NHS Pay Check

NHS Band 9 Salary & Take Home Pay 2026/27

Band 9 pays £112,782, £119,583 and £129,783 in England for 2026/27: £5,626 to £6,115 a month take home full time. It's the highest Agenda for Change band, for the most senior managers and clinical leads, and the only one where basic pay runs into the £100,000 tax trap.

Salary (England)

£112,782 to £129,783

Take home a month

£5,626 to £6,115

Hourly rate (entry)

£57.68

NHS pension rate

12.5%

Work out your own Band 9 take home pay

Pay advice

England · 2026/27 · monthly

Payments

Basic pay£9,398.50
Total pay£9,398.50

Deductions

Income tax-£2,242.14
National Insurance-£355.52
NHS pension (12.5%)-£1,174.81
Net pay£5,626.03

£1,298.31 a week · £67,512.31 a year

Take home 60%NHS pension 13%Income tax 24%National Insurance 4%

Rates

Hourly rate (basic)£57.68
Income tax as a share of pay27.3%

Band 9 pay in each UK country, 2026/27

Monthly take home at the bottom of Band 9, full time. Bars start at £4,600 to show the gaps. *Northern Ireland is on 2025/26 rates until its award is paid.
CountryPay pointsTake home a monthHourly (entry)
England£112,782 / £119,583 / £129,783£5,626.03 / £5,835.00 / £6,115.48£57.68
Scotland£127,521 / £133,044£5,699.02 / £5,820.39£67.93
Wales£114,475 / £121,377 / £131,732£5,694.54 / £5,884.33 / £6,169.11£58.54
Northern Irelandaward pending£109,179 / £115,763 / £125,637£5,463.48 / £5,722.23 / £5,993.11£55.84

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 9 pay goes each month

Take home 60%NHS pension 13%Income tax 24%National Insurance 4%Bottom of Band 9, England, full time: £9,398.50 a month before deductions.
England, full timeEntryTop of band
Gross pay£9,398.50£10,815.25
NHS pension (12.5%)-£1,174.81-£1,351.91
Income tax-£2,242.14-£2,964.00
National Insurance-£355.52-£383.86
Take home£5,626.03£6,115.48

What NHS jobs are Band 9?

Very few. NHS Health Careers gives chief pharmacist as a Band 9 role, says the most senior clinical manager roles rise to Band 9, and puts strategic management roles in Bands 8 and 9. Band 9 posts are senior leadership jobs that you're appointed to, so there's no set time to reach Band 9. Once you're in it, the top point is 5 years from the bottom (2 years, then 3).

The 60% zone starts at the middle point

Above £100,000 of taxable income, the £12,570 Personal Allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2. Taxable income here means pay after your NHS pension (12.5% for all of Band 9). That gives:

England, full timeTaxable payAllowance lostTake home a month
Entry, £112,782£98,684£0£5,626.03
Middle, £119,583£104,635£2,317£5,835.00
Top, £129,783£113,560£6,780£6,115.48

So the entry point is just clear, and from the middle point every extra £1 of taxable pay costs 60p in income tax (40% plus 40% on the 50p of allowance it removes), plus 2p NI. That's why the top step, worth £10,200 a year, adds only £280 a month to take home.

Anything taken from pay before tax brings taxable pay back down, so in the taper it's worth 60p in the pound. That includes salary sacrifice for the fully exempt schemes (cycle to work, a workplace nursery).

Scotland

Scotland's Band 9 has two points, £127,521 and £133,044, and both are in the taper after the 12.7% SPPA rate (taxable pay £111,326 and £116,147). With Scotland's 45% advanced rate on about £41,988 to £49,220 of income, take home is £5,699 to £5,820 a month: lower than the top of England's Band 9, though the Scottish salary is higher.

Extra pay on Band 9: shifts, overtime and London

Unsocial hours. Band 9 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 £519.11 a month before deductions at the bottom of the band in England, and lift take home from £5,626.03 to £5,819.27. The payments count towards your NHS pension.

Overtime. Band 9 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 9, 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 9. 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 9

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.

  • Chief pharmacist

    Pharmacists can reach Band 9 as a chief pharmacist.

  • Most senior clinical manager roles

    Clinical management roles rise to Band 9 at the most senior level.

  • Strategic management

    Typically Bands 8 and 9.

Band 9 questions

£112,782, £119,583, £129,783 in England (£57.68 to £66.37 an hour); £127,521 and £133,044 in Scotland; £114,475, £121,377, £131,732 in Wales; £109,179, £115,763, £125,637 in Northern Ireland (2025/26 rates).

Band below

Band 8d take home pay

Sources (checked 18 October 2026)