NHS Band 3 Take-Home Pay 2026/27 After Tax and Pension

Band 3 is where many healthcare assistants become senior healthcare assistants, and where admin officers and dental nurses sit. In England it has two pay points, £25,760 and £27,476, and a full-time employee takes home about £1,727 a month at the first and £1,823 at the second, after income tax, National Insurance and the NHS Pension.

The move from point 1 to point 2 is worth £1,716 a year gross, which is £143 a month, but only £96 a month of that reaches your account. Employees on the England and Wales scales become eligible for it after two years in the band (Handbook, Annex 2). If you are comparing with Band 2, the real gain in your bank balance is smaller than the headline gap in salary, and the tables below show exactly how much.

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 3 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 3 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 3 is £29,103 to £31,409, about £3,343 above England at point 1. Because both points are in the 7.0% tier, the second point is worth £128 a month more in take-home. Scottish income tax is lower than the England and Wales rates at this pay by about £40 a year, because of the 19% starter rate on the first slice above the allowance.

Scottish students are on Plan 4 (threshold £33,795), which is above Band 3 pay, so Band 3 Scottish graduates pay nothing on it. Those on Plans 1, 2 or 5 repay at the rates in the table, and at point 1 a Plan 1 borrower repays £198.27 a year and a Plan 5 borrower £369.27.

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 3 point, so the table above holds whichever applies to you.

Your NHS Pension tier at Band 3

Both England points, £25,760 and £27,476, fall in the 6.5% tier, which covers pensionable pay from £13,260 to £28,854. Wales' points (£26,813 and £27,890) are also in that tier. There is no tier jump inside Band 3 in England or Wales, so a pay-point rise buys you the full 6.5% rate on the larger salary.

Scotland is different. Its Band 3 points are £29,103 and £31,409, and both sit in the 7.0% tier (£28,988 to £34,302). A Band 3 employee in Scotland therefore pays 7.0% against an English colleague's 6.5%, but from a higher salary, and at the same £29,103 the England and Wales tiers would charge 8.3%.

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

Band 3 pay is entirely in the basic-rate band. At point 1 the pension takes £1,674, income tax £2,303 and National Insurance £1,055; at point 2 they are £1,786, £2,624 and £1,192. In total £5,033 of £25,760 goes before it reaches you at point 1.

Each extra pound of pay, from overtime, enhancements or a London supplement, leaves you with about 67p when you are on the 6.5% pension tier: 6.5p to the pension, 18.7p to income tax and 8p to National Insurance come off every pound. If your total pay goes over £28,854 your whole pay moves to the 8.3% tier, which Band 3 can reach with a high-cost supplement or regular unsocial hours.

Student loans start to matter here. At point 2 (£27,476) a Plan 1 borrower repays £51.84 a year because the threshold is £26,900, while Plan 5 repays £222.84 a year at point 2 and £68.40 at point 1. Plans 2 (£29,385) and 4 (£33,795) are not reached by Band 3 basic pay. So moving up a point can cost a Plan 1 borrower their first repayment, which is why the monthly table shows the point 2 rise as smaller for them.

Band 3 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).

At Band 3 the minimum payments still decide the figure. Twenty per cent of £25,760 is £5,152, below the Inner London minimum, so Inner London pays £5,794 at point 1, and Outer London pays its minimum of £4,870. Only the Fringe at point 2 pays by percentage (£1,374); at point 1 the Fringe pays its minimum of £1,346.

Both Inner and Outer London lift Band 3 pay past £28,854, so the pension moves from 6.5% to 8.3%. At point 1 Inner London adds £483 a month gross and £285 after deductions; at point 2 the figures are £483 gross and £283 net. Banding rules for who gets which zone are in Annex 8 of the Handbook.

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 3

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 3 at time plus 35% for Saturdays and weekday 8pm to 6am, and time plus 69% for Sundays and public holidays in England and Wales. Scotland's Section 2 sets Band 3 higher: time plus 37% and 74%. 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, £15.50 an hour, +£41.30 for a Saturday or night shift and +£82.60 for a Sunday or bank holiday shift; point 2, £16.73 an hour, +£44.57 for a Saturday or night shift and +£89.15 for a Sunday or bank holiday shift.

Band 3's enhancement is time plus 35% for Saturdays and weekday 8pm to 6am and time plus 69% for Sundays and public holidays in England and Wales, higher than the 30% and 60% for Bands 4 to 9. Scotland sets Band 3 at 37% and 74%. A Sunday hour at point 1 in England is paid at about £22.26.

If your Band 3 post is on a rota with weekends or nights, the enhancement comes on top of the basic figures above. The unsocial hours calculator turns your actual rota into pounds.

An illustration: on point 1 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 £275 a month before deductions. After tax, National Insurance and pension that is about £149 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 £330 gross and about £218 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, point 2, Plan 1

A full-time senior healthcare assistant at the top of Band 3 in England who is repaying a Plan 1 loan (an NHS employee from Northern Ireland, or from England or Wales before September 2012). This is what each deduction does to £27,476.

Opting out of the pension would raise this month's take-home to about £1,938, 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.