IBD Nurse Salary 2026/27: Band 6-7

Last updated: 1 November 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

IBD nurse pay 2026/27: the Band 6 and Band 7 scales

England awarded Agenda for Change staff 3.3% from 1 April 2026, and that award is already in these figures. An IBD nurse in England in 2026/27 earns £39,959 to £48,117 at Band 6 and £49,387 to £56,515 at Band 7, for a full-time 37.5-hour week. The step from the top of Band 6 to Band 7 entry is £1,270, which is small beside the £8,158 spread inside Band 6 itself, so the promotion pays off over the following years rather than on day one. For the wider picture at each band, see the Band 6 salary guide and the Band 7 salary guide.

The 2026/27 England scales for a full-time 37.5-hour week. Hourly rates are annual pay divided by 52.2 weeks and then by 37.5 hours, rounded to the nearest penny, and enhancement and overtime rates on this page are calculated from that rounded hourly rate. Monthly pay is annual pay divided by 12. Weekly pay is annual pay divided by 52.2.

For comparison, the 2025/26 ranges before the 3.3% award were £38,682 to £46,580 at Band 6 and £47,810 to £54,710 at Band 7. The award lifted every step, and no back pay was due in England because the increase was paid on time in April salaries.

What an IBD nurse actually does

An IBD nurse looks after people with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease. Both are long-term conditions that flare and settle, and the nurse is often the professional the patient knows best, because the relationship runs for years rather than for a single admission. That continuity is the heart of the job, and it is why IBD services put so much weight on the advice line: a patient in flare phones a nurse who already knows their history, their treatment and their last blood results, rather than starting from scratch with a stranger.

The week blends three kinds of work. In clinic, the nurse reviews patients, checks symptoms and blood results, adjusts treatment within agreed protocols, and prepares patients for endoscopy, imaging or surgery where the disease needs it. In medicines work, the nurse runs biologics and infusion clinics: screening patients before starting treatment, monitoring response and side effects, and coordinating the repeat prescribing and blood monitoring that long-term treatment needs. On the advice line, the nurse takes calls from patients in flare, triages symptoms, arranges urgent review where needed, and keeps people out of emergency departments where safe care at home is possible. The judgement on that line is real clinical work. A flare call can end with reassurance and a clinic appointment, with a change of treatment, or with an urgent referral, and telling those apart is the skill the service pays for.

The nurse also works in the multidisciplinary team with gastroenterologists, surgeons, dietitians, radiologists and stoma nurses. Diet is a live part of IBD care, and the dietitian is a close colleague rather than a distant referral. Surgery is part of the pathway for some patients, and the stoma nurse is the colleague for patients who go on to have stoma surgery, as covered in our stoma nurse salary guide. Young people moving from paediatric to adult services are another part of the caseload, and the handover at transition is handled jointly so that a young person does not fall between two services at a vulnerable age. For the general specialist nurse picture, see our clinical nurse specialist salary guide.

Band 6 versus Band 7: what actually changes

At Band 6, the IBD nurse runs the clinical work: clinics, biologics and infusion lists, the advice line, and the day-to-day coordination of a caseload of patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The nurse works with a high degree of autonomy within agreed protocols, because flare calls and infusion clinics do not wait for a consultant to be free, and the decisions made on the advice line are real clinical decisions. At Band 7, the nurse leads the service: running the rota, supervising and mentoring Band 6 nurses, holding the most complex cases, and leading service development such as improving the advice-line triage pathway or the biologics monitoring process. Band 7 also carries the governance side, including audit and protocol work with the consultant team. The pay difference at the point of promotion is £1,270 from the top of Band 6 to Band 7 entry, but Band 7 opens the route to advanced practice and consultant nurse roles, where the work moves further from the clinic list and closer to running and shaping the service.

Unsocial hours: mostly a weekday service, with exceptions worth pricing

Section 2 of Agenda for Change pays time plus 30% for Saturdays and weekday nights (8pm to 6am) and time plus 60% for Sundays and bank holidays, for Bands 4 to 9. IBD services are mostly weekday services, so unsocial hours make up a smaller share of an IBD nurse's pay than they do for a ward nurse or an on-call coordinator. The exceptions are where the money sits: a service that runs a Saturday clinic, an extended advice line or weekend cover pays the enhancements for those hours, and a nurse who regularly covers Saturdays will see the difference in the monthly pay. Enhancement and overtime cannot both be claimed for the same hours.

An 8-hour Saturday clinic at Band 6 entry pays £212.24 at the enhanced rate, against £163.28 at plain time. That is the arithmetic to run when comparing an IBD post with a weekday-only post: count the Saturday and extended-hours sessions in a typical month and price them from this table. For the full rules, see our unsocial hours and overtime guide.

Overtime: time and a half, double on bank holidays

At Bands 6 and 7, overtime above 37.5 hours a week is paid at time and a half, and double time on bank holidays. From the rounded hourly rates, time and a half is £30.62 at Band 6 entry, £32.31 at Band 6 intermediate, £36.87 at the top of Band 6, £37.85 at Band 7 entry, £39.80 at Band 7 intermediate and £43.31 at the top of Band 7. Double time on a bank holiday is £40.82 at Band 6 entry, £49.16 at the top of Band 6, £50.46 at Band 7 entry and £57.74 at the top of Band 7. Part-time nurses are paid at plain time, plus any unsocial enhancement that applies, for hours above their contracted hours up to 37.5; the overtime rates only start above 37.5. Staff may elect time off in lieu instead of pay.

Mileage: outreach clinics and community work under Section 17

Some IBD work involves travel, for example to outreach clinics or to see patients away from the main hospital, and that travel is claimable under Agenda for Change Section 17. The 2026/27 car rates are 59p a mile for the first 4,500 business miles in the mileage year and 36p a mile above that, with 30p for motorcycles, 20p for pedal cycles and 5p for passengers. An IBD nurse who drives 5,500 business miles in a year claims 4,500 miles at 59p (£2,655) plus 1,000 miles at 36p (£360), a total of £3,015. Travel between home and the normal place of work is not claimable. Keep a mileage log from the first week: the claim is only as good as the record, and the 4,500-mile threshold means the rate drops mid-year for high-mileage staff, which changes the monthly claim. For the full rates, see our mileage rates guide.

London weighting: what HCAS adds

IBD nurses in London trusts receive the High Cost Area Supplement on top of basic pay: 20% of basic in inner London (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), 15% in outer London (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and 5% in the fringe zone (minimum £1,346, maximum £2,270). The minimums matter less at these bands than the maximums: at Band 6 entry in outer London, 15% of £39,959 is £5,993.85, above the minimum, so the nurse receives the percentage figure and a total of £45,952.85. The maximums matter at the top of Band 7, where 20% of £56,515 is £11,303, above the inner London cap, so the nurse receives £8,746 and a total of £65,261. For the full zone rules, see our London weighting guide.

Pension: what comes off the payslip

IBD nurses are in the NHS Pension Scheme, and the member contribution is the largest regular deduction after tax. On the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, every Band 6 step sits in the 9.8% tier: £3,915.98 a year or £326.33 a month at Band 6 entry, £4,132.66 a year or £344.39 a month at Band 6 intermediate, and £4,715.47 a year or £392.96 a month at the top of Band 6. At Band 7 the rate is 9.8% at entry and at the intermediate step, £4,839.93 a year or £403.33 a month on £49,387 and £5,089.34 a year or £424.11 a month on £51,932, and 10.7% at the top, £6,047.11 a year or £503.93 a month on £56,515. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £13,394.06 a year at the top of Band 7. The 2026/27 tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, so treat the tier boundaries as subject to confirmation. For the full tier table, see our pension contributions guide.

Part-time work, annual leave and uniform relief

Part-time IBD work is common, because much of the service is clinic and advice-line work that fits part-time patterns well. Part-time pay is pro rata of the full-time equivalent salary. A 0.8 WTE Band 6 IBD nurse at entry earns 80% of £39,959, which is £31,967.20 a year, and a 0.8 WTE Band 7 IBD nurse at entry earns 80% of £49,387, which is £39,509.60 a year, before any enhancements. Part-time nurses accrue annual leave pro rata as well, and hours above contracted hours up to 37.5 are paid at plain time plus any unsocial enhancement, as explained above. For the leave rules in full, see our annual leave guide and our part-time pay guide.

Annual leave in England follows the Agenda for Change tiers: 27 days plus 8 bank holidays for up to 4 years of service, 29 plus 8 from 5 years, and 33 plus 8 from 10 years. Uniform tax relief is a small but real extra: nurses can claim HMRC flat-rate expenses of £125 a year for laundering a uniform where the employer provides no laundry service or allowance, worth £25 a year at the basic tax rate and £50 at the higher rate, backdatable up to 4 tax years on form P87.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland has its own Agenda for Change scale and a 36-hour week from April 2026, after a 3.75% award from 1 April 2026. The Scotland Band 5 range is £34,494 to £42,977, which works out at £18.36 to £22.87 an hour on the 36-hour week. Scotland Band 6 and Band 7 steps are not quoted here because the full Scotland scales for those bands are not in the verified data file, and this page does not guess at them. Wales awarded 3.3% from 1 April 2026, and the Wales Band 5 steps are £32,557, £35,114 and £39,631, slightly above the England steps at entry and intermediate. Northern Ireland is different: the 3.3% award was recommended but had not been implemented at the time of writing, so Northern Ireland IBD nurses should not budget on the new rates until implementation is confirmed. For the nation guides, see NHS Scotland pay, NHS Wales pay and NHS Northern Ireland pay.

The honest picture: what IBD nurse pay does and does not do

IBD nurse pay in 2026/27 is solid, nationally set, and transparent: anyone can look up the band, find the step, and know the basic salary to the penny. It does not reward the specialty itself. There is no IBD supplement in the national scale, and the unsocial-hours additions are smaller here than in ward specialties because most of the work falls in weekday hours. What varies is the pattern: a nurse with regular Saturday clinics, a London nurse with HCAS, and a nurse in a weekday-only service can sit at the same band and take home different amounts. When comparing IBD posts, ask about Saturday and extended-hours cover, confirm the HCAS zone, and ask how the advice line is staffed and whether it carries an on-call element. Those answers tell you more about the real pay of a post than the band alone ever will.

Frequently asked questions

What band is an IBD nurse in the NHS?

In England in 2026/27, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) specialist nurse typically sits at Band 6 or Band 7. Band 6 pays £39,959 at entry, £42,170 at the intermediate step and £48,117 at the top, and Band 7 pays £49,387 at entry, £51,932 at the intermediate step and £56,515 at the top, for a full-time 37.5-hour week. Band 6 is the specialist nurse grade, running clinics and the advice line under the consultant team, while Band 7 is the lead nurse grade, running the service, supervising the team and holding the most complex cases.

How much does an IBD nurse earn a month?

In England in 2026/27, an IBD nurse at Band 6 earns £3,329.92 a month at entry, £3,514.17 at the intermediate step and £4,009.75 at the top, before tax, National Insurance and pension deductions. At Band 7 the monthly figures are £4,115.58 at entry, £4,327.67 at the intermediate step and £4,709.58 at the top. Those are gross figures for a full-time 37.5-hour week, before any unsocial-hours enhancement, overtime or London weighting.

What does an IBD nurse actually do?

An IBD nurse looks after people with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease. The work blends clinic work, medicines work and telephone work. In clinic, the nurse reviews patients, checks symptoms and blood results, adjusts treatment within agreed protocols, and prepares patients for endoscopy, imaging or surgery. In medicines work, the nurse runs biologics and infusion clinics, screens patients before starting treatment, monitors response and side effects, and coordinates the repeat prescribing and blood monitoring that long-term treatment needs. On the advice line, the nurse takes calls from patients in flare, triages symptoms, arranges urgent review where needed, and keeps people out of emergency departments where safe care at home is possible. The nurse also works in the multidisciplinary team with gastroenterologists, surgeons, dietitians, radiologists and stoma nurses, and supports young people moving from paediatric to adult services.

Do IBD nurses work weekends or nights?

Most IBD nursing is weekday clinic, infusion and advice-line work, so unsocial hours make up a smaller share of pay here than they do for ward or on-call specialties. Where a service runs a Saturday clinic, an extended advice line or weekend cover, the hours actually worked in the unsocial windows attract the Section 2 enhancements in the table on this page: time plus 30% for Saturdays and weekday nights (8pm to 6am) and time plus 60% for Sundays and bank holidays, for Bands 4 to 9. At Band 6 entry that is £26.53 an hour on Saturdays and weekday nights and £32.66 on Sundays and bank holidays, against £20.41 in plain time. Ask what weekend and extended-hours cover the post actually carries, because two IBD posts at the same band can differ on this point.

Is IBD nursing the same as stoma nursing?

No, although the two specialties work closely together. An IBD nurse looks after the medical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis: clinics, medicines, the advice line and flare management. A stoma nurse looks after patients with a stoma, including pre-operative counselling, stoma siting and appliance fitting, and long-term stoma care. Some patients with IBD go on to have stoma surgery, and those patients may be seen by both nurses, but the posts are different jobs with different clinics. Our stoma nurse salary guide covers the Band 6 to 7 pay picture for stoma nursing.

Do IBD nurses get London weighting?

Yes, where the post is based in a London trust. IBD nurses receive the High Cost Area Supplement: 20% of basic pay in inner London (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), 15% in outer London (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and 5% in the fringe zone (minimum £1,346, maximum £2,270). A Band 6 IBD nurse at entry in inner London earns £39,959 + £7,991.80 = £47,950.80 a year. At the top of Band 7 in inner London the supplement is capped at £8,746, giving £65,261 a year.

How much pension does an IBD nurse pay?

On the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, a Band 6 IBD nurse pays 9.8% of pensionable pay at every step: £326.33 a month on £39,959, £344.39 a month on £42,170 and £392.96 a month on £48,117. At Band 7 the rate is 9.8% at entry and at the intermediate step (£403.33 a month on £49,387 and £424.11 a month on £51,932) and 10.7% at the top (£503.93 a month on £56,515). The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £13,394.06 a year at the top of Band 7. The 2026/27 tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, not yet published as final.

What is the career path for an IBD nurse?

The usual route runs from a gastroenterology ward or clinic post at Band 5 into an IBD specialist post at Band 6, then to Band 7 lead nurse for the IBD service. Band 7 adds service leadership: running the rota, supervising Band 6 nurses, leading audit and pathway work with the consultant team, and holding the most complex cases. From Band 7, the next steps are advanced practice, consultant nurse roles or service management, covered in our clinical nurse specialist salary guide and the Band 7 salary guide. Experience in gastroenterology, endoscopy or general medicine before applying is the normal background, and prescribing and advanced assessment training are commonly supported once in post.