NHS Agenda for Change · England · 2026/27
NHS Band 7 salary
£49,387.00 to £56,515.00 a year, 5 years from bottom to top. Up £1,577.00 on last year under the 3.3% award, which the four nations did not match.
The pay points
| Step | 2026/27 | 2025/26 | Hourly | Time to next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | £49,387.00 | £47,810.00 | £25.26 | 2 years |
| Intermediate | £51,932.00 | £50,273.00 | £26.56 | 3 years |
| Top | £56,515.00 | £54,710.00 | £28.90 | — |
Hourly figures are derived — how, and why they are not published.
What work sits in band 7
6 published profiles score into band 7 from the physiotherapy and nursing job families — a post is banded by matching it to one of these, not by its job title.
Physiotherapy Team Manager
Job evaluation score 466–515
- Provides physiotherapy assessment and treatment for specific group(s)
- Provides day to day management to a team of staff
Specialist Physiotherapist (Community)
Job evaluation score 469–492
- Assesses, plans and develops specialist physiotherapist treatment programmes for patients/ clients with a wide variety of complex physical needs in a community setting.
- Supervises less experienced physiotherapists/assistants/ students working with post holder
Nursing: 7ii
Job evaluation score 474–536
- Provide leadership and management to registered and non- registered staff and students in a range of settings
- Assess patients/clients; plans, implements care; provides highly specialist advice; maintains associated records.
- May liaise with other agencies in planning programmes of care and/or health and education programmes.
Physiotherapy Specialist (Respiratory Problems)
Job evaluation score 474
- Takes lead role in physiotherapy assessment and treatment of acutely ill patients, mainly those with respiratory problems
- Teaches physiotherapists and other medical personnel
Physiotherapist Advanced
Job evaluation score 478–532
- Assesses & treats own specialist caseload of patients/clients
- Acts as clinical physiotherapy lead for specialist area of work
- Provides specialist physiotherapy advice within the trust and to other health care professionals
- Leads clinical audits; may undertake research
Nursing: 7i
Job evaluation score 484–538
- Assesses patients/clients, plans, implements care in a variety of settings, provides highly specialist advice
- Deliver specialist nursing care to a defined caseload/within a defined area of nursing
- Provides highly specialist advice and support to nurses/multi- disciplinary team
- Provides specialist education and training to other staff, students and/or patients/clients
- Leads clinical audits in own specialist area
Quoted from National profiles for physiotherapy — NHS Staff Council Job Evaluation Group national job profiles; National profiles for nursing — NHS Staff Council Job Evaluation Group national job profiles.
Nights, weekends and bank holidays
Bands 4 to 9 share one unsocial hours rate, so this is the same for band 7 as for any band above 3. All four nations’ rates, and the rules for which hours qualify. Work out the take-home on this band.
| When | Uplift | Hourly at the entry step | At the top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, and weekdays 8pm–6am | +30% | £32.84 | £37.57 |
| Sundays and public holidays | +60% | £40.42 | £46.24 |
Which hours qualify, and the rules that decide it — including what is excluded and how the other nations differ.
If you work in or near London
A percentage of basic salary, but with a floor and a ceiling — so what band 7 actually gets is not simply the percentage.
| Zone | Rate | At the entry step | At the top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inner London | 20% | £8,746.00 (the maximum) | £8,746.00 (the maximum) |
| Outer London | 15% | £6,137.00 (the maximum) | £6,137.00 (the maximum) |
| Fringe London | 5% | £2,270.00 (the maximum) | £2,270.00 (the maximum) |
At band 7 the straight 20% would exceed the maximum, so inner London pay is capped at £8,746.00 — worth proportionally less here than lower down the scale.
What band 7 actually pays after deductions
The gross figure is not what reaches your bank. Run through income tax, National Insurance and the pension contribution for an England member in the scheme, each step of band 7 comes out at:
| Step | Gross | Hourly | Pension tier | Take-home | A month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | £49,387 | £25.26 | 9.8% | £35,206.74 | £2,933.90 |
| Intermediate | £51,932 | £26.56 | 9.8% | £36,939.53 | £3,078.29 |
| Top | £56,515 | £28.90 | 10.7% | £39,708.45 | £3,309.04 |
England, in the pension scheme, standard tax code, no student loan and no salary sacrifice. Unsocial hours and overtime are paid on top of these figures and are not in them. An estimate from published rates, not a payslip and not financial advice — check it against your own before acting on it. Change any assumption, or pick another nation.
Moving up a step crosses a pension tier
Going from intermediate to top raises gross pay by £4,583 — but it also moves you from the 9.8% pension tier to the 10.7% one. The scheme charges that rate on your whole pensionable pay, not just the part above the threshold, so your contribution rises by £957.77 and you keep £2,768.92 of the £4,583 rise.
That is a real feature of the scheme rather than a rounding artefact, and it is why the calculator shows the tier it used.
Band 7 in the other nations
The four nations set their own Agenda for Change rates, and this year they set four different ones. One of them has not made an award yet, so its figures are the previous year’s — the table says which.
| Nation | Entry | Top | Steps | Week | Hourly at entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | £49,387 | £56,515 | 3 | 37.5h | £25.26 |
| Scotland | £52,845 | £61,466 | 3 | 36h | £28.15 |
| Wales | £50,129 | £57,365 | 3 | 37.5h | £25.64 |
| Northern Ireland 2025/26 — no newer award | £47,810 | £54,710 | 3 | 37.5h | £24.45 |
Hourly rates are not comparable across the row without reading the week column: Scotland works 36 hours where the others work 37.5, so the same salary buys a higher hourly rate there.
If you work part time
What you keep does not scale with your hours. The pension tier is set by your actual pensionable pay too, so some part-time hours fall into a lower tier and pay a lower percentage as well as a smaller amount.
| Hours a week | Gross | Pension tier | Take-home | A month | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.8a lower pension tier | £24,693.50 | 6.5% | £20,015.38 | £1,667.95 | 81.1% |
| 22.5a lower pension tier | £29,632.20 | 8.3% | £22,887.66 | £1,907.31 | 77.2% |
| 30 | £39,509.60 | 9.8% | £28,869.41 | £2,405.78 | 73.1% |
| 37.5 — full time | £49,387 | 9.8% | £35,206.74 | £2,933.90 | 71.3% |
Entry step, England, in the pension scheme. Enter your own hours.
The step before and after
Below this sits band 6. The next band up is band 8a, which most people reach by applying for a different post rather than by progression — the steps within a band are time-served, but moving between bands is not.
Other bands
Band 1Band 2Band 3Band 4Band 5Band 6Band 8aBand 8bBand 8cBand 8dBand 9
Sources for the band 7 figures
- NHS Terms and Conditions 2025 (Agenda for Change) — pay bands and pay points from 1 April 2025, England NHS Employers · 2025-26 · Effective · checked · independently 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