Take Home Pay
Take Home Pay
Estimate Agenda for Change take-home using official Scotland cash points (not England scales) plus Scottish Income Tax — with a side-by-side England comparator.
Scotland figures from Scottish Government NHS pay rates (2026/27). No London HCAS in Scotland.
Scotland estimated net monthly
£0.00/mo
The Scotland tax calculator compares Scottish vs rUK tax on the same (usually England) gross. This page uses official Scotland AfC cash points first, then applies Scottish tax — so Band 5 entry is £34,544, not £32,073.
Scotland AfC cash: Scottish Government NHS pay rates 2026/27 (+3.75% from 1 April 2026). Tax: Scottish Income Tax bands 2026/27. NI and NHS Pension tiers UK-wide. England comparator uses NHS Employers England AfC 2026/27 nearest pay point with rUK tax. Estimate only — your Board payslip is authoritative.
This NHS Scotland pay calculator fills the gap left by England-scale tools: it prices Agenda for Change using official Scotland cash points for 2026/27, then applies Scottish Income Tax, UK National Insurance and NHS Pension contributions — and shows how that compares with the nearest England AfC point.
Official sources: Scottish Government NHS pay rates · NHS Employers England pay scales 2026/27 · Scottish Income Tax (GOV.UK) · Scotland pay rise guide.
Scotland negotiates Agenda for Change separately from the UK Pay Review Body. The current multi-year deal delivers 3.75% from 1 April 2026 (after 4.4% in 2025/26, including an inflation-guarantee uplift). Headline cash points for 2026/27 include:
| Band | Scotland entry | Scotland top | England entry (comparator) |
| Band 5 | £34,544 | £43,039 | £32,073 |
| Band 6 | £43,231 | £52,679 | £39,959 |
| Band 7 | £52,845 | £61,466 | £49,387 |
| Band 8a | £65,125 | £70,303 | £57,528 |
Band 5 entry is about £2,471 a year higher in Scotland than England before tax. Scottish Income Tax bands are steeper in places, so take-home is not the full gross gap — which is why this calculator shows both.
Two things change when you work for an NHS Scotland Board:
National Insurance and NHS Pension contribution tiers remain UK-wide. There is no London HCAS in Scotland.
Our separate Scotland tax calculator isolates tax regime differences on a shared gross. Use this page when you need the Scotland cash scale itself.
Scotland AfC still uses Section 2-style unsocial enhancements for eligible bands, but contracted full-time hours can differ from England’s 37.5-hour week in some Board contracts (many tools model Scotland at 36 hours for hourly maths). Always check your Board’s contract and ESR hourly rate. Add estimated night / weekend hours above to uplift gross.
Pay follows the employer you join. Starting with an NHS Scotland Board puts you on Scotland AfC cash points from your first contract. HMRC usually updates your tax code to Scottish rates after you register a Scottish address — expect a short lag where tax coding may still show rUK until corrected.
£34,544 at entry, £36,911 at the mid point, and £43,039 at the top of Band 5 — from Scottish Government NHS pay rates.
Yes on gross AfC cash at every common band for 2026/27. Net pay is still usually higher in Scotland for the same band/step, but Scottish Income Tax reduces part of the headline gap.
3.75% from 1 April 2026 under the multi-year AfC deal (following 4.4% in 2025/26).
If you are a Scottish taxpayer (usually living in Scotland), yes — Scottish Income Tax applies to your employment income.
No. That tool compares tax regimes on a shared gross. This tool uses Scotland AfC cash points first, then Scottish tax, with an England comparator.
Scottish Government publishes NHS staff pay rates on gov.scot; Health Workforce circulars (PCS(AFC)) confirm Board implementation.
See also Scotland tax vs rUK, Wales pay, Northern Ireland pay, England Band 5, and the Scotland pay rise guide.
NHS Scotland has a separate Agenda for Change settlement. The Scottish Government’s 2025–27 agreement provides a 3.75% uplift for 2026/27 after the revised 2025/26 settlement. Scottish Government — NHS pay rates
The most important calculator difference is not only the salary table: all NHS Scotland Agenda for Change staff moved to a 36-hour full-time working week from 1 April 2026 without loss of overall earnings. Scottish Government
Critical data rule: do not calculate NHS Scotland hourly pay using England’s 37.5-hour divisor.
Scottish taxpayers use Scottish income-tax bands. For 2026/27 these include 19%, 20%, 21%, 42%, 45% and 48% rates across the published thresholds. GOV.UK
Therefore an “NHS Scotland take-home calculator” needs both:
Scottish NHS pay table + Scottish income tax, not an England calculator with a Scotland label.
Queries such as “Band 5 NHS Scotland”, “Band 6 NHS Scotland salary” and “NHS Band 7 Scotland” are modifiers of the Scotland pay table. Keep them as anchored rows/sections here rather than creating `/band-6-scotland/`, `/band-7-scotland/` and dozens of near-duplicate pages.
compare NHS take-home pay by nation