NHS Scotland 36-Hour Week: What Changed From April 2026

This guide is for NHS Scotland Agenda for Change staff, their managers and anyone comparing a Scottish job with one in England. It explains what changed on 1 April 2026 when the full-time working week fell to 36 hours, what it did and did not do to pay, how part-time hours are converted, how overtime and unsocial hours are affected, what it means for annual leave, and what the Scottish Government has said about rotas and the reduction in practice. It is based on the Scottish Government circulars PCS(AFC)2025/8 and PCS(AFC)2026/2 and the Scottish Handbook. FrontlinePay is independent; your board's HR department and union representative decide how it applies to your contract.

How the change was agreed

• 2023/24 pay deal. Agreed that the parties would work towards a 36-hour week for Agenda for Change staff.
• 1 April 2024. First 30-minute reduction took effect (circular PCS(AFC)2024/2, described in PCS(AFC)2025/8).
• 18 February 2025. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care confirmed the remaining hour would come in on 1 April 2026.
• 8 December 2025. Circular PCS(AFC)2025/8 set the guidance, new hourly rates and frequently asked questions.
• 1 April 2026. Circular PCS(AFC)2026/2 amended four paragraphs of the Scottish Handbook: 2.12 (part-time unsocial hours), 3.3 (overtime for part-timers), 10.1 (standard hours) and 13.5 (leave for staff on non-standard shifts).
• 10 June 2026. Circular PCS(PHG)2026/1 explained public holiday entitlement in 2026/27 and 2027/28, based on the 36-hour week.

The reduction applies to Agenda for Change staff only. It does not cover medical and dental staff (circular PCS(AFC)2025/8, FAQ 11), and the Scottish Government has said Executive and Senior Manager staff keep a 37.5-hour basis for public holiday calculations (PCS(PHG)2026/1). Staff of private providers who are covered by NHS Scotland's two-tier agreement are entitled to terms no less favourable, so boards were told to take steps to give them the equivalent reduction.

What happened to hourly pay

Salaries did not move. Because hourly rates are annual pay divided by weekly hours, the same salary divided by 36 produces a higher hourly rate than divided by 37. The circular states the effect as a 2.78% increase in hourly rates, and says it covers unsocial hours enhancements and anything else linked to the hourly rate. The 2026/27 pay circular publishes the 36-hour hourly rate for every point; for example Band 2 point 1 is £14.22 an hour and Band 5 point 1 is £18.40 (PCS(AFC)2026/1). The table shows the start of each band from Band 2 to 8a:

Hourly rate is salary divided by 52.143 weeks and the weekly hours. The 36-hour column matches the circular's hourly column. The 37-hour column is for comparison and is no longer paid.

Our band pages show every pay point, the hourly rate and the year-by-year pay journey: Band 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8a.

Part-time staff: two options

Part-time contracts reduce pro rata unless you agree otherwise. The circular gives the formula as current part-time hours divided by 37 and multiplied by 36. The Scottish Government has also published a conversion table on the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee website. Some examples:

Option 1: reduce your hours. You work fewer hours for the same pay. A 22.2-hour week becomes 21.6 hours, and the salary you were paid for 22.2 hours is unchanged. This is the default.

Option 2: keep your hours. You may be able to keep your current hours after discussing it with your line manager, subject to service requirements. If you do, you are paid the improved hourly rate. As an illustration, a Band 5 point 1 member working 22.2 hours is paid £21,302 a year for those hours at a 36-hour full-time week, against £20,726 when full time was 37, a rise of £576 a year. The Scottish Government describes this as a small gain for part-time staff who do not reduce their hours. If a change to your hours would affect any benefits you receive, talk to your manager first: the circular says boards are expected to take a supportive approach where benefits are affected (FAQ 20).

Part-time staff under 36 hours are eligible for unsocial hours payments (Handbook 2.12) and are paid plain time for extra hours until their weekly hours exceed 36 (Handbook 3.3), both amended to 36 by circular PCS(AFC)2026/2. New part-time starters from 1 April 2026 are paid the new hourly rate based on a 36-hour whole-time equivalent, and adverts show 36 hours.

Overtime and unsocial hours

Overtime in NHS Scotland is time and a half for hours worked beyond your standard hours, and double time on general public holidays, calculated on basic pay plus any long-term recruitment and retention premium (Handbook Section 3). For a full-time member the threshold is now 36 hours a week, and the overtime hour is 2.78% higher than before because the hourly rate is. Contractual overtime that you are already required to work is not affected by the change (circular FAQ 15). Our overtime rates guide and overtime calculator show how to price an extra shift.

Unsocial hours are time plus 30% (Saturday and weekday 8pm to 6am) and time plus 60% (Sunday and public holidays) from Band 4 upwards, with higher percentages at Bands 1 to 3. They are worked out from the hourly rate, so each enhanced hour is paid more. The worry in many wards is the other direction: if rotas are rearranged to deliver the shorter week and you end up working fewer unsocial hours, you earn less. The Scottish Government's FAQ says managers should organise shifts to minimise that, including looking at start and finish times, and that where it happens mark-time pay protection should apply based on an agreed reference period or, for staff on a set roster, the shifts actually worked. The pay uplift on 1 April is applied to your pre-reduction pattern to test whether you are worse off, so the protection is not overtaken by the pay award. If you think your earnings have fallen, raise it in writing with your manager and HR, and ask your union representative for help. See unsocial hours pay explained.

The December 2025 circular said further guidance on the effect on the on-call availability allowance would follow. The allowance itself was set at £27.51 a session from 1 April 2026 in circular PCS(AFC)2026/1; check with your board for local on-call arrangements.

Annual leave and public holidays

The number of days did not change: 27 days on appointment, 29 after five years and 33 after ten, plus 8 public holidays (Handbook Table 6). Leave in hours is calculated on a standard day of 7.2 hours (36 divided by 5). The circular explains that leave calculations in hours now reflect a 7.2-hour working day instead of the 7.4-hour day (37 divided by 5) used on the old basis. For a full-timer:

• On appointment (under 5 years): 27 days is 194.4 hours, plus public holidays of 57.6 hours for 8 days.
• After five years: 29 days is 208.8 hours, plus public holidays of 57.6 hours for 8 days.
• After ten years: 33 days is 237.6 hours, plus public holidays of 57.6 hours for 8 days.

Leave carried over from 2025/26 is not scaled down: any hours carried over are simply added to the 2026/27 entitlement. For staff on shifts of a length other than 7.2 hours, Handbook 13.5 says leave and public holidays are calculated on an hourly basis so nobody gets more or less than a colleague on standard shifts. The Scottish Government's online annual leave calculator offers 37.5, 37 and 36-hour options, and the circular tells staff working out their 2026/27 leave to pick the 36-hour contract option. In 2026/27 the number of public holidays is also affected by the World Cup holiday and Easter dates; see our NHS Scotland annual leave in hours guide, the annual leave calculator (choose Scotland) and the leave planner.

Rotas, shifts and the "missing hour"

The Scottish Government has deliberately left delivery to local partnership working. The key points from the circular:

• Local agreement. How each person reduces their week is decided locally, by mutual agreement, using the Area Partnership Forum implementation plans. There is no single model.
• The hour can be banked in pre-planned blocks. It cannot be accumulated and taken as extra annual leave. It can be accumulated and taken from the roster or shift pattern where that is mutually agreed and planned in advance.
• Not 12 minutes a day by default. Technically the working day falls from 7.4 hours to 7.2, but the circular says shortening the day by 12 minutes should not be the default, and the intention is to improve work-life balance.
• Long shifts. The reduction should be taken within the working week where possible; where patient care would be affected, local partnerships can spread it over the roster period or pay cycle, with staff agreement.
• Disagreements. Resolved through local partnership arrangements, with the right to be represented by your trade union or professional organisation.
• Roster changes made for the first 30-minute reduction will need to be reviewed and agreed again if the extra hour requires changes to rostered patterns.

If your roster has been changed and you are unsure what you have gained, ask for your contracted hours, your rota pattern and your leave entitlement in writing, and compare them against the 36-hour week.

Bank, term-time and multiple contracts

• Bank workers. The higher hourly rate applies to bank staff too (circular FAQ 7). For a bank-only worker, the hours needed to qualify for the next increment in a year fall from 385 to 375, and a 7.4-hour shift in the 2015 bank guidance should be read as 7.2 hours (FAQ 25).
• Term-time workers. Treated no less favourably. If hours need recalculating, the same divide-by-37, multiply-by-36 rule is applied to the total hours worked in a year (FAQ 3).
• More than one contract. Each contract is treated separately, with the reduction applied to the weekly hours originally specified before 1 April 2026 (FAQ 24).
• New starters on 1 April 2026. Whole-time hours are 36, and part-time starters are paid on the new hourly rate for a 36-hour whole-time equivalent (FAQ 4).
• No new contract. A change in contract is not needed; the Handbook shows the new whole-time equivalent (FAQ 12). Organisational change protection does not apply because this is a national change (FAQ 13).

What did not change

• Your annual salary. Pay points are as published in PCS(AFC)2026/1; see NHS Scotland pay scales 2026/27.
• Your pension. The NHS Scotland pension is based on pensionable pay, which did not fall, so pension arrangements stay the same (circular FAQ 9).
• Annual leave in days. 27, 29 and 33 days plus public holidays.
• Pay progression. Increments follow your incremental date as before.
• The English position. England, Wales and Northern Ireland have not made this change, so a Scottish and English full-timer now work different hours for different pay. See NHS Scotland vs England pay compared.

Sources

Scottish Government NHS Circulars PCS(AFC)2025/8 (8 December 2025), PCS(AFC)2026/2 (1 April 2026), PCS(PHG)2026/1 (10 June 2026) and PCS(AFC)2026/1 (23 January 2026); the NHS Scotland Agenda for Change Handbook. The online conversion table and further FAQs are on the STAC pay and reform page. Last checked October 2026.