NHS part-time pay calculator
Going part-time in the NHS moves four things at once: your pay, your pension tier, your unsocial hours and your annual leave. Most calculators move the first one.
That is £29,158 a year, after the NHS pension tier, income tax and National Insurance.
- Gross
- £39,959
- Pension tier
- 9.8%
- Income tax
- £4,695
- Marginal rate
- 28.0%
| A year | A month | |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay | £39,959.00 | £3,329.92 |
| Gross pay | £39,959.00 | £3,329.92 |
| NHS pension at 9.8% | £-3,915.98 | £-326.33 |
| Income tax | £-4,694.60 | £-391.22 |
| National Insurance | £-2,190.64 | £-182.55 |
| Take-home pay | £29,157.77 | £2,429.81 |
What each fraction leaves you
| Fraction | Salary | Pension tier | Take-home a year | A month | % of full-time net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | £48,117 | 9.8% | £34,392 | £2,866.00 | 100.0% |
| 0.9 | £43,305 | 9.8% | £31,305 | £2,608.73 | 91.0% |
| 0.8 | £38,494 | 9.8% | £28,218 | £2,351.46 | 82.0% |
| 0.8 | £36,088 | 9.8% | £26,674 | £2,222.83 | 77.6% |
| 0.6 | £28,870 | 8.3% | £22,390 | £1,865.80 | 65.1% |
| 0.5 | £24,058 | 6.5% | £19,591 | £1,632.60 | 57.0% |
The tier moves in your favour
This is the part that surprises people. Dropping hours reduces your pensionable pay, which can move you into a lower contribution tier. At Band 6 top of scale, going from full time to 0.8 takes the contribution from 9.8% to 9.8%, which softens the drop in take-home noticeably.
So the arithmetic runs in your favour twice: the Personal Allowance stays whole while the top slice of your pay disappears, and the pension percentage falls. Four days is usually worth well over 80% of five days in your hand.
What it costs that is not pay
Pension accrual falls with pensionable pay, so the eventual benefit is smaller. Annual leave is pro-rated in hours rather than days, which trips people up when bank holidays are involved. And unsocial hours enhancements fall proportionally with the hours worked, which for staff on a heavy night pattern can be a larger cut than the basic pay reduction. The unsocial hours calculator prices that part.
The bands this sits on
| Band | Salary | Pension tier | Take-home a year | A month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 2 | £25,272 | 6.5% | £20,402 | £1,700.15 |
| Band 3 | £27,476 | 6.5% | £21,874 | £1,822.84 |
| Band 4 | £31,157 | 8.3% | £23,884 | £1,990.36 |
| Band 5 | £39,043 | 9.8% | £28,570 | £2,380.84 |
| Band 6 | £48,117 | 9.8% | £34,392 | £2,866.00 |
| Band 7 | £56,515 | 10.7% | £39,708 | £3,309.04 |
| Band 8A | £64,750 | 10.7% | £43,956 | £3,663.00 |
| Band 8B | £77,368 | 12.5% | £49,629 | £4,135.74 |
| Band 8C | £91,609 | 12.5% | £56,821 | £4,735.05 |
| Band 8D | £108,814 | 12.5% | £65,509 | £5,459.09 |
| Band 9 | £129,783 | 12.5% | £73,386 | £6,115.53 |
Every figure there is computed from the NHS Employers 2026/27 scale with the England and Wales pension tier applied to actual pensionable pay, using the same engine that runs the calculator. It is not a copy of a published table, which is why it cannot fall out of step with the calculator on the page.
Elsewhere in this section, this page compares bank work, overtime and agency on the same shift.
Questions people actually ask
How much less will I take home on 0.8?
At Band 6 top of scale, about 82.0% of your full-time take-home rather than 80%, because the Personal Allowance stays whole and your pension tier drops.
Does part-time change my pension tier?
Yes. Tiers are set on actual pensionable pay, so fewer hours can mean a lower percentage. For part-time staff the figure may be annualised first, which is not the same as using the whole-time rate.
Figures on this page are for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) and were last checked on 29 August 2026. Every rate we use is listed on the sources page.