NHS Unsocial Hours Explained (2026/27): Rates, Night Shifts and What They Count For

The rates

"Saturday" means all of Saturday, midnight to midnight, and the same for Sundays and public holidays. The percentage is added to your hourly rate from basic pay, including any long-term recruitment and retention premium, but not London weighting or other supplements.

Night shifts: the half-shift rule

On a weekday that isn't a public holiday, if more than half of a shift falls between 8pm and 6am, the whole shift is paid at the night rate. A 7.30pm to 8am night shift has most of its hours in that window, so every paid hour gets the enhancement, not just the ones after 8pm.

Worked examples: bottom of Band 5, England (£16.40 an hour)

For a 12.5-hour shift with a 30-minute unpaid break (12 paid hours):

A Band 2 healthcare assistant (£12.92 an hour) gets £63.59 for the same night shift, because Band 2's rate is higher.

Unsocial hours or overtime, not both

Unsocial hours payments are for hours inside your contracted week. Hours beyond the full-time week (37.5 hours, 36 in Scotland) are overtime instead: time and a half for Bands 1 to 7, double time on public holidays, whatever time of day they're worked. Bands 8 and 9 aren't paid overtime but do get unsocial hours. On-call, standby and sleeping-in are paid separately and don't get unsocial hours on top. See the overtime calculator.

Promoted to a band with a lower rate?

Band 2's and Band 3's rates are higher than the bands above, so a promotion can mean less unsocial hours pay for the same rota. If your basic pay plus unsocial hours at the bottom of the new band comes to less than before, your previous pay is protected until the new band overtakes it. The band comparison tool shows the effect with your own shifts.

What unsocial hours count for

• –Pension: yes, regular unsocial hours payments are pensionable.
• –Holiday pay: yes, you're paid what you'd have earned at work.
• –Maternity, adoption and shared parental pay: yes, in the contractual pay.
• –Sick pay: depends on where you work. In England, for anyone who started after July 2018 or earns above a low threshold, they're not included. In Wales they're included from the second week; in Scotland and Northern Ireland they're included. See the sick pay calculator.
• –Overtime rate: no, overtime is worked out on basic pay.

Fixed or variable payments

Most staff are paid unsocial hours a month in arrears, for the hours actually worked. Where a rota is fixed, an employer can pay a set amount each month based on the hours you're expected to work, with periodic checks that it matches what you'd have got.

Ambulance staff in some services are on different unsocial hours arrangements set out in the handbook's ambulance annexes, so check your contract.