NHS Band 2 Take-Home Pay 2026/27 After Tax and Pension

If you work as a healthcare assistant, porter, domestic, catering assistant, stores operative or admin assistant on Band 2, the figure on the job advert is not the figure that reaches your bank account. In England Band 2 is a single pay point of £25,272 a year, and after income tax, National Insurance and the NHS Pension a full-time employee takes home about £1,700 a month. This page shows that figure for England, Wales and Scotland, then what a student loan, a post in London or unsocial hours do to it.

Band 2 is the entry band for most support roles, so many people on it are meeting payslips, pensions and tax codes for the first time. In England and Wales the published scale lists the same figure at entry and at the top, so there is no increment to wait for: your basic pay changes only when the national pay award is applied or when you move to Band 3. Scotland has two points, and its second point is reached in the third year of service on the band (Handbook, Scotland Section 1, Table 1a).

This page answers "what lands in my bank account", not "what is the salary". For the pay points themselves, hourly rates and who works at this band, see the Band 2 salary page. Every figure here is for a full-time employee on a standard tax code with no other income, using the 2026/27 tax year, and is explained in how we calculated this. FrontlinePay is independent and not affiliated with the NHS.

Band 2 take-home pay in England, 2026/27

England's table applies to Agenda for Change staff paid on the England pay scale. The pension tier is the one the NHS Pension Scheme in England and Wales applies to your basic pay. All figures are a year unless marked.

Income tax is worked out after the pension has come off (the pension comes out of pay before tax, but not before National Insurance). The monthly figure is the annual figure divided by 12 and the weekly figure divides by 52, so a real payslip will differ by small amounts depending on pay dates, 4-week and 5-week months and your tax code.

Band 2 take-home with a student loan

A student loan repayment is 9% of your pay above the plan's threshold (£26,900 for Plan 1, £29,385 for Plan 2, £25,000 for Plan 5 and £33,795 for Plan 4 in 2026/27), taken through payroll in addition to the deductions above. The table shows monthly take-home after the loan, with the monthly repayment in brackets. Postgraduate loans are separate (6% above £21,000) and are not shown.

Which plan you are on depends on where and when you started your course, not on where you work now. Gov.uk puts English undergraduates who started on or after 1 August 2023 on Plan 5, English students from 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023 and Welsh students from 1 September 2012 on Plan 2, anyone from Northern Ireland on Plan 1 (as are English and Welsh students from before September 2012), and Scottish students on Plan 4. Your student loan statement or payslip shows your plan; the gov.uk plan checker is the official source.

Band 2 take-home pay in Wales

Wales has its own 2026/27 pay scale, taxed at the same rates as England, with the same NHS Pension tiers. Welsh figures are monthly take-home after tax, National Insurance and pension.

Wales does not pay the High Cost Area Supplement, which is an England-only payment. Northern Ireland has its own pay scale and its own pension tiers, so it is not covered by these tables: see NHS Northern Ireland pay 2026/27.

Band 2 take-home pay in Scotland

Scotland is different in three ways at once, and this table uses all three: its own pay scale, Scottish income tax rates (19%, 20%, 21%, 42%), and the nine-tier NHS Pension Scheme (Scotland). It also pays on a 36-hour full-time week from 1 April 2026, which raises the hourly rate but not the annual salary.

Scotland's Band 2 has two points, so the second is a real pay rise of £2,292 a year, but only £116 a month of it reaches you (£191 gross) because the pension moves up a tier at the same time. Scottish income tax is slightly kinder than the England and Wales rates at this pay: the 19% starter rate on the first slice above the allowance makes the tax about £40 a year lower than England's rates would charge on the same taxable pay.

Scottish students are on Plan 4, which starts at £33,795, above both Band 2 points, so a Scottish-educated Band 2 pays nothing on that plan. Students from elsewhere in the UK working in Scotland are on the plan their own country gave them (Plan 5 pays £152.64 a year at the first point).

Scotland's two pension tables (one for members already in the scheme last year, one for new starters and anyone whose pay changes) give the same rate at every Band 2 point, so the table above holds whichever applies to you.

Your NHS Pension tier at Band 2

A full-time Band 2 salary falls in the second England and Wales tier, £13,260 to £28,854, which costs 6.5% of pay. The first tier (5.2%, for pay up to £13,259) sits below any full-time Band 2 salary, so it mostly applies to part-time staff. Wales' single point of £26,300 is in the same tier.

The tier has an edge that matters at this band. Any extra pensionable pay that takes your total over £28,854, such as a London supplement, moves your whole pay to 8.3%. In Scotland the two Band 2 points are in different tiers: 6.4% at £26,696 and 7.0% at £28,988, which sits at the very bottom of the 7.0% tier.

• England and Wales, on basic pay: single point: 6.5%.
• Scotland: point 1: 6.4%; point 2: 7.0%.

Your whole pensionable pay is charged at the rate for the tier it falls in, not just the part above the line. The tier is set by your actual annual pensionable pay, not by the full-time equivalent, which matters for part-timers: see the NHS pro-rata salary calculator. Pensionable pay includes unsocial hours payments and the High Cost Area Supplement, so either can move you up a tier.

Tax, National Insurance and student loans at this pay

At £25,272 you are comfortably in the basic-rate band. The pension comes out first (£1,643), which leaves £23,629 of taxable pay. The first £12,570 of that is covered by the Personal Allowance, so income tax is £2,212. National Insurance is 8% of pay above £12,570, which is £1,016. Together the three deductions take 19.3% of your gross pay.

Each extra pound of pay, whether from unsocial hours or overtime, leaves you with about 67p after the pension (6.5%), income tax (20% of what is left after pension) and National Insurance (8%). Anything that lifts your total pensionable pay over £28,854 changes that, because your whole pay then moves to the 8.3% pension tier.

Student loans barely register at Band 2. The Plan 5 threshold of £25,000 is only £272 below the salary, so a Plan 5 repayment is £24.48 a year, about £2 a month. Plans 1 (£26,900), 2 (£29,385) and 4 (£33,795) all sit above Band 2 pay, so nothing is taken. The deduction is worked out on gross pay, so a London supplement or regular enhancements can start a repayment that basic pay alone would not.

Band 2 in London: HCAS and what it does to take-home

The High Cost Area Supplement is a percentage of basic pay with a minimum and a maximum payment, paid in England only: Inner London 20% (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), Outer London 15% (£4,870 to £6,137) and the Fringe 5% (£1,346 to £2,270). It is pensionable, so it is added to your pay before the pension tier is read. The table shows each zone at each point, with the take-home gain compared with the same point outside London (no student loan).

Band 2 is where London's minimum payments do the work. Twenty per cent of £25,272 is £5,054, below the Inner London minimum, so Inner London pays £5,794, which is 22.9% of basic. Outer London pays its minimum of £4,870 (19.3%) and the Fringe its minimum of £1,346 (5.3%).

Both Inner and Outer London take total pay past £28,854, so the pension rises from 6.5% to 8.3%. Inner London's £483 gross a month is worth £285 to you, and Outer London's £406 is worth £235. The Fringe stays in the 6.5% tier and keeps £75 of its £112.

Which zone you are in depends on where the post is based, using the 2005 Primary Care Trust boundaries set out in Annex 8 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook. See London weighting vs HCAS explained and the HCAS zone explainer.

What unsocial hours add at Band 2

If you work Saturdays, nights (8pm to 6am on weekdays), Sundays or public holidays, you are paid an enhancement on top of the basic hourly rate. The Handbook (Section 2, Table 2) sets Band 2 at time plus 41% for Saturdays and weekday 8pm to 6am, and time plus 83% for Sundays and public holidays in England and Wales. Scotland's Section 2 sets Band 2 higher: time plus 44% and 88%. Only one rate applies to each hour, and the enhancement is worked out on basic pay, not HCAS (Section 2, paragraphs 2.8 and 2.12). Unsocial hours payments are pensionable (paragraph 2.14), so they also count toward your pension tier.

In Scotland the hourly rate is worked out on a 36-hour week, so a standard shift is 7.2 hours: point 1, £14.22 an hour, +£45.05 for a Saturday or night shift and +£90.11 for a Sunday or bank holiday shift; point 2, £15.44 an hour, +£48.92 for a Saturday or night shift and +£97.84 for a Sunday or bank holiday shift.

Band 2 gets the highest percentage enhancement apart from the closed Band 1. A Sunday or bank holiday hour at point 1 is paid at about £23.64 (£12.92 plus 83%), which is more than a Band 4 colleague earns in basic pay for the same hour.

Bank holiday pay has its own rules for time off in lieu and for part-timers: see NHS bank holiday pay explained and unsocial hours payments explained.

An illustration: on single point in England, 4 Saturday or night shifts and 2 Sunday or bank holiday shifts a month (7.5 hours each, all in the enhanced period) add £320 a month before deductions. After tax, National Insurance and pension that is about £179 a month more in your pocket , and the extra pay lifts your pension to 8.3% from 6.5%. The same pattern in Scotland (7.2 hours each) adds £360 gross and about £229 net a month. Your own rota will differ: enter it in the unsocial hours calculator. This assumes the same extra every month for a year; real payslips tax each month cumulatively.

Worked example: England, single point, Plan 5

A full-time healthcare assistant on Band 2 in England who took out a student loan in England from 2023 is on Plan 5. This is what each deduction does to £25,272.

Opting out of the pension would raise this month's take-home to about £1,808, but you would give up the pension you are building and your employer's contribution; see the pension opt-out calculator before deciding.

How we calculated this

FrontlinePay is independent and not affiliated with NHS England, NHS Employers or the Department of Health and Social Care. These figures are illustrations for a full-time employee on a standard tax code, not financial advice, and your payslip is the final word.