NHS Bank Holiday Pay Calculator 2026/27

Last updated: 5 November 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

The calculator

Bank holiday pay goes wrong in two predictable ways. The first is treating every bank holiday shift as double time: double time exists, but only for overtime hours in bands 1 to 7, while a rostered shift inside your contracted week gets the Section 2 enhancement instead. The second is forgetting that a worked bank holiday usually earns time off in lieu as well as money, which changes the value of the shift by a full day off. This calculator keeps the two mechanisms apart. Pick rostered for shifts inside your contracted week and overtime for shifts on top of a full week, and it will price each case on the right rule, with no double counting of the same hours.

The leave section answers the other half of the question. Bank holidays are not extra days bolted onto your leave: they are already inside your entitlement, which is why the calculator shows your total leave including bank holidays alongside the pay. A part-timer who works a bank holiday that falls on a non-working day has not lost anything, because the pro-rata bank holiday hours are credited to the leave balance. Enter your whole-time equivalent fraction and service tier and the calculator gives the total in days and in hours, which is the figure payroll actually works from for part-time staff.

The rates the calculator uses

Agenda for Change draws a sharp line between Sundays plus public holidays on one side and Saturdays plus weekday nights on the other. The bank holiday column is the one this calculator prices, and it is the same column that applies to an ordinary Sunday: there is no special Christmas rate and no extra festive premium on top of it. A Christmas Day shift and a July Sunday shift attract the same percentage, which is why the festive examples in the Christmas pay guide simply apply these rates to the festive calendar. The Saturday and night column is shown alongside so the two are not confused on a payslip, where both can appear in the same month.

One warning belongs here because older pages on the internet still carry the wrong Band 2 and Band 3 figures. The pre-September 2018 rates were time plus 44% and 88% for Band 2 and time plus 37% and 74% for Band 3. Those figures were superseded by the 2018 Agenda for Change framework agreement and must not be used for 2026/27. If a third-party calculator prices your bank holiday shifts on the old rates, its answers will be wrong in both directions: it will overstate Saturday pay and understate nothing, but it will misprice the Sunday and public-holiday column that this page is about. The figures in the table above are the current handbook rates, verified against the NHS Employers unsocial-hours factsheet.

Source: NHS Employers unsocial hours factsheet; NHS bank holiday pay guide.

What one bank holiday shift is worth, by band

The chart below prices a single 7.5-hour rostered bank holiday shift at the entry step of each band, using the same rates as the calculator. The shape is worth studying: the jump from Band 2 to Band 3 is small in basic pay but the enhancement percentage falls, so the two shifts end up close together in money, while the higher bands pull away because the same 60% enhancement applies to a much larger basic rate. A Band 9 entry shift at £691.44 looks dramatic next to a Band 2 shift at £177.19, but both are the same rule applied to different salaries, and neither figure includes the TOIL that typically comes with the shift.

Band 3 entry sits below Band 2 in this chart, and that is correct rather than an error. Band 3 entry basic pay is £13.16 an hour against Band 2 at £12.91, but the Band 3 enhancement is 69% against 83% for Band 2, so the enhanced rates land at £22.24 and £23.63 respectively. Promotion from Band 2 to Band 3 is still worth taking: the basic salary rises, the pension tier position improves, and the top of Band 3 at £27,476 pays more than the Band 2 spot rate at every hour of the week. The chart compares entry steps only, so it flatters Band 2 for a single shift while hiding the progression that matters over a career.

Worked examples

The examples below are the calculator's own test cases, worked by hand so you can check the tool against them. They reuse the bank holiday guide's examples where the two pages overlap, so a reader who checks both pages finds the same figures in both places. Every figure uses the England 2026/27 rates and the calculator's rounding basis: basic hourly rate rounded to the nearest penny first, enhancement applied to that rounded rate, shift pay rounded once at the end.

The Band 5 intermediate example is the one to learn first, because it is the guide's headline example and the calculator reproduces it exactly. Basic pay of £34,592 gives an hourly rate of £17.67. The enhancement at time plus 60% gives £28.27 an hour, and a 7.5-hour shift at that rate is £212.04. Plain time for the same shift is £132.53, so the enhancement itself is worth £79.51, and the shift typically earns 7.5 hours of time off in lieu on top. Anyone whose payslip shows a different figure for this exact case should ask payroll for the workings, because the arithmetic leaves no room for a different answer.

The overtime examples show why the shift type matters more than the band. A Band 6 nurse at the top of the band earns £49.16 an hour for an overtime bank holiday shift, which is double the £24.58 basic rate, and a 7.5-hour shift is worth £368.70. The same nurse on a rostered shift would earn £39.33 an hour and £294.96 for the shift. The gap between the two is £73.74 for one shift, which is exactly why trusts record rostered and overtime hours separately and why claiming the wrong one is the commonest bank holiday payslip error. The Band 5 four-hour overtime example at £131.04 is the standard overtime test case: four hours at double the £16.38 basic rate.

The eight-shift example answers the question staff actually ask at the end of a heavy year: what did all of it add up to. A Band 5 nurse at the entry step working every bank holiday in England on 12-hour long days earns £314.50 per shift and £2,516.00 across the eight shifts, of which £943.52 is extra above plain time. The same eight shifts also typically earn 96 hours of time off in lieu, which is nearly thirteen 7.5-hour days. Valued at the basic rate, that TOIL is worth a further £1,572.48 of paid time off, which is why the money figure alone understates what a worked bank holiday year is worth.

Rostered shifts and overtime shifts are different claims

The distinction between rostered and overtime bank holiday work is the single most important idea on this page, so it deserves a plain statement. Rostered hours are hours inside your contracted week that happen to fall on a public holiday. They are paid under Section 2 at the enhancement rate for your band. Overtime hours are hours above 37.5 in the week, or above 36 in Scotland since April 2026, that happen to fall on a public holiday. They are paid under Section 3 at double time for bands 1 to 7. The two sections never stack: the handbook states that overtime and unsocial-hours enhancement cannot both be claimed for the same hours, and you receive the higher of the two. On a bank holiday, double time is higher than every enhancement rate, so overtime wins.

Part-time staff sit in a middle position that payroll sometimes gets wrong. Hours above your contracted hours but below 37.5 are paid at plain time, plus the public-holiday enhancement if the hours fall on a bank holiday. Overtime rates apply only above 37.5. A part-timer working a bank holiday shift that takes the week to 40 hours therefore has two slices in one shift: the hours up to 37.5 at the enhancement rate and the hours above 37.5 at double time. If your payslip prices the whole shift at one rate, ask for the split, because a single-rate calculation will be wrong for one of the two slices. The overtime calculator works through the same split for ordinary weeks.

Bands 8 and 9 break the pattern entirely. There is no contractual overtime pay at those bands, on bank holidays or any other day, so extra hours are recognised with time off in lieu. That does not mean senior staff work bank holidays for nothing: rostered hours on a public holiday still attract the time plus 60% enhancement, and TOIL covers the overtime element. The calculator enforces this by returning £0.00 extra pay for overtime in bands 8 and 9, rather than inventing a double-time figure that the handbook does not provide.

If you are not working the bank holiday

Not working a bank holiday is the normal case for most NHS staff, and it needs no calculator: you receive your normal salary, with no enhancement and no bonus. Bank holidays are already inside your leave entitlement, which is 27 days plus 8 bank holidays on appointment in England, rising to 29 plus 8 after five years and 33 plus 8 after ten years. Staff on Monday-to-Friday rotas who never work a bank holiday are not missing out on hidden pay. The enhancement exists specifically to compensate the staff who give up the day off, and it is paid only for hours actually worked on the day.

Where a bank holiday coincides with annual leave you have booked, it does not normally consume a day of your leave allowance, because the day is already counted inside the bank holiday element of your entitlement. The practical check is on your leave record rather than your payslip: a booked week that includes a bank holiday should use four days of annual leave, not five. If your record shows five, raise it with your manager before the leave year closes, because leave records are much harder to correct retrospectively than payslips.

Part-time staff need the hours version of this rule. Your bank holiday entitlement is pro rata, so at 0.6 WTE you hold 4.8 days of bank holiday entitlement, which is 36 hours, inside a total of 21 days or 157.5 hours for a new starter. If a bank holiday falls on a day you would not normally work, you have not used any of that entitlement, so most trusts credit the pro-rata hours to your leave balance. If it falls on a working day and you are rostered off, it comes out of your bank holiday entitlement as normal. The annual leave guide and the annual leave calculator work through the same pro-rata maths in full.

Time off in lieu, substitute days and bank staff

Time off in lieu is the part of bank holiday pay that staff most often leave unclaimed. The general position is that staff who work on a public holiday are entitled to an equivalent period of time off in lieu on top of the enhancement, subject to local policy, so a full shift worked typically earns a full shift off. For bands 8 and 9, TOIL is the standard mechanism rather than an extra. Book it early: TOIL accrues at the busiest times of year, and managers are under no obligation to approve it at peak periods. If TOIL cannot be taken within a reasonable period, local policy usually provides for it to be paid, so an accrued balance that keeps rolling forward is worth raising rather than letting it lapse silently.

Substitute days catch out staff who work weekends around Christmas and New Year. When a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday is observed on the next weekday, and the enhancement follows the substitute day. In 2026, Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December moves to Monday 28 December, so the Saturday attracts the ordinary Saturday rate and the Monday attracts the public-holiday rate. Check which date your trust has designated before accepting a roster, particularly if you work across the weekend, because the two days sit next to each other and only one of them carries the higher rate.

Bank workers are paid for the hours they work, and the public-holiday enhancement is normally applied to bank shifts worked on a bank holiday, calculated on the agreed bank hourly rate. There is no separate statutory right to bank holiday pay for workers in the way there is for leave: the enhancement comes through the trust's bank terms, which mirror Agenda for Change. Agency staff are covered by their agency's terms, with parity rules giving comparable enhancements after 12 weeks in the same role. In both cases the contract is the authority, so check it before assuming the substantive rates apply to your shifts.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The Section 2 enhancement percentages apply to Agenda for Change staff in all four nations, but the calendars and the overtime thresholds differ. Scotland observes 2 January and St Andrew's Day as additional public holidays, and Scotland's 36-hour week since April 2026 means overtime starts above 36 hours rather than 37.5. Wales follows the England calendar for the main dates, with a Real Living Wage floor of £13.45 an hour applied to the lowest bands. Northern Ireland has additional public holidays including St Patrick's Day, and the 2026/27 award there was still awaiting implementation at the last check, so Northern Ireland staff should confirm which rates are actually in payment before budgeting on them. This calculator prices the England position: 8 bank holidays, a 37.5-hour week and the England pay scale. Staff in the devolved nations should use their own nation's pay circular for the salary figures and check the local holiday calendar.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use the NHS bank holiday pay calculator?

Pick your band and pay step, enter the hours in each bank holiday shift and how many bank holidays you worked, then choose whether the shifts were rostered shifts or overtime on top of a full week. Press Calculate my bank holiday pay. The tool shows your basic hourly rate, the enhanced hourly rate, the gross pay for the shifts you worked, how much of that is extra above plain time, the time off in lieu typically due, and your total leave entitlement including bank holidays.

What rate do I get for a rostered bank holiday shift?

Under Agenda for Change Section 2, hours worked on a public holiday attract time plus 60% for bands 4 to 9, time plus 69% for Band 3 and time plus 83% for Band 2. Band 1, which is closed to new entrants, attracts time plus 94%. Those percentages are applied to your basic hourly rate, so a Band 5 nurse at the entry step earns £26.21 an hour for a rostered bank holiday shift, against a basic rate of £16.38.

When do I get double time instead of the enhancement?

Double time is the Section 3 overtime rate for bands 1 to 7, and it applies to hours worked above 37.5 in the week when those hours fall on a bank holiday. You cannot claim both the overtime rate and the unsocial-hours enhancement for the same hours: you receive the higher of the two, and on a bank holiday that is double time for bands 1 to 7. A rostered shift inside your contracted week gets the enhancement, not double time.

What happens if I am Band 8 or 9?

Bands 8 and 9 have no contractual overtime pay, so overtime on a bank holiday is recognised with time off in lieu rather than extra pay. The calculator shows £0.00 extra pay for overtime in those bands and reports the TOIL hours instead. Rostered bank holiday shifts are different: bands 8 and 9 still receive the time plus 60% enhancement for rostered hours worked on a public holiday.

Do I get time off in lieu as well as the enhancement?

Staff who work on a public holiday are generally entitled to an equivalent period of time off in lieu on top of the enhancement, subject to local policy, so a 7.5-hour shift worked typically earns 7.5 hours of TOIL. Overtime works the other way round: you may elect TOIL instead of overtime pay, but you do not receive both the pay and the time off for the same hours. Bands 8 and 9 use TOIL as the standard mechanism for extra bank holiday hours.

What leave am I entitled to including bank holidays?

In England, full-time entitlement is 27 days of annual leave plus 8 bank holidays on appointment, rising to 29 days plus 8 after five years of service and 33 days plus 8 after ten years. That is 35, 37 or 41 days in total, or 262.5, 277.5 or 307.5 hours at a 7.5-hour day. Part-time entitlement is pro rata in hours: at 0.6 WTE a new starter gets 21 days, which is 157.5 hours. The calculator works out both figures from the service tier and WTE fraction you enter.

What if a bank holiday falls on a weekend?

The holiday moves to the next weekday as a substitute day, and the public-holiday enhancement follows the substitute day, not the weekend date. In 2026, Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December and moves to Monday 28 December, so Saturday 26 December worked as an ordinary Saturday attracts the Saturday rate, while Monday 28 December attracts the public-holiday rate. Rosters and payroll both follow the substitute day.

Do bank staff get the bank holiday enhancement?

Bank workers are generally paid the public-holiday enhancement for bank shifts worked on a bank holiday, applied to the agreed bank hourly rate. Terms vary between trusts and bank providers, so check your bank contract. Agency staff are covered by their agency's terms, though parity rules mean agency workers doing the same job should receive comparable enhancements after 12 weeks in the role.

Sources and independence

Source: NHS Employers unsocial hours factsheet; NHS Employers 2026/27 pay award.

Source: Health Careers NHS, Agenda for Change pay rates.

NHS Bands Pay is an independent information website. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the National Health Service or NHS Employers. Enhancement rates are set by the Agenda for Change handbook and bank holiday dates by the government; local trust and bank policies add detail, so confirm your position with payroll or ESR.