AfC Band 5 Take-Home Pay Guide for 2025/26

Band 5 is one of the most common Agenda for Change pay bands in the NHS. It's the starting band for newly qualified nurses, midwives, paramedics, and many allied health professionals — including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, dietitians, and radiographers. If you've recently qualified or are about to start your NHS career at Band 5, understanding what you'll actually take home each month is essential for budgeting and planning.

This guide walks through every deduction applied to your Band 5 salary for the 2025/26 financial year, explains how part-time hours affect your pay, and shows you how to use our free tools to model your exact take-home figure.

Band 5 pay scale for 2025/26

Under Agenda for Change, Band 5 has multiple pay points. You start at Point 1 when you begin your role and progress up one point each year, subject to satisfactory performance. The 2025/26 pay points are:

These figures are for full-time staff working 37.5 hours per week — the standard NHS full-time equivalent (FTE). If you work fewer hours, your salary is proportionally reduced. For example, at 30 hours per week on Point 1, your gross salary would be 30 ÷ 37.5 × £29,970 = £23,976 per year.

How pay progression works

You move up one pay point each year on the anniversary of your start date (or a date set by your trust). Progression is subject to meeting the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) requirements for your role, though in practice most staff progress automatically unless there's a specific issue.

Once you reach Point 4 (the top of Band 5), your salary stays at that level until you move to a higher band — typically Band 6 — through promotion, role development, or applying for a higher-banded post.

Understanding your deductions

Your gross salary is not what arrives in your bank account each month. Three mandatory deductions apply to most NHS staff, and together they can reduce your take-home pay by 25–35% depending on your earnings. Let's break each one down.

Income tax

Income tax is calculated using HMRC's rates and thresholds for 2025/26. The key figures are:

All Band 5 pay points fall within the basic rate band, meaning you'll pay 20% tax on your earnings above the personal allowance. At Point 1 (£29,970), your taxable income is £29,970 − £12,570 = £17,400, giving an annual tax bill of approximately £3,480.

Note that your tax code may differ from the standard 1257L if you have other income, benefits in kind, or if HMRC has adjusted your code for another reason. The figures in this guide assume the standard tax code.

National Insurance contributions

Employee National Insurance (NI) for 2025/26 is charged at:

For Band 5, Point 1 (£29,970), your NI-liable earnings are £29,970 − £12,570 = £17,400. At 8%, your annual NI bill is approximately £1,392, or about £116 per month.

NI contributions fund the State Pension, the NHS, and various benefits. Unlike income tax, there's no personal allowance for NI — the threshold acts as the starting point.

NHS Pension contributions

The NHS Pension Scheme uses tiered contribution rates based on your whole-time equivalent pensionable pay — not your actual earnings if you work part-time. For Band 5 staff in 2025/26, the contribution rates that typically apply are:

Notice that the pension rate jumps from 8.3% to 9.8% between Points 2 and 3. This is because the tier boundary falls at £32,691 — once your salary crosses this threshold, the higher rate applies to your entire pensionable pay, not just the amount above the boundary. This can feel counterintuitive: a pay rise from Point 2 to Point 3 increases your gross by £2,613, but the pension cost rises by about £741, eating into the net benefit.

The pension contribution is deducted before income tax is calculated, which means you receive tax relief on your pension payments. This effectively reduces the real cost by about 20% for basic rate taxpayers.

Full take-home pay breakdown

Here's a complete breakdown for each Band 5 pay point, assuming full-time hours (37.5/week) and NHS pension included:

Point 1 — £29,970 gross

Point 2 — £32,324 gross

Point 3 — £34,937 gross

Point 4 — £36,483 gross

These are estimates based on standard tax codes and the 2025/26 rates. Your actual pay may differ due to factors like student loan repayments, salary sacrifice schemes, high-cost area supplements (HCAS), or unsocial hours enhancements.

Part-time considerations

If you work part-time, your gross salary is proportionally reduced based on your contracted hours. However, your deductions don't scale linearly — because income tax and NI have thresholds, part-time workers keep a higher percentage of their gross pay compared to full-time workers.

For example, at Band 5 Point 1 working 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE):

Note that the pension rate remains at 8.3% because it's based on the whole-time equivalent salary (£29,970), not your actual part-time earnings.

What about unsocial hours and enhancements?

Many Band 5 roles — particularly in nursing, midwifery, and paramedicine — involve working evenings, nights, weekends, and bank holidays. These attract additional payments called unsocial hours enhancements:

These enhancements are pensionable and are added on top of your basic salary. They're not included in the figures above because they vary enormously based on your shift pattern. A nurse working regular night shifts could earn several thousand pounds more per year than a colleague on standard day shifts at the same pay point.

Comparing Band 5 to Band 6

If you're considering career progression, it's useful to understand what moving from Band 5 to Band 6 actually means for your take-home pay. A common misconception is that the gross salary difference equals the net difference — but because higher earners pay more tax, NI, and potentially higher pension contributions, the real gain is always smaller.

Band 6 Point 1 starts at £37,338 gross. Compared to Band 5 Point 4 (£36,483), that's a gross increase of £855. But after higher pension contributions and tax, the net increase is only around £450–500 per year — a surprisingly modest jump for the initial move into Band 6.

The bigger gains come as you progress through Band 6. Use our Salary Comparison Calculator to model the exact difference at any two pay points.

Additional factors that affect your pay

Calculate your exact take-home pay

The figures in this guide are estimates to give you a clear picture. For your exact take-home pay based on your specific band, pay point, and contracted hours, use our free NHS Pay Calculator. You can also toggle the pension option on and off to see the difference, or use the Salary Comparison Calculator to compare Band 5 against Band 6 or any other band.