NHS Agenda for Change · England · 2026/27
NHS London weighting
The High Cost Area Supplement is quoted as a percentage — 20% Inner London, 15% Outer London and 5% Fringe — but every zone has a floor and a ceiling, and between them the percentage stops being the answer. Across twelve bands and three zones, the straight percentage is what 12 of 72 pay points actually get.
- Inner London, quoted rate 20% Worth between £5,794 and £8,746 — never outside that
- At the top of band 9 6.7% The ceiling caps it — £8,746 on £129,783
- At the entry of band 2 22.9% The floor lifts it above the headline rate
The three zones
| Zone | Rate | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inner London | 20% | £5,794 | £8,746 |
| Outer London | 15% | £4,870 | £6,137 |
| Fringe | 5% | £1,346 | £2,270 |
The supplement is a percentage of basic salary, but never less than the minimum and never more than the maximum. Those two limits do most of the work.
Why the percentage is not what most people get
Of the 72 pay points on the spine — the bottom and top of each of the twelve bands, in each of the three zones — 21 sit on the floor, 39 sit on the ceiling, and only 12 get the percentage itself.
It is wrong in both directions, which is why an average would mislead too. At the top of band 9, £129,783 in inner london attracts the £8,746 ceiling — an effective 6.7%, a third of the quoted rate. At the entry of band 2, £25,272 attracts the £5,794 floor — an effective 22.9%, which is more than the 20% everyone quotes. The headline is roughly right in the middle of the spine and wrong at both ends.
What it is worth at every band
Bottom of the band to the top. Where a single figure is shown, the floor or the ceiling applies across the whole band, so moving up a step adds nothing to the supplement.
| Band | Inner London | Outer London | Fringe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | £5,794 floor | £4,870 floor | £1,346 floor |
| Band 2 | £5,794 floor | £4,870 floor | £1,346 floor |
| Band 3 | £5,794 floor | £4,870 floor | £1,346 – £1,373.80 |
| Band 4 | £5,794 – £6,231.40 | £4,870 floor | £1,419.60 – £1,557.85 |
| Band 5 | £6,414.60 – £7,808.60 | £4,870 – £5,856.45 | £1,603.65 – £1,952.15 |
| Band 6 | £7,991.80 – £8,746 | £5,993.85 – £6,137 | £1,997.95 – £2,270 |
| Band 7 | £8,746 capped | £6,137 capped | £2,270 capped |
| Band 8a | £8,746 capped | £6,137 capped | £2,270 capped |
| Band 8b | £8,746 capped | £6,137 capped | £2,270 capped |
| Band 8c | £8,746 capped | £6,137 capped | £2,270 capped |
| Band 8d | £8,746 capped | £6,137 capped | £2,270 capped |
| Band 9 | £8,746 capped | £6,137 capped | £2,270 capped |
Only England has one
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland publish no supplement of this kind. That is not a gap in what has been imported — their current pay circulars set out the pay scales without any high cost area addition, so there is nothing to show rather than something missing. A London weighting figure is an English one, and applying it to a Scottish or Welsh salary would invent money that does not exist.
It does not lift your unsocial hours
Unsocial hours enhancements are calculated on basic pay, and the handbook excludes the supplement from that calculation (Section 2, paragraph 2.8). So a night shift in inner London pays the same enhancement as the same shift outside it — the supplement is added to salary, not to the hourly rate that nights and weekends are enhanced from. It is a common and expensive assumption to make the other way.
Which zone am I in?
We do not hold that, and will not guess it. Zone membership is set employer by employer rather than by a published boundary we could import, and a wrong answer here is worse than no answer. Your payslip names the supplement, and your employer’s HR or payroll team can confirm the zone. What this page can tell you is what each zone is worth once you know which one applies.
Assumptions
- 2026/27 rates for England, effective 1 April 2026.
- Percentages apply to basic salary — not to overtime, unsocial hours or other allowances.
- Figures are annual and full-time. Part-time staff receive the supplement pro rata, and the floor and ceiling are pro-rated with it.
- The floor-and-ceiling rule is applied by the same function the band pages use, so the two cannot disagree.
Sources for the London weighting figures 1 document · last checked Verified
- NHS Terms and Conditions 2026 (Agenda for Change) — pay bands and pay points from 1 April 2026, England NHS Employers · 2026-27 · Effective · checked · independently checked Also relied on: NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, version 21 — Section 2 (England), Table 2: unsocial hours payments Pay scales for 2026/27 — High Cost Area Supplement rates, NHS Employers Pay scales for 2026/27 — NHS Employers' HTML publication of the same pay table, used as the corroborating second document Verified