1. Scope & disclaimer
The homepage calculator covers Agenda for Change (AfC) Bands 2–9 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Doctors and dentists on separate contracts are out of scope for this engine.
All maths runs in your browser. We do not upload your salary inputs. Calculations can include:
- AfC basic pay (pro-rated by weekly hours / WTE)
- HCAS / London weighting (England & Wales zones)
- Section 2 or Annex E unsocial hours, on-call, overtime / TOIL, RRP and other allowances
- Salary sacrifice, NHS Pension, Income Tax, Class 1 NI and student loans
2. Gross pay
Basic pay
Full-time equivalent (FTE) hours are treated as 37.5 per week. Your selected band/step basic salary is scaled by weekly hours:
basePayAnn = AfC_basic × fteRatio
Where a mid-year promotion is entered, basic pay is blended across the year before enhancements.
HCAS (High Cost Area Supplement)
For England and Wales zones, HCAS is a percentage of FTE basic pay, clamped between published min/max caps, then pro-rated for part-time hours (capped at 1.0 WTE):
| Zone | Rate | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inner London | 20% | £5,794 | £8,746 |
| Outer London | 15% | £4,870 | £6,137 |
| Fringe | 5% | £1,346 | £2,270 |
Enhancements & extras
- Section 2 — Saturday / Sunday hours × basic hourly rate × band enhancement rate × 12
- Annex E — percentage uplift on (basic + HCAS) where selected
- On-call — availability % of basic plus call-out hours at configured multipliers
- Overtime / TOIL — hours × hourly rate × multiplier × 12
- RRP / other allowances / back pay — added as annual amounts
3. Salary sacrifice
Cycle to work, AVC salary sacrifice, childcare, annual leave purchase and lease-car cash deductions are annualised and subtracted from cash gross:
totalGrossAnn = max(0, grossBeforeSacrifice − salSacAnn)
National Insurance and pensionable pay use the reduced (post-sacrifice) cash figure. Where payrolled benefits in kind are enabled (the default), Income Tax is assessed on notional pay before sacrifice (plus any lease BIK), matching common NHS payroll practice.
4. NHS Pension contributions
Pensionable pay starts from basic + HCAS + RRP (and optionally unsocial, on-call and OT/TOIL when those toggles are on), then subtracts salary sacrifice. The member rate is looked up from nation-specific tiers on actual pensionable earnings:
Illustrative 2026/27 England & Wales member tiers used by the tool:
| Pensionable pay up to | Member rate |
|---|---|
| £13,259 | 5.2% |
| £28,854 | 6.5% |
| £35,155 | 8.3% |
| £52,778 | 9.8% |
| £67,668 | 10.7% |
| Above | 12.5% |
Scotland (SPPA) and Northern Ireland (HSC) use separate tier tables in the same engine. Employer contributions are shown for context at 23.7% of pensionable pay and are not deducted from take-home.
Member pension contributions reduce taxable pay (relief at source via payroll).
5. Income Tax
Default tax code modelling uses a Personal Allowance of £12,570. Adjusted net income above £100,000 tapers the allowance by £1 for every £2.
taxAnn = progressive bands on taxableIncome
Rest of UK (England, Wales, NI) bands modelled
| Band (taxable slice) | Rate |
|---|---|
| First £37,700 | 20% |
| Next up to £112,570 | 40% |
| Above | 45% |
Scotland
Scottish Income Tax uses the multi-band Scottish table in the engine (starter through top rates). Wales currently follows the rUK basic scale in AfC pay data; tax residence still follows the tax-code / nation controls you select.
Special tax codes
- BR / D0 / D1 — flat 20% / 40% / 45% with no Personal Allowance
- 0T / K-codes / NT — parsed from the tax-code field
- W1 / M1 — non-cumulative monthly modelling when selected
6. National Insurance
Employee Class 1 NI is modelled monthly on post-sacrifice cash gross, then annualised (×12):
| Monthly earnings | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £1,048 (primary threshold) | 0% |
| £1,048 to £4,189 | 8% |
| Above £4,189 (upper earnings limit) | 2% |
7. Student loans
Repayments are calculated on post-sacrifice annual gross. Each selected plan applies independently and can stack:
| Plan | Threshold | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,065 | 9% |
| Plan 2 | £28,470 | 9% |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £31,395 | 9% |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | 9% |
| Postgraduate loan | £21,000 | 6% |
8. Net take-home
Optional union fees reduce net. Tax-free expense reimbursements (for example AMAP mileage at 55p for the first 10,000 miles then 25p, plus parking/transport you enter) are added back:
netAnn = totalGrossAnn − totalDeductions + expensesAnn
The UI periodises annual net for monthly (÷12) or weekly (÷52.143) display. The mobile sticky bar always shows monthly net and monthly gross for quick reference.
9. Sources & update cycle
Rates are refreshed for the 2026/27 tax year, including the confirmed Agenda for Change award from 1 April 2026, separate NHS Scotland scales, NHS Pension tier tables by nation, and HMRC Personal Allowance / NI / student-loan thresholds used in the engine.
- AfC pay circulars and nation pay scales for basic salaries
- Published NHS Pension / SPPA / HSC contribution tiers
- HMRC Income Tax, NI and student-loan thresholds for 2026/27
When official figures change mid-year, we update the calculator data and note the change on the homepage update strip.
10. Try the calculator
Use the live tool to model your band, hours, HCAS, pension and deductions. For who builds and reviews the site, see About us and Karen Beckett.