Take Home Pay
Take Home Pay
This NHS Band 8b salary calculator estimates Agenda for Change Band 8b take-home pay for 2026/27. Enter pay point, WTE hours, High Cost Area Supplement, tax nation and pension membership to see gross pay, Income Tax, National Insurance, NHS Pension and net income. Use it for senior leadership or consultant-level AfC offers and for checking how a step change affects take-home and pensionable pay feeding Annual Allowance tools. Outputs show Band 8b scale figures and net pay so higher-band Agenda for Change decisions stay financially transparent for 2026/27.
Unsocial-hours enhancements under AfC Section 2 generally do not apply at Band 8b. Use overtime/PA arrangements via your trust if relevant.
Estimated net monthly pay
£0.00/mo
| Pay step | Basic | Hourly | Est. net / mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Level | £66,582 | £34.05 | — |
| Intermediate (2 yrs) | £70,896 | £36.26 | — |
| Top of Band (5 yrs) | £77,368 | £39.57 | — |
Figures use NHS Employers AfC 2026/27 scales, HMRC tax/NI/student loan rules and NHS Pension tiers from 1 April 2026. Estimate only — your payslip is authoritative.
Sixty free tools covering Agenda for Change pay, the NHS Pension Scheme, tax, leave, absence and leaving the NHS — updated for 2026/27. Start from a pillar hub, then drill into the cluster that matches your question.
An NHS Band 8b salary in the 2026/27 pay year is £66,582 at the entry point, £70,896 at the intermediate point and £77,368 at the top of the band, following the 3.3% Agenda for Change award effective 1 April 2026. A full-time Band 8b employee in England takes home £3,741.70 to £4,135.69 per month after NHS Pension, income tax and National Insurance.
Band 8b covers senior management and consultant-level clinical roles, including assistant directors, consultant nurses and senior matrons. Figures below use England income tax rates; Scotland applies different tax bands — use the calculator's Scotland toggle or our NHS Scotland tax calculator.
The table shows each Band 8b pay point with all standard deductions for a full-time employee (37.5 hours/week) on tax code 1257L in the 2015 CARE pension scheme:
Pay Point | Annual Gross | Monthly Gross | NHS Pension | Income Tax | National Insurance | Net Annual | Net Monthly |
Entry (0–2 years) | £66,582 | £5,548.50 | −£7,124.27 (10.7%) | −£11,215.09 | −£3,342.24 | £44,900.40 | £3,741.70 |
Intermediate (2–5 years) | £70,896 | £5,908.00 | −£8,862.00 (12.5%) | −£12,245.60 | −£3,428.52 | £46,359.88 | £3,863.32 |
Top of Band (5+ years) | £77,368 | £6,447.33 | −£9,671.00 (12.5%) | −£14,510.80 | −£3,557.96 | £49,628.24 | £4,135.69 |
All three Band 8b pay points sit above the 40% higher-rate threshold, so a portion of every 8b salary is taxed at 40%.
The 3.3% consolidated award took effect on 1 April 2026 and appeared in April 2026 payslips — the first on-time NHS pay award since 2020:
Pay Point | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Annual Increase | Per Month |
Entry | £64,455 | £66,582 | +£2,127 | +£177.25 |
Intermediate | £68,631 | £70,896 | +£2,265 | +£188.75 |
Top of Band | £74,896 | £77,368 | +£2,472 | +£206.00 |
Every deduction on an NHS payslip follows a fixed statutory order. Worked example — entry point, £66,582:
The entry point pays the 10.7% pension tier; the intermediate and top points cross the £67,669 boundary and pay 12.5%.
High Cost Area Supplement is 20% (Inner London), 15% (Outer London) and 5% (Fringe) of basic salary, subject to annual minimum and maximum caps. At Band 8b salaries the percentage exceeds the cap at all three pay points, so every full-time Band 8b employee receives the maximum supplement:
HCAS is pensionable pay. An entry-point 8b in Inner London earns £75,328 gross, which pushes the pension tier to 12.5% and take-home to approximately £4,050/month†.
Band 8b salary is pro-rated by contracted hours: a 0.5 FTE (18.75 hours) entry-point contract pays £33,291 gross. Since October 2022 your pension tier is set on actual pensionable pay, not the full-time equivalent — so the 0.5 FTE salary falls into the 8.3% tier, not 10.7%:
Band 8b pays £66,582 (entry, 0–2 years), £70,896 (intermediate, 2–5 years) and £77,368 (top, 5+ years) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland under the 3.3% Agenda for Change award effective 1 April 2026. Scotland operates separate scales.
A full-time Band 8b employee in England takes home £3,741.70 (entry), £3,863.32 (intermediate) or £4,135.69 (top) per month after the 2015 CARE NHS Pension, income tax and National Insurance on tax code 1257L with no student loan.
Five years. Band 8b has two pay step dates: you move to the intermediate point after 2 years at the band and to the top after a further 3 years. Progression is conditional on a completed appraisal within the previous 12 months under Annex 23 of the Agenda for Change handbook. Moving between bands (8a to 8b, 8b to 8c) is not automatic — each requires a new appointment.
On Plan 2, you repay 9% of earnings above the £29,385 threshold (2026/27). At the entry point that deducts £278.98†/month, reducing take-home to £3,462.72†; at the top it deducts £359.87†/month, giving £3,775.82†. Plan 1 (£26,900 threshold) and Plan 5 (£25,000) deduct slightly more.
Yes. Band 8b basic pay exceeds the level at which HCAS percentages are capped, so staff receive the maximum supplement: £8,746 (Inner London), £6,137 (Outer London) or £2,270 (Fringe) per year. HCAS counts as pensionable pay.
No. Unsocial hours enhancements under Section 2 of the Agenda for Change handbook apply to pay bands 1–7 only. Band 8b roles are salaried without Section 2 enhancements or AfC overtime rates.
Typical Band 8b roles include assistant directors, consultant nurses and consultant practitioners, senior matrons, heads of service or department, and general managers with multi-divisional responsibility.
All Agenda for Change staff receive 27 days plus 8 public holidays on appointment, 29 days plus 8 after 5 years' NHS service, and 33 days plus 8 after 10 years. Service is reckonable across NHS employers and does not need to be continuous.
Pay values: NHS Employers / NHS Staff Council 2026/27 Agenda for Change circular (nhsemployers.org). Pension tiers: NHSBSA, Cost of being in the Scheme. Tax bands: HMRC, Income Tax rates and allowances and National Insurance rates. Student loans: GOV.UK, Repaying your student loan.
Estimates assume tax code 1257L, the 2015 CARE pension scheme, 37.5 contracted hours/week, England tax rates, and no student loan unless stated. Figures marked † are computed estimates; actual net pay varies with tax code, salary sacrifice arrangements and additional income.
Last reviewed: 22 July 2026.