement is written

Method and limits

The estimator is a lookup, not a prediction engine. Each route's band comes from NHS Careers or, where the NHS Careers page did not load, from FrontlinePay's career guides, and each answer names its source. It does not model your qualifications or years of experience, because the Handbook assigns bands to jobs. Pay comes from the same 2026/27 Agenda for Change data as our other pay tools. Pay points between the published entry and top figures in England are interpolated, so use the bottom-of-band figures, which come from NHS Employers. Last updated October 2026. See our editorial policy.