NHS Pension Increase 2027: 3.5% Expected From April

Last updated: 7 November 2026 · Figures verified against ONS September 2026 CPI and NHSBSA guidance.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Every April, NHS pensions go up. For the 1.2 million people drawing an NHS pension, and for the hundreds of thousands more with benefits banked in the scheme, the April increase is the one pay event of the year that is not a negotiation. Nobody has to apply for it, nobody has to strike for it, and the amount is set by a rule, not by a minister's mood. The rule is simple: the increase follows the rise in the Consumer Prices Index in the 12 months to the previous September. September 2026 CPI came in at 3.5%, so the April 2027 increase is expected to be 3.5%. This page explains the rule, why 3.5% is expected rather than confirmed, the exact date the money lands, what it is worth at different pension sizes, who qualifies, and what happens to the pension you are still building up while you work.

What the Pensions Increase is

The Pensions Increase is the annual rise applied to public service pensions, and it covers the NHS Pension Scheme in England and Wales, alongside the other public service schemes. Every year, HM Treasury reviews the increase and sets it by order. The measure it uses is the Consumer Prices Index, CPI, specifically the rise in CPI in the 12 months ending the previous September. That September figure is the anchor for everything that follows: once the Office for National Statistics publishes it in October, the likely April increase is known, and the only remaining step is the formal confirmation.

The increase is applied from the first Monday after 5 April each year, a rule NHS Pensions states in its pensioner guidance and repeats in its annual pensioner newsletter. The date matters because it is not always 6 April, the start of the tax year. In 2026 the first Monday after 5 April fell on 6 April itself, because 5 April 2026 was a Sunday. In 2025 it was 7 April. In 2027, 5 April is a Monday, so the first Monday after it is 12 April, a week into the new tax year. The April payment therefore straddles the change, with part of the month paid at the old rate and part at the new rate, and the full increase showing from the May payment.

Two features of the rule are worth knowing, because they shape expectations. First, the increase is one-directional in practice: NHS Pensions states that if the cost of living has gone down, your pension will not be reduced, it will continue to be paid at the same rate. In a year of falling prices the increase would be zero, not negative. Second, the increase is not the same as a pay award. A pay award is negotiated through the Pay Review Body and applies to staff still working. The Pensions Increase is a statutory uprating that applies to pensions already in payment and to deferred benefits, and it is driven by inflation, not by negotiation. The two can move in different directions in the same year, and in 2027 they will: the pension increase is expected to be 3.5%, while the pay award for working staff has not even been decided yet.

The 2027 figure: why 3.5%, and what is confirmed

On 21 October 2026 the Office for National Statistics published its consumer price inflation bulletin for September 2026. The headline was that CPI rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026, up from 3.1% in August, the highest rate since October 2025. Motor fuels were the largest upward driver, with petrol and diesel prices pushing transport costs higher. The broader CPIH measure, which includes owner-occupiers' housing costs, rose to 3.6%, and core CPI, which strips out energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 2.8%.

Because the Pensions Increase follows September CPI, that 3.5% figure is the expected April 2027 increase. It is expected, not confirmed, and the distinction is not pedantry. The increase is only final once HM Treasury makes the order, and the Treasury usually confirms the figure early in the new year: last year's 3.8% was confirmed on 26 February 2026, when the government published the public service pensions increase for 2026. NHS Pensions itself says it cannot advise the value of the increase before April. Anyone quoting 3.5% as a done deal is jumping ahead of the official process, and this page does not do that.

That said, the figure is as close to certain as an unconfirmed number gets. The rule leaves no discretion: the increase follows September CPI, September CPI is 3.5%, and the Treasury has followed the rule in every recent year. The only realistic way the April 2027 figure differs from 3.5% would be a change in the rules themselves, and no such change has been announced. Pensioners can plan on 3.5% while understanding that the formal confirmation is still to come, and this page will be updated the moment the Treasury publishes it.

For context, the September figure is also the number that sets the following April's increase in many state benefits, and it is the figure the government uses when it talks about inflation running above the Bank of England's 2% target. September CPI at 3.5% is 1.5 points above target, and it arrived a week before the Chancellor's first Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026. The Budget left income tax and National Insurance thresholds frozen until April 2031, which means the April 2027 pension increase will be taxed at the same thresholds as this year's, with no extra headroom from a rising personal allowance.

When it lands: 12 April 2027

The increase takes effect from Monday 12 April 2027, the first Monday after 5 April. NHS pensions are paid monthly, and the payment cycle means the increase does not arrive in one clean step. Your April payment will include part of the month paid at the old rate and part at the new rate, because the increase only applies from 12 April. Your May payment will be the first one paid entirely at the new rate, and that is the payment to check if you want to confirm the increase has landed in full.

NHS Pensions will write to you with the details. You will receive an Advice of Payment showing your new annual rate and the percentage increase, with the new rate reflected in your April and May payments. Your P60, the annual summary of pension paid and tax deducted, typically arrives by the end of May, sent in batches with the annual pensioner newsletter. If you have not received your pack by 1 June 2027, NHS Pensions asks you to get in touch. Nothing needs to be done to trigger any of this: the increase is applied automatically to every pension that qualifies, and no claim form exists.

One timing point catches people out every year. The increase date, 12 April, is not the same as the date your pension is revalued if you are still working, and it is not the same as the date contribution thresholds change. Active members' revaluation happens on 6 April, the first day of the tax year, under a separate Treasury order. Contribution thresholds are uprated from 1 April. Three different April dates, three different mechanisms, all landing in the same month. The sections below take them one at a time.

What it is worth on your pension

The maths is straightforward: multiply your annual pension by 3.5% and divide by 12 for the monthly figure. The table below does it for the pension sizes most NHS pensioners actually draw. The figures are gross, before tax, and they assume the expected 3.5% figure is confirmed. A pension of £10,000 a year, which is a typical outcome for a career of part-time or shorter NHS service, rises by £350 a year, about £29.17 a month. A pension of £20,000 rises by £700 a year, about £58.33 a month. A pension of £30,000, which needs a long full-time career at a senior band, rises by £1,050 a year, £87.50 a month.

Whether that feels like a lot depends on what the money has to cover. On a £10,000 pension, £29.17 a month is roughly a weekly shop's worth of the increase, not a windfall, and it is worth saying plainly that the increase is designed to keep your pension's purchasing power where it was, not to make you richer. That is the purpose of an inflation-linked increase: a pension that rose by 3.5% when prices rose by 3.5% buys the same basket of goods as it did a year earlier. The increase protects you against inflation; it does not beat it. The year the increase really matters is the year inflation spikes, because that is when a fixed pension would lose value fastest, and the April 2024 increase of 6.7% did exactly that job for pensioners who had watched prices surge through 2022 and 2023.

Tax takes a share of the increase for many pensioners. The personal allowance is frozen at £12,570 until April 2031, so a pensioner whose total income sits just below the threshold can be tipped over it by the increase alone. A pension of £12,000 rising by 3.5% becomes £12,420, still under the allowance, but a pension of £12,500 becomes £12,937.50, and the £367.50 above the allowance is taxed at 20%. Pensioners who also draw the State Pension need to add the two together: the State Pension counts as income for tax purposes even though it is paid without tax deducted, so the combined figure is what decides the tax bill. The NHS pension calculator can help with the pension side of the picture, and the take-home pay by band tables show how tax and National Insurance work on working pay.

How it compares with recent years

Three and a half per cent sits in the middle of the recent range. Last year, April 2026, pensions rose by 3.8% from 6 April 2026, so a pension of £20,000 gained £760 a year, £60 a year more than the £700 expected in 2027. The year before, April 2025, the increase was just 1.7% from 7 April 2025, worth £340 a year on the same £20,000 pension. And in April 2024 the increase was 6.7% from 8 April 2024, worth £1,340 a year on £20,000, the largest in years and a direct reflection of the inflation peak that preceded it.

The pattern tells a story about inflation rather than about generosity. The 6.7% of 2024 followed the cost-of-living surge; the 1.7% of 2025 followed the sharp fall in inflation through 2024; the 3.8% of 2026 and the expected 3.5% of 2027 reflect inflation settling at a level still above the Bank of England's 2% target but far below the peak. For a pensioner, the practical lesson is that the April increase is not a number to celebrate or lament in isolation. What matters is the gap between the increase and the prices you actually pay, and in 2027 that gap looks small: prices rose 3.5% to September 2026, and the pension rises by the same 3.5% in April 2027. Purchasing power is preserved, near enough, which is the scheme doing what it was designed to do.

Who gets it

The increase is paid to anyone whose NHS pension is already in payment and who meets the age or health condition. In NHS Pensions' own words, an increase to your pension is payable if you are over age 55, or if you are receiving an ill-health pension. That covers the large majority of pensioners. It also covers deferred members: if you left the NHS with pension benefits banked in the scheme and have not yet drawn them, those benefits rise by CPI each April, so a deferred pension is expected to rise by 3.5% in April 2027 as well. The rate for deferred benefits is CPI alone, without the extra 1.5% that active members get, which is explained in the next section.

The one group that does not get the full figure straight away is people whose pension started part way through the year. If your pension has been in payment for less than a year when the April increase arrives, you receive a lower, proportionate increase that reflects how many months your pension has been in payment. NHS Pensions states this directly, and the government's own 2026 publication says the same: any pension which has been in payment for less than a year will be increased by a proportionate amount depending on the number of months it has been in payment. The exact proportion depends on your start date and is worked out by NHS Pensions, and this page deliberately does not give worked examples for individual retirement months, because the pro-rata mechanics have not been verified to a standard that would let us publish them. If you retired during 2026/27, check your Advice of Payment in April and May 2027: it will show the percentage actually applied to your pension.

Members with a Guaranteed Minimum Pension, the GMP earned between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997 when the scheme was contracted out, have a separate arrangement. If your State Pension age is 6 April 2016 or later, the increases on the GMP element are paid by the NHS Pension Scheme in full. The detail is technical and depends on your individual record, so if your pension includes a GMP element and the increase looks smaller than you expected, your annual benefit statement and your Advice of Payment are the places to check, and NHS Pensions can explain the split.

If you are still working: the 5.0% revaluation

For staff still working, April brings a different uplift, and it is larger. The 2015 scheme is a career average scheme, known as CARE, and it works in two steps. Each year you work, you bank 1/54th of that year's pensionable earnings as annual pension. Then, each April, the pension you have banked so far is revalued, increased, by CPI plus 1.5%, under a Treasury Revaluation Order. The extra 1.5% is deliberate: it means the value of what you have banked grows faster than prices, so your pension keeps ahead of inflation while you are still building it.

With September 2026 CPI at 3.5%, the expected revaluation in April 2027 is 5.0%. As an example, £10,000 of pension banked so far would become £10,500 after a 5.0% revaluation, a gain of £500 a year of pension for doing nothing except staying in the scheme. A nurse at the top of Band 5 on £39,043 banks £723.02 of annual pension for each year worked, and a nurse at the entry point of Band 5 on £32,073 banks £593.94 a year. Those slices are then revalued every April for as long as you remain an active member, which is why early-career years are disproportionately valuable: a slice banked at 22 gets revalued for decades before it is drawn.

The revaluation order for 2027 has not yet been made, so 5.0% is expected rather than confirmed, in the same way as the 3.5% Pensions Increase. The revaluation date moved to 6 April from 2023, so the revaluation lands on the first day of the tax year, a week before the Pensions Increase takes effect on 12 April. If you want to see what your own pension could be worth at retirement, the NHS pension calculator projects your 2015 scheme pension, and the NHS pension contributions guide explains the tiers you pay and the 23.7% your employer adds on top.

Contribution thresholds in April 2027

Working staff should also watch the contribution thresholds, because they are uprated each April and the 2027/28 table has not been published yet. The Department of Health and Social Care rule is that the thresholds rise by the higher of September CPI or the Agenda for Change pay award. September CPI is 3.5%, and the 2027/28 pay award has not been decided: the government's evidence to the Pay Review Body plans for a 2.4% rise, which is a plan, not an award, and the Pay Review Body reports in 2027 before the government decides. On the figures known today, the thresholds would rise by at least 3.5%, because 3.5% is higher than the planned 2.4%.

That matters because the thresholds decide which contribution rate you pay. In 2026/27 the tiers run from 5.2% on pensionable pay up to £13,259, through 6.5%, 8.3% and 9.8%, to 10.7% and 12.5% above £67,669. A threshold rise of 3.5% would lift the top of the 8.3% band from £35,155 to about £36,385, and the bottom of the 12.5% band from £67,669 to about £70,037, if the award does not push the rise higher. The bottom tier, £13,259, is linked to the frozen personal allowance and does not move. Until NHS Pensions publishes the 2027/28 table, none of those figures can be quoted as fact, and this page will be updated when the table appears. The current table, with worked examples by band, is in the NHS pension contributions by band guide.

What is not decided yet

Four things about April 2027 are still open, and it is worth listing them together so nobody mistakes an expectation for a fact. First, the Pensions Increase itself: 3.5% expected, Treasury confirmation still to come, usually early in the new year. Second, the 2027/28 pay award for working staff: the government plans for 2.4%, the Pay Review Body has not yet reported, and no award has been made. The 2027/28 pay outlook page tracks that process. Third, the contribution thresholds for 2027/28: not published by NHS Pensions, and dependent on the award. Fourth, the revaluation order for active members: 5.0% expected, order not yet made.

What is settled is the machinery. The September CPI figure is published, the rule that ties the increase to it is fixed, the date of 12 April 2027 follows from the calendar, and the recent history shows the Treasury confirming the figure in February. Nothing in the Autumn Budget of 28 October 2026 changed the Pensions Increase mechanism, and the Budget's decision to freeze tax thresholds until April 2031 means the increase will be taxed on the same thresholds as this year. For pensioners, the practical position is simple: expect 3.5% from 12 April 2027, check the Advice of Payment when it arrives, and watch for the Treasury confirmation early in the new year.

What to do now

Nothing needs to be done to receive the increase. It is applied automatically, and there is no claim to make and no form to complete. The useful steps are all about checking, not applying:

• Watch for the Treasury confirmation early in 2027. The 2026 figure was confirmed on 26 February 2026, so a similar timetable is likely. This page will be updated when it is published.
• Check your Advice of Payment when it arrives in April and May 2027. It shows your new annual rate and the percentage actually applied. If you retired during 2026/27, this is where you will see the proportionate first-year increase.
• Check the May payment, not just April. April is split between the old and new rates because the increase starts on 12 April. May is the first full month at the new rate.
• Check your tax position if your total income is near the £12,570 personal allowance. The allowance is frozen until April 2031, so the increase can tip you over it. Add your State Pension to your NHS pension when you work out your total income.
• If you are still working, check your annual benefit statement. It shows the value of your banked pension after the April revaluation, which is expected to be 5.0% in 2027. The NHS pension calculator can project what that could become by retirement.
• Keep the 2027/28 pay award separate in your mind. The 3.5% is a pension uprating, not a pay rise. The pay award for working staff is a separate process, tracked on the NHS pay rise 2027 page, and it has not been decided.

Frequently asked questions

Will my NHS pension definitely rise by 3.5% in April 2027?

Almost certainly, but not yet officially. The Pensions Increase follows the rise in the Consumer Prices Index in the 12 months to the previous September, and September 2026 CPI was 3.5%, published by the Office for National Statistics on 21 October 2026. That makes 3.5% the expected figure for April 2027. The Government has not yet confirmed it: HM Treasury sets the increase each year, and it usually confirms the figure early in the new year. Last year's 3.8% increase was confirmed on 26 February 2026. NHS Pensions cannot tell you the value before April. This page will be updated the moment the Treasury confirms the figure.

When exactly will the increase be paid?

From Monday 12 April 2027. The increase always starts on the first Monday after 5 April, and in 2027 5 April is itself a Monday, so the first Monday after it is 12 April. Your April payment will be split: part of the month at the old rate and part at the new rate, because the increase only applies from 12 April. The full increase shows in your May payment. NHS Pensions will send you an Advice of Payment showing your new annual rate and the percentage increase, with details in your April and May payments, and your P60 typically arrives by the end of May.

How much extra will I get each month?

It depends on the size of your pension. At 3.5%, a pension of £5,000 a year rises by £175 a year, about £14.58 a month. A pension of £10,000 rises by £350 a year, about £29.17 a month. A pension of £20,000 rises by £700 a year, about £58.33 a month, and a pension of £30,000 rises by £1,050 a year, £87.50 a month. The increase is applied to your gross pension, so the amount that reaches your bank account depends on your tax position. The full table is in the what it is worth section above, and the NHS pension calculator can project your pension at retirement.

I retired this year. Do I get the full 3.5%?

Probably not the full figure in your first year. If your pension has been in payment for less than a year, the first increase is proportionate: you receive a lower percentage that reflects how many months your pension has been in payment. NHS Pensions states this plainly, that you may receive a lower percentage increase for the first year if your pension started part way through the year. The exact proportion depends on your start date and is worked out by NHS Pensions, so this page does not give worked examples for individual retirement months. From your second April onwards you receive the full annual increase like everyone else.

Does the increase apply to deferred pensions too?

Yes. If you left the NHS with pension benefits banked in the scheme and have not yet drawn them, those deferred benefits rise by CPI each April as well. The difference is the rate: deferred benefits in the 2015 scheme are revalued by CPI alone, while active members' benefits are revalued by CPI plus 1.5%. So a deferred pension is expected to rise by 3.5% in April 2027, the same as a pension in payment, while an active member's built-up pension is expected to be revalued by 5.0%. Your annual benefit statement shows the current value after each increase. The detail is in the NHS pension if you leave guide.

I am still working. Does the 3.5% affect my pension?

Yes, through revaluation rather than the Pensions Increase itself. The 2015 scheme is a career average scheme: each year you work, you bank 1/54th of that year's pensionable earnings as annual pension, and the amount you have banked so far is revalued each April by CPI plus 1.5%, under a Treasury Revaluation Order. With September CPI at 3.5%, the expected revaluation in April 2027 is 5.0%. As an example, £10,000 of pension banked so far would become £10,500 after a 5.0% revaluation. A nurse at the top of Band 5 on £39,043 banks £723.02 of annual pension for each year worked. The revaluation order for 2027 has not yet been made, so 5.0% is expected, not confirmed.

Will my pension contributions change in April 2027?

The contribution thresholds are uprated each April, but the 2027/28 table has not been published yet by NHS Pensions, so no new thresholds can be quoted. The Department of Health and Social Care rule is that thresholds rise by the higher of September CPI or the Agenda for Change pay award. September CPI is 3.5%, and the 2027/28 pay award has not been decided: the government's evidence to the Pay Review Body plans for a 2.4% rise, which is a plan, not an award. On that basis the thresholds would rise by at least 3.5%. The 2026/27 tiers run from 5.2% on pay up to £13,259 to 12.5% above £67,669, with the employer adding 23.7%. See the NHS pension contributions guide for the current table.

What was last year's increase?

Pensions in payment rose by 3.8% from 6 April 2026, confirmed by HM Treasury on 26 February 2026 and in line with the rise in CPI in the 12 months to September 2025. The year before that, the increase was 1.7% from 7 April 2025, and in 2024 it was 6.7% from 8 April 2024, the largest in years, reflecting the high inflation of 2022 to 2023. The 2027 figure of 3.5% sits between the last two years: lower than 2026's 3.8%, but more than double 2025's 1.7%. All three are in the comparison table above.

Sources and independence

Source: Office for National Statistics, Consumer price inflation, UK: September 2026 (published 21 October 2026): CPI rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026.

Source: NHS Business Services Authority, When will my yearly NHS Pension increase? (knowledgebase KA-04114): the increase is set by HM Treasury, based on CPI, and applied on the first Monday after 5 April each year.

Source: GOV.UK, Public service pensions increase: 2026 (published 26 February 2026): pensions in payment for a year increased by 3.8% from 6 April 2026.

Source: NHS Business Services Authority, Pensioner newsletters 2024 and 2025: increases of 6.7% from 8 April 2024 and 1.7% from 7 April 2025.

Source: Department of Health and Social Care, NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales 2015 (August 2014): 1/54th accrual and revaluation by CPI plus 1.5%.

NHS Bands Pay is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the NHS. The April 2027 increase of 3.5% is expected, based on September 2026 CPI, and has not yet been confirmed by the Government. Figures were verified against official sources on 7 November 2026 and can change, always confirm with the relevant official body before making financial decisions.