NHS Pay Check

NHS Band 8a Salary & Take Home Pay 2026/27

Band 8a pays £57,528, £60,417 and £64,750 in England for 2026/27: £3,353 to £3,663 a month take home full time. It's the first of the four Band 8 sub-bands (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d) and the first band with no overtime pay. Consultant clinical scientist and senior management posts can start here, and so can some matron posts.

Salary (England)

£57,528 to £64,750

Take home a month

£3,353 to £3,663

Hourly rate (entry)

£29.42

NHS pension rate

10.7%

Work out your own Band 8a take home pay

Pay advice

England · 2026/27 · monthly

Payments

Basic pay£4,794.00
Total pay£4,794.00

Deductions

Income tax-£665.08
National Insurance-£263.43
NHS pension (10.7%)-£512.96
Net pay£3,352.53

£773.66 a week · £40,230.34 a year

Take home 70%NHS pension 11%Income tax 14%National Insurance 5%

Rates

Hourly rate (basic)£29.42
Income tax as a share of pay15.5%

Band 8a pay in each UK country, 2026/27

Monthly take home at the bottom of Band 8a, full time. Bars start at £2,700 to show the gaps. *Northern Ireland is on 2025/26 rates until its award is paid.
CountryPay pointsTake home a monthHourly (entry)
England£57,528 / £60,417 / £64,750£3,352.53 / £3,476.71 / £3,662.95£29.42
Scotland£65,125 / £70,303£3,507.98 / £3,720.59£34.69
Wales£58,379 / £61,317 / £65,723£3,389.11 / £3,515.39 / £3,704.78£29.86
Northern Irelandaward pending£55,690 / £58,487 / £62,682£3,257.12 / £3,387.90 / £3,567.80£28.48

Full time (36 hours a week in Scotland, 37.5 elsewhere), NHS pension at each country's own rates, 1257L tax code, Scottish tax for Scotland, no student loan, London weighting or shift pay. Northern Ireland is on the rates in force from 1 April 2025 until its 2026/27 award is paid.

Where your Band 8a pay goes each month

Take home 70%NHS pension 11%Income tax 14%National Insurance 5%Bottom of Band 8a, England, full time: £4,794.00 a month before deductions.
England, full timeEntryTop of band
Gross pay£4,794.00£5,395.83
NHS pension (10.7%)-£512.96-£577.35
Income tax-£665.08-£880.06
National Insurance-£263.43-£275.47
Take home£3,352.53£3,662.95

The move from Band 7 is smaller than it looks

The bottom of 8a is £1,013 a year more than the top of Band 7. After tax, NI and pension, that's £43.54 a month. And from 8a up you aren't entitled to overtime payments, so anyone who does paid overtime on Band 7 can lose money at first: ten hours of overtime a month at the top of Band 7 takes home £3,560, more than the £3,353 at the bottom of 8a. The step pays off at 8a's middle (£3,477 a month) and top (£3,663) points, after 2 and 5 years.

You still get unsocial hours payments on 8a: 30% for Saturdays and weekday nights and 60% for Sundays and public holidays.

Higher-rate tax from the first point

Every 8a point in England pays some 40% tax: about £1,103 of income at the bottom, £3,682 in the middle and £7,552 at the top. The pension rate is 10.7% at all three. Because so much of the band is taxed at 40%, salary sacrifice for cycle to work or a workplace nursery saves more here than lower down.

Is Band 8 a matron?

It can be. Matron posts can be banded at 8a: for example, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire advertised a Modern Matron post on NHS Jobs in August 2026 at Band 8a, £57,528 to £64,750. Bands are set by job evaluation, though, so check the advert. 8a is also where consultant clinical scientists start (their posts run from 8a to 8d), and NHS Health Careers says strategic management roles are typically in Bands 8 and 9.

Scotland

Scotland's 8a has two points, £65,125 and £70,303, so a Scottish 8a earns more than the top of England's from day one. Take home is £3,508 to £3,721 a month, after an SPPA pension rate of 11.6% and 42% tax on about £13,909 to £18,486 of income.

Extra pay on Band 8a: shifts, overtime and London

Unsocial hours. Band 8a gets 30% on top of the hourly rate for Saturdays and weekday nights (8pm to 6am) and 60% for Sundays and public holidays. Two Saturday shifts and one Sunday shift of 7.5 hours a month would add £264.79 a month before deductions at the bottom of the band in England, and lift take home from £3,352.53 to £3,489.11. The payments count towards your NHS pension.

Overtime. Band 8a isn't entitled to overtime payments: the handbook pays overtime to Bands 1 to 7 only. Unsocial hours payments still apply.

London weighting (England). The High Cost Area Supplement for Band 8a, a year:

ZoneEntryTop of band
Inner London (20%)£8,746 (maximum)£8,746 (maximum)
Outer London (15%)£6,137 (maximum)£6,137 (maximum)
Fringe (5%)£2,270 (maximum)£2,270 (maximum)

Moving up the band. You become eligible for the middle point after 2 years and the top after another 3, so 5 years from the bottom to the top of Band 8a. In England you move up on your pay step date if your appraisal was done in the last 12 months and meets your trust's standards, you're not in a formal capability process, you have no live disciplinary sanction, and your statutory and mandatory training is up to date.

Jobs on Band 8a

Bands are set by job evaluation, so the same job title can sit in different bands at different trusts. These are the bands NHS Health Careers gives for each role.

  • Modern matron

    Advertised at Band 8a, for example UHCW on NHS Jobs, August 2026.

  • Consultant clinical scientist

    Bands 8a to 8d.

  • Clinical scientist (senior)

    Clinical scientists are Bands 6 to 8a.

  • Strategic and senior management

    Typically Bands 8 and 9.

Band 8a questions

£57,528, £60,417, £64,750 in England (£29.42 to £33.11 an hour); £65,125 and £70,303 in Scotland; £58,379, £61,317, £65,723 in Wales; £55,690, £58,487, £62,682 in Northern Ireland (2025/26 rates).

Band below

Band 7 take home pay

Band above

Band 8b take home pay

Compare

Band 7 vs Band 8a

Sources (checked 18 October 2026)