Respiratory Physiologist Salary 2026/27: Band 5-7

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

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Respiratory physiologist pay 2026/27: the Band 5, 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. A respiratory physiologist in England in 2026/27 earns £32,073 to £39,043 at Band 5, £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 5 (£39,043) to Band 6 entry (£39,959) is £916, and the step from the top of Band 6 (£48,117) to Band 7 entry (£49,387) is £1,270. Those small gaps at the point of promotion are normal: the gain comes from the wider spread inside the higher band, £8,158 inside Band 6 and £7,128 inside Band 7, and from the seniority of the work. For the wider picture at each band, see the Band 5 salary guide, 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 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 £31,049 to £37,796 at Band 5, £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 a respiratory physiologist actually does

A respiratory physiologist measures breathing. The laboratory work starts with spirometry, the blowing test most patients meet first, and extends to gas transfer, which measures how well oxygen crosses from the lungs into the blood, lung volumes, which show how much air the lungs hold, and exercise testing, which shows how breathing limits what a patient can do. Each test has a standard, and the physiologist's skill is getting a result that meets it: coaching a breathless patient through a forced exhalation, spotting a poor technique before it becomes a poor result, repeating a manoeuvre without tiring the patient out, and knowing when a result is genuine and when it is an artefact of the test itself.

The results go to respiratory consultants, who use them to diagnose asthma, COPD and interstitial lung disease, to judge how severe a condition is, and to track whether treatment is working. A lung function report is not a number on its own: it carries the physiologist's judgement about test quality, and a consultant reads it with that judgement in mind. That is why the role is a scientist's role rather than a technician's task list. The physiologist understands the physiology behind the test, the equipment behind the measurement, and the patient in front of them, and the report reflects all three.

The second half of the job is the sleep service. Patients referred with suspected sleep apnoea undergo overnight sleep studies, and patients established on CPAP, the mask-and-machine treatment that keeps the airway open during sleep, come back for follow-up, mask fitting and troubleshooting. Sleep work has a different rhythm from laboratory work: overnight studies, out-of-hours cover, and patients whose main problem is that they stop breathing in their sleep and wake exhausted. It is also the part of the job where the rota matters most for pay, because overnight and weekend work falls in the unsocial windows, and on-call arrangements are set locally. For the neighbouring healthcare science picture, see our clinical scientist salary guide and our cardiac physiologist salary guide.

Band 5, Band 6 and Band 7: what actually changes

At Band 5, a respiratory physiologist runs the standard test repertoire under supervision: spirometry, gas transfer and lung volumes, and the routine sleep studies of the service. Band 5 is where most physiologists start, often as trainees, and the work is hands-on with patients all day: performing tests, checking quality, writing up results, and learning the physiology and the equipment well enough to spot when either is misleading you.

At Band 6, the brief widens to specialist testing and greater independence: exercise testing, more complex sleep studies, quality assurance for the laboratory, and supervision of Band 5 staff and trainees. A Band 6 physiologist carries cases that need judgement rather than routine, such as patients whose results do not fit the expected pattern, and takes responsibility for the quality of the service's output. For the Band 6 picture in full, see the Band 6 salary guide.

At Band 7, a respiratory physiologist leads a service or a section of it: the lung function laboratory, the sleep service, or a specialist area within either. The work shifts from performing tests to running the service: setting standards, managing the rota, holding the relationship with respiratory consultants, and answering for quality and waiting times. Band 7 is also where the sleep-service on-call rota is usually owned, which makes the local on-call arrangement a real part of the senior post's value even though it is not in the national scale. For the Band 7 picture in full, see the Band 7 salary guide.

Unsocial hours, overtime and sleep-service on-call

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. Most respiratory physiology work falls in weekday clinic hours, so unsocial-hours pay is usually a smaller part of the package than it is for ward staff. The sleep service is the exception: overnight studies and out-of-hours cover fall in the unsocial windows, and the hours actually worked there attract the enhancement. A 7.5-hour Saturday sleep-study shift at Band 6 entry pays £198.98 at the enhanced rate, against £153.08 at plain time, using the rounded hourly rates in the table.

Overtime follows the band, not the job title. At Bands 5, 6 and 7, hours above 37.5 a week are paid at time and a half, and double time on bank holidays. An overtime hour at Band 5 entry is worth £24.57 (£16.38 times 1.5), at the top of Band 6 it is £36.87 (£24.58 times 1.5), and at the top of Band 7 it is £43.31 (£28.87 times 1.5). Enhancement and overtime cannot both be claimed for the same hours, and staff may elect time off in lieu instead of overtime pay. Sleep-service on-call is different from both: the payment for being available, as opposed to hours actually worked when called in, is set locally by each trust, so this page quotes no on-call rate. Ask at interview how the rota works, how often call-ins happen, and how the availability payment is structured in that trust. For the full rules, see our unsocial hours and overtime guide.

London weighting: Band 5 on percentages and the minimum, Bands 6 and 7 capped at the top

Respiratory physiologists 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). At Band 7, the percentage figure exceeds the maximum in every zone at every step, so the supplement is the cap figure in each zone: £8,746 inner, £6,137 outer and £2,270 fringe. At Band 6, entry pays the percentage in every zone: inner London £7,991.80, taking total pay to £47,950.80; outer London £5,993.85, taking total pay to £45,952.85; and fringe London £1,997.95, taking total pay to £41,956.95. The intermediate step pays the percentage in inner and fringe London but hits the outer cap at £6,137, and the top step hits the cap in every zone, taking total pay to £56,863.00 inner, £54,254.00 outer and £50,387.00 fringe. At Band 5, entry pays the percentage in inner London (£6,414.60, taking total pay to £38,487.60) and fringe London (£1,603.65, taking total pay to £33,676.65), but the outer London percentage of £4,810.95 falls below the £4,870 minimum, so the minimum applies and total pay is £36,943.00. A respiratory physiologist at the top of Band 7 in inner London earns £56,515 + £8,746 = £65,261 a year. For the full zone rules, see our London weighting guide.

Pension: what comes off the payslip

Respiratory physiologists 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, Band 5 entry and intermediate sit in the 8.3% tier: £2,662.06 a year or £221.84 a month at Band 5 entry, and £2,871.14 a year or £239.26 a month at Band 5 intermediate. The top of Band 5 sits in the 9.8% tier at £3,826.21 a year or £318.85 a month. 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, entry and intermediate also sit in the 9.8% tier (£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), while the top step sits in the 10.7% tier at £6,047.11 a year or £503.93 a month on £56,515. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £7,601.30 a year at Band 5 entry and £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, leave, mileage and uniform relief

Part-time respiratory physiologist work is pro rata of the full-time equivalent salary. A 0.8 WTE physiologist at Band 6 entry earns 80% of £39,959, which is £31,967.20 a year, and a 0.6 WTE physiologist at the top of Band 7 earns 60% of £56,515, which is £33,909.00 a year, before any enhancements. Part-time staff accrue annual leave pro rata, and hours above contracted hours up to 37.5 are paid at plain time plus any unsocial enhancement that applies; only above 37.5 does the overtime rule bite. 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. Some respiratory physiology work involves travel between sites, for example to satellite clinics or community sleep services, 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. A physiologist who drives 6,000 business miles in a year claims 4,500 miles at 59p (£2,655) plus 1,500 miles at 36p (£540), a total of £3,195. Travel between home and the normal place of work is not claimable. For the full rates, see our mileage rates guide. Uniform tax relief applies where a uniform is worn: physiologists 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 respiratory physiologists 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: a small, technical workforce with a sleep-service twist

Respiratory physiologist 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. What it does not do is pay a premium for the specialism itself. There is no respiratory supplement in the national Agenda for Change scale, and a respiratory physiologist at Band 6 earns the same basic as a physiotherapist at Band 6. The unsocial-hours additions are also smaller here than in ward or on-call specialties for most of the working week, because laboratory clinics run in daytime hours. The twist is the sleep service: overnight studies and on-call cover can add real money, but the on-call element is locally set, so two trusts can pay differently for the same rota. When comparing respiratory physiologist posts, confirm the band and step, ask how much of the post is sleep service and how the on-call rota is paid, ask about the HCAS zone, and check whether the laboratory or the sleep service is where the senior posts sit. Those answers tell you more about the real pay of a post than the job title alone ever will.

Frequently asked questions

What band is a respiratory physiologist in the NHS?

In England in 2026/27, respiratory physiologist posts sit mainly at Band 5, Band 6 and Band 7 on Agenda for Change. Band 5 pays £32,073 at entry, £34,592 at the intermediate step and £39,043 at the top. Band 6 pays £39,959 at entry, £42,170 at the intermediate step and £48,117 at the top. 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. Respiratory physiologists are healthcare scientists, not nurses: the job sits in the healthcare science workforce alongside cardiac physiologists and other physiologist grades, and the exact band is set by the job evaluation for each post, so check the advert rather than assuming the band from the title.

What does a respiratory physiologist do?

A respiratory physiologist measures how well a patient's lungs and breathing work. The core work is lung function testing: spirometry, gas transfer, lung volumes and exercise testing, carried out in a respiratory physiology laboratory and reported to the respiratory consultants who use the results to diagnose and monitor conditions such as asthma, COPD and interstitial lung disease. Respiratory physiologists also run sleep services: overnight sleep studies for suspected sleep apnoea and other sleep-disordered breathing, and the follow-up of patients established on CPAP therapy. The work is technical and patient-facing in equal measure: the tests only mean anything if they are performed to standard, and that takes a physiologist who can coach a breathless or anxious patient through a demanding test and still get a repeatable result.

How much does a respiratory physiologist earn a month?

In England in 2026/27, a full-time respiratory physiologist at Band 5 earns £2,672.75 a month at entry, £2,882.67 at the intermediate step and £3,253.58 at the top, before tax, National Insurance and pension deductions. At Band 6 the monthly figures are £3,329.92 at entry, £3,514.17 at the intermediate step and £4,009.75 at the top. At Band 7 they 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, on-call payment or London weighting.

Do respiratory physiologists get unsocial hours pay?

Respiratory physiologists are on Agenda for Change, so Section 2 enhancements apply to hours actually worked in the unsocial windows: 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. Most respiratory physiology work falls in weekday clinic hours, so unsocial-hours pay is usually a smaller part of the package than it is for ward staff. The exception is the sleep service: overnight sleep studies and out-of-hours cover can fall in the unsocial windows, and hours actually worked there attract the enhancement. Overtime above 37.5 hours a week is paid at time and a half at Bands 5, 6 and 7, and double time on bank holidays, and staff may elect time off in lieu instead of overtime pay.

Do respiratory physiologists get on-call pay for sleep services?

Sleep services do involve out-of-hours work, and on-call arrangements exist in many services, but on-call payments are set locally rather than in the national Agenda for Change scale, so this page quotes no on-call rate. What can be said nationally is that hours actually worked when called in attract the Section 2 enhancement for the window they fall in: time plus 30% for Saturdays and weekday nights and time plus 60% for Sundays and bank holidays at Bands 5 to 7. If a sleep service post includes on-call, ask at interview how the rota works, how often you would be called in, and how the on-call payment is structured in that trust, because the local arrangement is what determines the real value of the rota.

Do respiratory physiologists get London weighting?

Yes, where the post is based in a London trust. Respiratory physiologists receive the High Cost Area Supplement: 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). At Band 7 every step hits the cap in every zone, so the supplement is £8,746 inner, £6,137 outer and £2,270 fringe at every step. At Band 6 the top step also hits the cap in every zone, while entry pays the percentage in every zone (£7,991.80 inner, £5,993.85 outer, £1,997.95 fringe) and the intermediate step pays the percentage in inner and fringe London but hits the outer cap. At Band 5, entry pays the percentage in inner London (£6,414.60, taking total pay to £38,487.60) and fringe London (£1,603.65, taking total pay to £33,676.65), but hits the outer London minimum of £4,870, taking total pay to £36,943. A respiratory physiologist at the top of Band 7 in inner London earns £56,515 + £8,746 = £65,261 a year.

How much pension does a respiratory physiologist pay?

On the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, Band 5 entry and intermediate sit in the 8.3% tier: £221.84 a month on £32,073 and £239.26 a month on £34,592. The top of Band 5 sits in the 9.8% tier at £318.85 a month on £39,043. Every Band 6 step sits in the 9.8% tier: £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, entry and intermediate also sit in the 9.8% tier (£403.33 a month on £49,387 and £424.11 a month on £51,932), while the top step sits in the 10.7% tier at £503.93 a month on £56,515. The employer contributes 23.7% on top. The 2026/27 tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, not yet published as final.

How do you become a respiratory physiologist?

The usual route is the healthcare science route: a degree in healthcare science or a related science subject, followed by a trainee respiratory physiologist post, commonly at Band 5, in a respiratory physiology department. Some entrants come through the Scientist Training Programme, which is the postgraduate route into healthcare science and is covered in our clinical scientist salary guide. Registration matters in this workforce: respiratory physiologists work towards registration with the Health and Care Professions Council or the Academy for Healthcare Science, depending on the post and the route, and adverts set the essential criteria per post, so read them post by post. From Band 5, progression runs to Band 6 specialist posts, then Band 7 senior and lead physiologist posts, with sleep services as a common specialism within the field.