NHS Scotland Pension Contributions 2026/27

Last updated: 12 November 2026 · Figures verified against the Scottish Public Pensions Agency contribution tables, the NHS Superannuation and Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 and Circular PCS(AFC)2026/1.

Two tables: Table 1 and Table 2

Scotland is the only part of the UK with two contribution tables in force at the same time, and which one sets your rate is the first thing to get right. Table 1 applies if you stayed in the same post with no change in pay during 2026/27. It is assessed on your actual pensionable pay in 2025/26, so your rate this year is fixed by what you earned last year. Table 2 applies if you started a new job, changed employer, or had a change in pay, and it is assessed on your 2026/27 earnings. A pay rise, a move up a band, or a change of post all trigger Table 2. Payroll applies the right table automatically, but the two tables have different thresholds, so the same salary can attract a different rate depending on which table you are on, and a payslip that looks wrong is often a Table 1 rate where Table 2 was expected, or the other way round.

The two tables exist because Scotland uprated its thresholds for 2026/27 while keeping the existing-member rate tied to the previous year's pay. The thresholds were set in the NHS Superannuation and Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026, and the tables are published on the Scottish Public Pensions Agency member contributions page. One caution sits over both tables. A Scottish Government consultation that ran from August to October 2026 proposed amending these thresholds retrospectively from 1 April 2026. The live SPPA page still showed the tables below on 11 November 2026, and this page uses those figures, but if the amendment lands, payroll will adjust the rates and any overpayment or underpayment will be corrected through pay.

The design behind the tiers is the same as in England and Wales: the 2015 Scheme builds pension at 1/54 of actual pensionable pay each year, so a year at Band 5 entry on £34,544 builds £639.70 of annual pension. The contribution rate rises with pay, so higher earners pay a bigger share of the cost of the pension they build. For the England and Wales tiers, see the pension contributions guide, and for the monthly amounts by band in England and Wales, see the pension contributions by band guide.

SPPA Table 1: existing members, 2026/27

Table 1 sets the rate for staff who stayed in the same post with no change in pay. The rate is assessed on your actual pensionable pay in 2025/26, and it applies to your 2026/27 pay. The nine tiers are:

The point that catches people out is the assessment year. The rate is set by last year's pay, not this year's. Take a Band 6 nurse at the top of the band, on £52,679 in 2026/27. If her actual pensionable pay in 2025/26 was £48,000, Table 1 puts her in the 10.5% tier, because £48,000 falls in the £43,503 to £52,879 band, and she pays £460.94 a month. If her 2025/26 pay had been £53,000, Table 1 would put her in the 11.2% tier, and she would pay £491.67 a month on the same 2026/27 salary, which is £30.73 a month more. The salary is the same in both cases. Only last year's pay differs.

Table 1 is also the table that rewards a quiet year. A member whose pay did not change keeps the rate set by last year's earnings, even if this year's salary would put them in a higher tier under Table 2. That is the whole purpose of the two-table system: existing members are not pushed into a higher tier by a pay award alone. For the full Scottish pay scale behind these salaries, see the Scotland pay guide.

SPPA Table 2: new job or pay change, 2026/27

Table 2 sets the rate for anyone who started a new job or had a change in pay during 2026/27. It is assessed on your 2026/27 earnings, so the rate follows your current salary. The nine tiers are:

The thresholds in Table 2 line up with the Scottish pay scale to the pound, which is a useful check that the table is being applied correctly. Five pay points sit exactly £1 above a tier boundary, so a one-pound rise in salary moves the member into the next tier. Band 2 top, at £28,988, sits £1 above the 6.4% ceiling of £28,987, so it pays 7.0%. Band 4 top, at £34,303, sits £1 above the 7.0% ceiling of £34,302, so it pays 8.7%. Band 5 top, at £43,039, sits £1 above the 8.7% ceiling of £43,038, so it pays 9.8%. Band 6 intermediate, at £45,135, sits £1 above the 9.8% ceiling of £45,134, so it pays 10.5%. Band 7 intermediate, at £54,863, sits £1 above the 10.5% ceiling of £54,862, so it pays 11.2%.

The same salary can attract a different rate under the two tables, and the gap is not small. Take a Band 4 worker at the top of the band, on £34,303 in 2026/27. Under Table 2 the rate is 8.7%, which is £248.70 a month. Under Table 1, if her 2025/26 actual pensionable pay was £33,000, the rate is 7.0%, which is £200.10 a month. The difference is £48.60 a month, or £583.20 over the year, on the same salary. Take a Band 6 worker at entry, on £43,231. Under Table 2 the rate is 9.8%, which is £353.05 a month. Under Table 1, if his 2025/26 pay was £41,000, the rate is 8.7%, which is £313.42 a month, a difference of £39.63 a month. Neither figure is wrong. They answer different questions, and the payslip shows whichever table applies to that member.

Monthly pension contributions by band, 2026/27

The table below gives the monthly contribution at every Agenda for Change band and pay step in Scotland, for a full-time member on Table 2, with the employer contribution alongside. The salaries come from Circular PCS(AFC)2026/1, and the rates come from SPPA Table 2. The monthly amount is the annual salary multiplied by the tier rate and divided by 12. The employer column is the same salary at 22.5%, divided by 12.

Three patterns stand out in the table. First, the 5.7% tier barely appears: every full-time salary from Band 1 upwards sits above £13,330, so the bottom tier applies in practice only to part-time staff on small fractions. A Band 2 worker at 0.4 whole-time equivalent earns £10,678.40 a year in actual pay and sits in the 5.7% tier, paying £50.72 a month. Second, the monthly amount more than doubles between Band 5 entry and Band 7 top, from £250.44 to £594.17, because both the salary and the rate rise together. Third, the employer pays more than the member at every step: at Band 5 entry the employer pays £647.70 a month against the member's £250.44, and at Band 9 top the employer pays £2,494.58 a month against the member's £1,408.05. For the England and Wales monthly figures at the same bands, see the pension contributions by band guide.

Part-time staff: the tier follows actual pay

The tier is set by your actual annual pensionable pay, never by the whole-time equivalent salary. That rule is settled for Scotland, England and Wales and Northern Ireland alike, and it is the single most important thing for part-time staff to know, because tiering on the whole-time equivalent salary would put many part-timers in a higher tier than they should be in, and take more from their pay each month.

Take a Band 5 nurse at entry, on a full-time salary of £34,544, who works 0.6 whole-time equivalent, which is 21.6 hours a week on the 36-hour week. Her actual pay is £20,726.40 a year. Under Table 2 that sits in the 6.4% tier, and she pays £110.54 a month. A full-time colleague on the same band pays 8.7%, which is £250.44 a month. The part-timer pays less than half, not because the rate is kinder to part-timers, but because her actual pay is lower. Her employer pays 22.5% of her actual pay, which is £388.62 a month. The pension she builds is also based on actual pay: a year at £20,726.40 builds £383.82 of annual pension, against £639.70 for the full-time colleague.

Take a Band 6 nurse at entry, on a full-time salary of £43,231, who works 0.8 whole-time equivalent, which is 28.8 hours a week. Her actual pay is £34,584.80 a year. Under Table 2 that sits in the 8.7% tier, and she pays £250.74 a month. If the tier had been set on the whole-time equivalent salary of £43,231, she would have been put in the 9.8% tier and charged £282.44 a month on her actual pay, which would be £31.70 a month too much. The same check applies to any part-timer: multiply the full-time salary by the whole-time equivalent fraction, find the tier for the result, and that is the rate.

Two more rules sit alongside the actual-pay basis. If you hold two posts with the same employer, the pay from both posts is added together for the tier, so two part-time posts can push you into a higher tier than either one alone. If the two posts are with different employers, each post is tiered separately, on its own pay. And if you pick up additional hours, the extra pay counts toward pensionable pay for the tier, so a heavy month of bank shifts can lift the tier, while unsocial hours enhancements, which are pensionable, count too. For the full part-time picture, see the part-time pay guide.

What your employer pays: 22.5%

Your employer contributes 22.5% of your pensionable pay in Scotland for 2026/27. That is lower than the 23.7% rate in England and Wales, and lower than the 23.2% rate in Northern Ireland, but the cash amounts tell a more mixed story, because Scottish salaries are higher. At Band 5 entry, on £34,544, the Scottish employer pays £647.70 a month, against £633.44 a month in England on the lower English salary of £32,073, so the Scottish employer pays £14.26 a month more in cash despite the lower rate. At the top of Band 9 the position reverses: the Scottish employer pays £2,494.58 a month on £133,044, against £2,563.21 a month in England on £129,783, so the English employer pays £68.63 a month more in cash, because the rate gap outweighs the salary gap at that level.

The employer contribution does not come out of your pay and does not appear as a deduction on your payslip. It is part of the total cost of your pension, and it appears on your annual benefit statement, where the total pension built that year is shown alongside the contributions paid. The 22.5% rate is set by the Scottish Government on the advice of the scheme actuary, and it is reviewed at each valuation, so it can move between years even when the employee tiers stay the same. To work out your own monthly amount from any salary, use the NHS pension calculator.

Scotland compared with England

Scotland has nine tiers, England and Wales have six, and the thresholds are different at every level, so the same job pays a different pension contribution on either side of the border. The table below compares the two countries at the same band and step, using Table 2 for Scotland and the official 2026/27 tiers for England and Wales. The English salaries are the 2026/27 England scale, and the English employer rate is 23.7%.

The gap grows as the salary rises, then narrows at the very top. At Band 5 entry the difference is £28.60 a month. At Band 7 top it is £90.24 a month. At Band 8a entry it is £116.58 a month, the widest gap in the table, because the Scottish salary of £65,125 sits in the 11.6% tier while the English salary of £57,528 sits in the 10.7% tier. At the top of Band 9 the gap narrows to £56.14 a month, because both countries are in their top tier, 12.7% in Scotland against 12.5% in England, so only the salary gap and the 0.2-point rate gap are left.

None of this means Scottish staff are worse off. The extra contribution buys extra pension, because the scheme accrues at 1/54 of actual pensionable pay, and Scottish salaries are higher at the same band. A Band 7 nurse at the top builds £1,138.26 of annual pension in a year in Scotland, against £1,046.57 in England, which is £91.69 a year more pension for £90.24 a month more contribution. The comparison that matters is the pension built, not the contribution alone, and the annual benefit statement shows both. For the four-nation pay picture, see the pay scales by country guide.

What counts as pensionable pay

Pensionable pay is determined by your employment terms, and it is not the same as gross pay on the payslip. Basic salary counts. Unsocial hours enhancements count, so a night or weekend rota lifts both the contribution and the pension built that year. London weighting does not apply in Scotland, so there is no equivalent addition. On-call availability payments with a rota commitment count. Temporary pay increases count.

What does not count matters just as much. Overtime worked above full-time hours is not pensionable at all, so a month of heavy overtime lifts take-home pay without lifting the pension contribution or the pension built. For part-time staff, additional hours up to whole-time equivalent are pensionable only at the standard rate, so the enhancement element on those hours does not count. Bonuses, expense payments, overtime above full-time equivalent hours, non-consolidated awards, payments in lieu of notice and salary sacrifice amounts do not count. Recruitment and retention premia are not named in the pensionable-pay lists, so treat them as uncertain and check with payroll rather than assuming they count.

One change worth knowing came in on 1 April 2025, with retrospective effect to 2015: additional hours up to whole-time equivalent are automatically pensionable for part-time staff. Before that change, part-timers had to elect for those hours to count. If your payslip shows pension deducted on additional hours, that is the rule working as intended, and the tier follows the actual pay including those hours. For the unsocial hours rates that feed into pensionable pay, see the Scotland unsocial hours guide, and for overtime, see the Scotland overtime rules guide.

Buying additional pension and ERRBO in Scotland

You can buy additional pension in Scotland in multiples of £250 of annual pension, up to a maximum of £9,053 a year from 1 April 2026. You can pay for it as a lump sum or in monthly payments spread over 1 to 20 years, as long as the payments finish before your normal pension age. Early Retirement Reduction Buy Out, which buys out the reduction for retiring early, counts toward the same £9,053 limit, so the two cannot be stacked beyond the maximum. The same £9,053 limit applies in England and Wales.

There is no published monthly cost table for additional pension in Scotland, and this page quotes no monthly costs for that reason. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency calculates the personal cost from your age and the payment term, and the price is only valid until your next birthday, so you need a quotation before you commit. The same applies in England and Wales, where the NHS Business Services Authority publishes no current cost factor table either. As a sense of scale, the SPPA dependants example prices £250 of annual pension at £93.75 of dependants pension, but that is a benefit ratio, not a purchase price, and it must not be read as one. For the England and Wales additional pension rules, see the added pension guide.

Before buying, check three things. First, whether the extra pension is worth more to you than the same money in another form, because additional pension is paid for life from retirement and rises with inflation, which suits a long retirement and suits nobody who needs the cash now. Second, if your normal pension age leaves enough years to spread the payments, because the term cannot run past it. Third, whether part of the £9,053 limit has already been used through an earlier purchase or an ERRBO arrangement, because the limit is a lifetime cap on the amount bought, not a per-purchase allowance.

When your tier changes

Your tier changes when your pay changes, and the change takes effect from the date the pay changes, not from the next April. A move up a band is the most common trigger. Moving from Band 5 entry at £34,544 to Band 6 entry at £43,231 lifts the contribution from 8.7%, £250.44 a month, to 9.8%, £353.05 a month, an extra £102.61 a month for £8,687 a year more gross pay. A move within a band can do the same: moving from Band 5 intermediate at £36,911 to Band 5 top at £43,039 lifts the rate from 8.7% to 9.8%, and the monthly contribution from £267.60 to £351.49, an extra £83.89 a month. A move from Band 6 intermediate at £45,135 to Band 6 top at £52,679 keeps the rate at 10.5%, so the monthly amount rises from £394.93 to £460.94, an extra £66.01 a month, with no tier change at all.

A new job moves you to Table 2, assessed on your 2026/27 earnings, for the rest of the year, and the rate is reassessed from 1 April each year after that. A pay rise that crosses a tier boundary has the same effect as a band move, and the five pay points that sit £1 above a boundary mean a small rise can change the rate, so a payslip that shows a new percentage after a modest rise is usually correct. If you leave and rejoin, or move between employers, each employment is tiered on its own pay, except that two posts with the same employer are added together for the tier. The tier is never set by the whole-time equivalent salary, and it is never averaged across employers.

What to check on your payslip

Four mistakes recur on Scottish payslips, and each is easy to spot once the tables above are in hand. First, the England and Wales tiers applied by mistake: a Band 5 nurse at entry charged 8.3%, £221.84 a month, instead of 8.7%, £250.44, is on the wrong country's table. Second, the tier set on the whole-time equivalent salary instead of actual pay: a 0.6 whole-time equivalent Band 5 nurse at entry charged 8.7% instead of 6.4% is overpaying by £139.90 a month, because the correct amount on actual pay of £20,726.40 is £110.54, not £250.44. Third, the wrong table: a member who stayed in the same post charged at the Table 2 rate when Table 1 should apply, or a new starter left on the Table 1 rate from last year's pay. Fourth, the employer rate shown as 23.7% instead of 22.5%, which does not change your take-home pay but signals that the payroll record has the wrong country attached to it.

If a line looks wrong, raise it with payroll and keep the payslip for the month in question, with the rota if unsocial hours are involved. Pension contributions are worked out from pensionable pay, so the payslip lines are the evidence, and payroll can correct the tier and refund any overpayment through pay. The annual benefit statement, which arrives after the year end, is the second check: it shows the pension built that year, the contributions paid, and the tier applied, so a wrong tier shows up there as well. And remember the consultation caution: if the Scottish Government amends the thresholds retrospectively from 1 April 2026, payroll will adjust the rates and correct any difference through pay, so a rate change mid-year is not necessarily a mistake.

Frequently asked questions

Which SPPA table sets my pension contribution rate?

It depends on whether anything changed. Table 1 applies if you stayed in the same post with no change in pay during 2026/27, and it is assessed on your actual pensionable pay in 2025/26, with thresholds from £13,330 up to £80,026. Table 2 applies if you started a new job or your pay changed, and it is assessed on your 2026/27 earnings, with thresholds from £13,330 up to £83,027. Payroll applies the right table automatically, but the two tables can give different rates on the same salary, so it is worth knowing which one you are on.

How much will I pay into the NHS pension in Scotland each month?

It depends on your band and pay step. In 2026/27 a Band 5 nurse at entry, on £34,544 a year, pays 8.7% of pensionable pay, which is £250.44 a month. A Band 6 nurse at the top of the band, on £52,679, pays 10.5%, which is £460.94 a month. A Band 7 nurse at the top, on £61,466, pays 11.6%, which is £594.17 a month. At the top of Band 9, on £133,044, the rate is 12.7%, which is £1,408.05 a month. The full table of monthly amounts by band is on this page.

Do part-time staff pay pension on their full-time equivalent salary?

No. The tier is set by your actual annual pensionable pay, never by the whole-time equivalent salary. A Band 5 nurse at entry who works 0.6 whole-time equivalent earns £20,726.40 a year in actual pay and sits in the 6.4% tier, paying £110.54 a month, while a full-time colleague on the same band pays 8.7%, which is £250.44 a month. The same actual-pay rule applies in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. If you hold two posts with the same employer, the pay is added together for the tier; posts with different employers are tiered separately.

How much does my employer contribute to my NHS pension in Scotland?

Your employer contributes 22.5% of your pensionable pay in 2026/27, which is lower than the 23.7% rate in England and Wales. On a Band 5 entry salary of £34,544, the employer pays £647.70 a month. On a Band 7 top salary of £61,466, the employer pays £1,152.49 a month. The employer contribution does not come out of your pay and does not appear as a deduction on your payslip, but it is part of the total cost of your pension, and it is shown on your annual benefit statement.

Are NHS pension contribution rates higher in Scotland than in England?

The rates are higher at most salaries, because Scotland has nine tiers from 5.7% to 12.7% against six tiers from 5.2% to 12.5% in England and Wales, and because Scottish salaries are higher at the same band. A Band 5 nurse at entry pays 8.7% in Scotland, £250.44 a month, against 8.3% in England, £221.84 a month. A Band 7 nurse at the top pays 11.6% in Scotland, £594.17 a month, against 10.7% in England, £503.93 a month. The extra contribution buys extra pension, because the 2015 Scheme accrues at 1/54 of actual pensionable pay, so higher pay builds a bigger pension.

Are unsocial hours payments pensionable in Scotland?

Yes. Unsocial hours enhancements are pensionable pay in Scotland, so they count in the actual pensionable pay that sets the SPPA contribution tier, and they build pension at 1/54 of the amount paid. Overtime worked above full-time hours is different: that is not pensionable at all. For part-time staff, additional hours up to whole-time equivalent are pensionable only at the standard rate, so the enhancement element on those hours does not count. The same pensionable-pay rules apply in England and Wales.

Can I buy additional pension in Scotland?

Yes. You can buy additional pension in multiples of £250 of annual pension, up to a maximum of £9,053 a year from 1 April 2026, either as a lump sum or in monthly payments spread over 1 to 20 years, as long as the payments finish before your normal pension age. Early Retirement Reduction Buy Out counts toward the same £9,053 limit. There is no published monthly cost table: the Scottish Public Pensions Agency calculates the personal cost from your age and the payment term, so you need a quotation before you commit. The same £9,053 limit applies in England and Wales.

What happens to my pension tier if I change jobs or move bands?

A new job or a change in pay moves you to Table 2, assessed on your 2026/27 earnings, for the rest of the year. A move up a band usually lifts the tier as well as the salary: moving from Band 5 entry at £34,544 to Band 6 entry at £43,231 lifts the contribution from 8.7%, £250.44 a month, to 9.8%, £353.05 a month, an extra £102.61 a month for £8,687 a year more gross pay. A pay rise that crosses a tier boundary has the same effect, and five Scottish pay points sit exactly £1 above a tier boundary, so a small rise can change the rate. The tier is reassessed from 1 April each year.