NHS Band 4 Take-Home Pay 2026/27 After Tax and Pension

Band 4 covers assistant practitioners, nursing associates, associate practitioners, senior administrators and similar roles. In England it runs from £28,392 to £31,157, and a full-time employee takes home about £1,874 a month at the first point and £1,990 at the second, after income tax, National Insurance and the NHS Pension.

Band 4 is the band where your pension contribution changes tier inside the pay scale. Point 1 is £462 below the £28,854 line that separates the 6.5% and 8.3% tiers and point 2 is above it, so the second point costs you a higher pension rate on all of your pay. The second point is reached after three years in the band in England and Wales (Handbook, Annex 2), longer than the two years at Bands 3 and 5.

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 is £31,537 to £34,303, and its second point is reached after three years in the band (Scotland Section 1, Table 1a puts it in year 4). The pension rises from 7.0% to 8.7% at the second point, so of the £231 a month gross rise you keep £113. At point 2 the 21% intermediate tax rate also starts to apply to the top of your pay.

Plan 4, the Scottish-student plan, first applies at point 2: £45.72 a year on a threshold of £33,795. Plan 1, 2 and 5 borrowers repay more, as the table shows.

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

Your NHS Pension tier at Band 4

The England and Wales tiers put pay up to £28,854 in the 6.5% tier and pay from £28,855 to £35,155 in the 8.3% tier. Point 1 (£28,392) is in the first of those and point 2 (£31,157) in the second. Your whole pay is charged at the rate for your tier, so point 2's pension is £2,586. At 6.5% it would have been £2,025, so the tier change alone costs £561 a year, or £47 a month.

Wales' points (£28,819 and £31,626) follow the same pattern: the first is just £35 under the line. In Scotland the tiers are different: point 1 (£31,537) is at 7.0% and point 2 (£34,303), which is £1 above the £34,302 line, is at 8.7%.

• England and Wales, on basic pay: point 1: 6.5%; point 2: 8.3%.
• Scotland: point 1: 7.0%; point 2: 8.7%.

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 4 is wholly basic-rate. At point 1 the pension takes £1,845, income tax £2,795 and National Insurance £1,266; at point 2 they are £2,586, £3,200 and £1,487. The pay rise between the points is £230 a month before deductions and £117 after them, so you keep 50.6% of it.

Student loans bite at Band 4. At point 1 a Plan 1 borrower repays £134.28 a year and a Plan 5 borrower £305.28; at point 2 Plan 1 is £383.13, Plan 5 £554.13 and Plan 2 starts at £159.48. Plan 2 (£29,385) is crossed by the second point but not the first. A Plan 2 borrower's take-home therefore rises by less on the move to point 2 than a borrower with no loan.

Once you are at point 1 and the pension is at 6.5%, an extra pound of pay leaves you about 67p. At point 2 the figure is 65p, and for a Plan 2 borrower 56p, because 9% of every extra pound goes to the loan.

Band 4 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 point 1 Inner London pays its minimum of £5,794, Outer London its minimum of £4,870, and the Fringe pays by percentage (£1,420). Inner and Outer London take total pay past £28,854 and the pension moves to 8.3%.

The Fringe at point 1 is the clearest case of a tier cost. It adds £118 a month gross, but the total £29,812 is over £28,854, so your whole pay moves from 6.5% to 8.3% and you keep only £43 a month. At point 2 the Fringe adds £130 gross and £85 net, with no tier change. Inner London at point 2 (£6,231 a year) moves you to 9.8%, and Outer London does the same (£4,870).

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 4

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 4 at time plus 30% for Saturdays and weekday 8pm to 6am, and time plus 60% for Sundays and public holidays in England and Wales. Scotland's Section 2 uses the same percentages for this band. 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, £16.80 an hour, +£36.29 for a Saturday or night shift and +£72.58 for a Sunday or bank holiday shift; point 2, £18.27 an hour, +£39.47 for a Saturday or night shift and +£78.94 for a Sunday or bank holiday shift.

Band 4 is the first band on the lower 30% and 60% enhancements. In England and Wales a Sunday hour at the top of Band 3 pays about £23.74 (time plus 69%), while a Sunday hour at Band 4 point 1 pays about £23.23 (time plus 60%). So the percentage steps down as basic pay steps up, and a heavy weekend rota narrows the gain from promotion.

In England, Handbook paragraph 1.18 deals with this on promotion: if your new starting salary, counting basic pay, any unsocial hours payment and any long-term recruitment and retention premium, would not increase your earnings, your previous salary is maintained until the new one does. Paragraph 1.19 limits that to cases where your unsocial hours pattern in the new role is substantially the same. Check how your trust applies it before accepting a promotion if you work a lot of nights or weekends.

An illustration: on point 1 in England, 3 Saturday or night shifts and 1 Sunday or bank holiday shift a month (7.5 hours each, all in the enhanced period) add £163 a month before deductions. After tax, National Insurance and pension that is about £73 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 £181 gross and about £119 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, no student loan

A full-time assistant practitioner at the top of Band 4 in England with no student loan. This shows the pension tier effect: the pension is 8.3% of £31,157.

Opting out of the pension would raise this month's take-home to about £2,163, 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.