NHS Pay
Foundation Doctor Pay 2026/27: FY1 and FY2 Salary
Independent guidance — not affiliated with NHS England or DHSC
This page is for final-year medical students, FY1 and FY2 doctors and anyone trying to work out what a first-job doctor actually takes home. It sets out the 2026/27 basic salary for each foundation year in England, what is added for weekends, nights and on-call, what the pay looks like after tax, and how Scotland and Wales differ. For the whole doctor career ladder from foundation to consultant, see our NHS doctors' pay explained guide, and for the training route itself, how to become a doctor. FrontlinePay is independent: we read the figures from the official pay circulars rather than from job adverts.
Short answer
In England, an FY1 doctor is paid £41,226 and an FY2 doctor £47,610 in basic pay for 2026/27, backdated to 1 April 2026. These are flat figures on nodal points 1 and 2 of the doctors in training scale, not Agenda for Change bands, and they are the same in every specialty. Pay for weekends, nights and on-call comes on top where your rota earns it. Scotland pays £37,316 to £41,977 at FY1, and Wales moved to a new contract from 1 August 2026.
FY1, England
£41,226
Basic pay, nodal point 1, 2026/27.
FY2, England
£47,610
Basic pay, nodal point 2, 2026/27.
FY1 and FY2 pay in England, 2026/27
The Foundation Programme is the two-year, work-based training that follows medical school: FY1 is the first year, FY2 the second. Foundation doctors are paid on the national terms for doctors and dentists in training, and the basic salary for 2026/27 comes from the NHS Employers medical and dental pay circular (M&D) 1/2026, revision 2, which applies from 1 April 2026.
| Year | Nodal point | Basic pay 2026/27 | Per month, before deductions |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY1 | 1 | £41,226 | £3,436 |
| FY2 | 2 | £47,610 | £3,968 |
There is no incremental scale inside each year: everyone in FY1 is on the same figure, and everyone in FY2 on the same figure, regardless of which hospital, specialty or deanery they work in. Two things can change what you receive without changing the nodal point. The first is the rota: weekend working, night work and on-call all attract extra pay, covered below. The second is location: doctors working in and around London can receive the High Cost Area Supplement, which our London weighting and HCAS guide explains for the wider NHS.
A doctor who trains less than full time receives an annual allowance of £1,000 on top of their pro rata salary, paid monthly. The circular is the place to check the detail if you are planning to train less than full time.
What changed in 2026
Foundation pay rose more than the headline award this year. For 2026/27 the government accepted the Review Body's recommendation of a 3.5% increase to doctors in training pay points, and then, following an agreement between the government and the BMA, restructured the nodal point system from five points to ten. NHS England's description of the offer put FY1 at a rise from £38,831 to £41,226 (6.2%) and FY2 from £44,439 to £47,610 (7.1%). In cash terms that is £2,395 a year more for FY1 and £3,171 more for FY2.
The same offer described employers reimbursing foundation doctors' exam, membership and portfolio fees, with exam fee reimbursement covering two attempts, and additional specialty training places. The circular itself sets out pay and allowances only, so if a fee reimbursement matters to you, check how your own trust is applying it.
ℹCheck your payslip for the backdated amount
The new figures apply from 1 April 2026, so a doctor employed since April is owed the difference for each month worked at the old rate if it has not already been paid. Our payslip guide shows how to read the lines, and our back pay calculator can help you check a backdated amount. Raise anything that looks wrong with your trust's medical staffing or payroll team first, with BMA support if needed.
Pay on top of basic: weekends, nights and on-call
This is where two foundation doctors on the same nodal point end up with different payslips. In England, resident doctors on the 2016 contract are not placed in a banding. Instead, separate elements are added to basic pay, and the circular sets each of them out.
Weekend allowance
A doctor rostered to work at least one weekend in eight across the rota cycle receives a weekend allowance, set as a percentage of full-time basic salary. A weekend means a shift or duty period that begins on a Saturday or a Sunday. The allowance is an annual sum for that frequency, not a rate per weekend.
| How often you work weekends | Share of basic | FY1 a year | FY2 a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in 2 | 15% | £6,184 | £7,142 |
| Less often than 1 in 2, up to 1 in 3 | 10% | £4,123 | £4,761 |
| Less often than 1 in 3, up to 1 in 4 | 7.5% | £3,092 | £3,571 |
| Less often than 1 in 4, up to 1 in 5 | 6% | £2,474 | £2,857 |
| Less often than 1 in 5, up to 1 in 6 | 5% | £2,062 | £2,381 |
| Less often than 1 in 6, up to 1 in 7 | 4% | £1,650 | £1,905 |
| Less often than 1 in 7, up to 1 in 8 | 3% | £1,237 | £1,429 |
Working weekends less often than one in eight earns no weekend allowance.
Nights and on-call
Hours that fall in the night period attract a 37% enhancement on top of the basic hourly rate. Which hours count is set out in Schedule 2 of the 2016 terms and conditions. A doctor on an on-call rota also receives an on-call availability allowance: £3,299 a year at FY1 and £3,809 at FY2. It is paid for being available, and is only payable to doctors who work on-call rotas as defined in the contract.
As an illustration, an FY1 on basic pay with weekends one in four and an on-call allowance would be paid £41,226 plus £3,092 plus £3,299, which is £47,617 before any night enhancement or extra hours. The equivalent FY2 figure is £54,990. Your own rota decides which of these apply, and they can change when you rotate to a new placement.
England, 2016 contract
Basic pay on a nodal point, plus separately defined weekend allowance, 37% night enhancement and on-call availability allowance. No banding.
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, 2002 contract
Basic pay plus a banding supplement for the hours and how unsocial they are, according to the BMA. Wales moved to a new contract from 1 August 2026.
Our rota take-home calculator turns a repeating rota into a monthly figure for Agenda for Change staff. For doctors, the weekend and on-call tables above are the national figures, so use them to check what your own payslip should show. Our on-call payments guide explains how on-call works for Agenda for Change staff, which is a different system.
Take-home pay for FY1 and FY2
Using the same 2026/27 Income Tax, National Insurance and NHS Pension Scheme rules as our NHS Pay Calculator, here is what basic pay becomes, before any weekend, night or on-call additions and outside a High Cost Area Supplement zone. The NHS Pension Scheme contribution is tiered by pay: 9.8% at FY1 and 9.8% at FY2 on the 2026/27 tiers.
| Year | Gross | NHS Pension | Income Tax | National Insurance | Net a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY1 | £41,226 | −£4,040 | −£4,923 | −£2,292 | ≈£2,498 |
| FY2 | £47,610 | −£4,666 | −£6,075 | −£2,803 | ≈£2,839 |
Most new doctors also have a student loan. Adding a Plan 2 loan, repaid at 9% of pay above £29,385, takes the monthly figure down to about £2,409 at FY1 and £2,702 at FY2. Other plans repay at different thresholds, so use the loan plan on your own statement. Postgraduate loan repayments, if you have one, are separate again.
The pension is worth understanding rather than treating as a cost. Doctors in the NHS Pension Scheme build a career average pension, and contributions are deducted before tax is calculated, which is why the pension line is smaller in real terms than it looks. See our NHS Pension Calculator for a projection.
Registration, and what unlocks FY2
Foundation doctors start FY1 holding provisional registration with the General Medical Council and a licence to practise. NHS Careers says full registration is applied for after completing the first year of the Foundation Programme, and the UK Foundation Programme says that moving into the FY2 year of an approved programme requires full registration. Provisional registration is a step towards full registration, not a long-term status, and the full-registration route sits with your foundation school and employer as well as the GMC.
- ✓ Before FY1: provisional registration with a licence to practise, then your employer's pre-employment checks, as for any NHS post.
- ✓ During FY1: complete the programme's assessments and the sign-off your foundation school requires.
- ✓ Before FY2: hold full GMC registration and check your entry on the GMC register. Do not assume it has been updated.
- ✓ Pay: FY1 and FY2 are different nodal points. Confirm with payroll when your pay moves to the FY2 figure.
If you hold, or expect to hold, full registration before starting, you are not eligible for the two-year Foundation Programme, according to the UK Foundation Programme Office. Doctors who already hold full registration should check the GMC and NHS Careers guidance for their own route.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Foundation pay is devolved, so the England figures above do not apply across the UK. Scotland and Wales each published their own 2026/27 circulars, summarised below.
| Nation | FY1 | FY2 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | £41,226 | £47,610 | NHS Employers circular (M&D) 1/2026 R2 |
| Scotland | £37,316 to £41,977 | £46,286 to £52,340 | Scottish Government PCS(DD)2026/01 |
| Wales, new Resident Contract from 1 August 2026 | £41,400 | £51,750 | Welsh Government M&D(W) 01/2026 |
| Wales, older scale (closed to new entrants from August 2026) | £36,629 to £40,973 | £44,988 to £50,628 | Welsh Government M&D(W) 01/2026 |
Scotland's circular gives a minimum and then incremental points in each foundation year, and the figures are indicators: the actual value for an individual is applied by the NHS payroll system. Scottish doctors in training also receive a banding supplement on top of basic pay for the hours and pattern of their rota. The BMA describes banding as applying to resident doctors on the 2002 contract in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with supplements from 20% up to 100% of basic salary depending on the band, so do not read England's weekend and night tables across to a Scottish post.
Northern Ireland sets its own scales and we have not published a figure for it here. Check HSC Northern Ireland or the BMA for the current table. For Agenda for Change staff, our NHS Scotland pay scales, NHS Wales pay and NHS Northern Ireland pay pages cover those systems, which are separate from doctors' pay.
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What foundation doctors commonly get wrong
Treating the headline salary as monthly income. The £41,226 figure is before tax, National Insurance, pension and any student loan. At FY1 that is roughly £2,498 a month on basic pay alone, and a little over £2,409 with a Plan 2 loan. Plan a budget from the net figure and treat weekend and night pay as variable.
Assuming pay is the same as last year's. Many pay websites and older job adverts still quote £38,831 for FY1. The 2026/27 figure is £41,226. If you are comparing with a trust's job advert, check the date.
Assuming rota pay is guaranteed. The weekend and on-call elements depend on your actual rota, which changes between placements. A rota that earns a 10% weekend allowance in one placement may earn none in the next. Ask for a rota and a work schedule before you start each placement, and check the pay it implies against the circular.
Confusing doctors' pay with Agenda for Change. FY1 is not Band 5 and FY2 is not Band 6. The two systems have different pay points, different unsocial hours rules and different rules on progression, so numbers from our nursing and allied health pay pages cannot be applied to a doctor. Our nursing vs medicine comparison explains the difference in how the pay structures work.
Not checking the backdating. Because the new nodal figures apply from 1 April 2026, any doctor in post at the time has a backdated amount. If your payslip has not shown it, ask payroll.
After foundation: the step to specialty training
After FY2, doctors move into core or specialty training, or into other posts. In England, entry to core or specialty training (CT1 or ST1) sits on nodal point 3a, which is £55,355 for 2026/27, which is £7,745 more than FY2. Later years of training sit on further nodal points, and the full table, with the new ten-point structure, is in our doctors' pay explained guide and the circular. Some doctors take time out or work in trust doctor, clinical fellow or locally employed posts after FY2. Locally employed doctors can be paid on pay arrangements that mirror the training scale, but the circular says there is no requirement to use those values, because local terms are a matter for local determination.
For the wider picture on where medicine leads financially, see our guides to specialty doctor and SAS doctor pay, the consultant pay scale and GP pay. If you are weighing a career in medicine against other clinical routes, see NHS doctors' pay by grade.
Why you can trust these foundation doctor pay figures
- ✓ FY1 and FY2 basic pay, the weekend allowance table, the on-call allowance and the 37% night enhancement are read from the NHS Employers pay circular (M&D) 1/2026 R2, dated 24 July 2026.
- ✓ Scotland's figures are from the Scottish Government circular PCS(DD)2026/01 and Wales's from the Welsh Government circular M&D(W) 01/2026.
- ✓ Take-home figures come from the same tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan rules as our calculators.
- ✓ FrontlinePay is independent and not affiliated with the NHS, the BMA or the GMC. This is a guide to the published rules, not individual advice: check your own payslip and contract, and contact the BMA or your trust's medical staffing team about your case.
Sources: NHS Employers, Pay and Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2026 R2; NHS England, Understanding our offer to resident doctors; Scottish Government, PCS(DD)2026/01; Welsh Government, M&D(W) 01/2026; BMA, how pay banding works; NHS Health Careers, registration for doctors; UK Foundation Programme. Last checked October 2026.
More on doctors' pay and the tools that go with it
NHS Doctors' Pay Explained
Nodal points, consultant pay and how weekend, night and on-call pay add to basic.
Specialty Doctor and SAS Doctor Pay
The 2021 contract scales and what comes after training.
Consultant Pay Scale
Thresholds, on-call supplements and extra programmed activities.
How to Become a Doctor
From medical school through foundation to specialty training.
NHS Doctors' Pay by Grade
FY1 to consultant at a glance.
NHS Pay Calculator
Take-home pay at any level, with student loan and pension.
Frequently asked questions
What do FY1 doctors earn in 2026/27? +
What do FY2 doctors earn in 2026/27? +
Are foundation doctors on Agenda for Change? +
Do foundation doctors get paid extra for nights and weekends? +
Why is the FY2 salary so much higher than FY1? +
Is foundation pay different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? +
Do foundation doctors repay their student loan? +
When do I get full GMC registration? +
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