NHS Sonographer Hourly Pay 2026/27: What Bands 6 and 7 Earn an Hour

Last updated: 28 October 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Sonographers sit in an odd place in NHS pay. The job is highly skilled, autonomous and report-writing, which is why qualified sonographers are graded Band 7, yet most people enter it sideways, from radiography, midwifery or nursing, and spend their training period at Band 6. That two-band career path makes the hourly picture more useful than the annual one: a trainee comparing a Band 6 post with a radiographer post, or a qualified sonographer weighing an obstetric rota against a weekday clinic post, needs to know what each kind of hour pays. This page sets out every sonographer hourly rate for 2026/27 in England, step by step, with weekend, overtime, on-call, London, mileage and part-time figures worked through in full.

If you want the annual picture, the sonographer salary guide covers the same bands from the yearly side, and the NHS hourly rate calculator will convert any band salary to an hourly rate for you. The rates below are all full-time equivalent for England under Agenda for Change, after the 3.3% award effective 1 April 2026. Sonography is an ultrasound specialty: radiography is the broader imaging profession covering X-ray, CT and MRI, while sonography is usually entered through a postgraduate ultrasound qualification. That training route explains the band ladder on this page, and it also explains why trusts short of sonographers sometimes advertise trainee posts with a development plan to Band 7 on qualification.

Sonographer hourly rates 2026/27 at a glance

The sonographer band ladder is short and steep at the top. Band 6 is the trainee grade, Band 7 is the qualified grade where most sonographers spend their careers, and Band 8a is the advanced and lead grade that sits above it. The table below gives every step from Band 6 entry to Band 7 top, because those are the steps almost every sonographer actually works through.

Two steps in the table deserve a second look. The move from the top of Band 6 (£24.58 an hour) to the bottom of Band 7 (£25.23) is worth only £0.65 an hour, or £1,270 a year, because the bands sit close together. The move matters more than that gap suggests, because qualification to Band 7 also changes the value of every enhanced hour that follows, and it opens the bank and locum market that trainee posts do not. The other step worth noting is the entry point: a Band 5 radiographer at the top of that band earns £19.95 an hour, so a radiographer who trains in ultrasound and moves to a Band 6 trainee post gains only £0.46 an hour at first, then £4.82 an hour on reaching Band 7 entry, which is the real payoff for the training investment.

How the NHS hourly rate is worked out

The formula is simple, and it is worth knowing because it lets you check any figure on a payslip in seconds. Take the full-time annual salary, divide it by 52.2, which is the number of weeks in the NHS pay year, and divide again by 37.5, the standard full-time week. That gives the plain-time hourly rate.

Worked example: a Band 6 trainee sonographer at the entry step earns £39,959 a year. Divide £39,959 by 52.2 and you get £765.50 a week. Divide £765.50 by 37.5 and you get £20.41 an hour. The same arithmetic gives £24.58 an hour for a Band 6 trainee at the top of the band on £48,117 (£921.78 a week) and £28.87 an hour for a Band 7 sonographer at the top on £56,515 (£1,082.66 a week). Monthly pay is the annual salary divided by 12, so the Band 6 entrant takes £3,329.92 a month gross before deductions, and the Band 7 entrant takes £4,115.58.

One common mistake is to divide by 52 weeks instead of 52.2. That small change inflates every hourly rate by a few pence, which is why some online calculators disagree with payroll by a small amount. Another is to use the wrong week: Agenda for Change full time in England is 37.5 hours, not 40. Scotland is the exception, with a 36 hour week from April 2026, and its position is covered separately near the end of this page. Enhancements on this page are worked from the rounded hourly rate, so a Saturday hour for a Band 7 entrant is £25.23 times 1.30, which is £32.80, not a figure recomputed from the unrounded annual salary.

Band 6 trainee sonographer hourly pay in detail

Band 6 is where sonographer careers start, even though most trainees arrive with years of experience in another profession. A radiographer, midwife or nurse who moves into ultrasound training is typically employed as a trainee sonographer at Band 6 while completing the postgraduate qualification, then moves to Band 7 on qualification. The hourly rates are £20.41 at entry, £21.54 at the intermediate step and £24.58 at the top. In day terms, that is £153.08, £161.55 and £184.35 for a standard 7.5 hour day. In weekly terms, it is £765.50, £807.85 and £921.78 for a full 37.5 hour week.

Unsocial hours at Band 6 follow the Bands 4 to 9 percentages, so a Saturday or night hour pays £26.53 at entry, £28.00 at the intermediate step and £31.95 at the top, while a Sunday or bank holiday hour pays £32.66, £34.46 and £39.33. Trainees rarely carry the heaviest unsocial rotas, because much of the training is supervised daytime scanning, but obstetric departments that run evening and weekend lists do use trainees on those rotas as their competence grows. A single 7.5 hour Saturday shift at the entry step is worth £198.98 at the enhanced rate, against £153.08 at the plain rate, a difference of £45.90 for one shift.

Pension sits on top of these rates rather than inside them. Under the provisional 2026/27 tiers, every Band 6 step falls in the 9.8% tier, because the tier runs from £35,156 to £52,778. That gives £326.33 a month at the entry step, £344.39 a month at the intermediate step and £392.96 a month at the top, with the employer adding 23.7% on top. Those tiers are provisional for 2026/27, calculated from the published 2025/26 thresholds, so treat the monthly pension figures as the best current estimate rather than a final published rate. Trainees also keep the uniform tax relief that applies to radiographers and other uniformed staff, worth £25 a year at the basic rate and £50 at the higher rate on the £125 flat-rate expense, which is small but real.

Band 7 qualified sonographer hourly pay in detail

Band 7 is the qualified sonographer grade, and it is where the reporting, autonomy and clinical responsibility of the role are recognised in pay. Entry pays £25.23 an hour (£189.23 a day, £946.11 a week), the intermediate step pays £26.53 an hour (£198.98 a day, £994.87 a week), and the top of the band pays £28.87 an hour (£216.53 a day, £1,082.66 a week). The intermediate step is reached after two years in post and the top after five years, following the standard Agenda for Change step pattern for Bands 5 to 7.

Unsocial hours at Band 7 follow the same Bands 4 to 9 percentages, so a Saturday or night hour pays £32.80 at entry, £34.49 at the intermediate step and £37.53 at the top, while a Sunday or bank holiday hour pays £40.37, £42.45 and £46.19. Overtime at Band 7 pays time and a half, which is £37.85 an hour at entry and £43.31 at the top, and double time on bank holidays, which is £50.46 at entry and £57.74 at the top. Pension at Band 7 is 9.8% at the entry and intermediate steps (£403.33 and £424.11 a month) and 10.7% at the top step (£503.93 a month) under the provisional tiers, because the top step at £56,515 crosses into the £52,779 to £67,668 tier.

Advanced and lead sonographers who take on extended roles, such as interventional procedures, service leadership or reporting complex cases, can progress to Band 8a, which pays £29.39 to £33.08 an hour, and consultant sonographer posts reach Band 8a to 8b. Staff at Bands 8 and 9 get no contractual overtime pay and take time off in lieu instead, which matters when comparing a Band 7 post with regular overtime against a Band 8a lead post. The hourly gain from Band 7 top to Band 8a entry is only £0.52 an hour, so the case for moving up is usually about the role, the leadership and the reporting scope, not a large hourly jump.

Unsocial hours: what each kind of hour pays

Unsocial hours under Agenda for Change Section 2 cover weekday nights from 8pm to 6am, all of Saturday, and all of Sunday and public holidays. For Bands 4 to 9, which includes every sonographer band, the enhancement is 30% on top of plain time for Saturday and weekday night hours, and 60% on top for Sunday and public holiday hours. The table below gives the resulting hourly rates for the two main sonographer bands.

Put those rates against a real rota and the effect becomes concrete. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step working a plain weekday shift of 7.5 hours earns £189.23. A 7.5 hour Saturday shift earns £246.00, and a 7.5 hour Sunday shift earns £302.78. Across one of each, the three shifts total £738.01 for 22.5 hours, which averages £32.80 an hour, well above the plain rate, simply because of the mix of hours. That is why two Band 7 sonographers on identical basic pay can take home noticeably different monthly totals, and why a post description that mentions weekend obstetric lists is worth reading as a pay document, not just a rota note. The full unsocial hours rules, including the night window and the bank holiday definition, are set out in the unsocial hours and overtime guide.

Overtime hourly rates for sonographers

Overtime for Bands 1 to 7 pays time and a half, and double time on bank and public holidays. Sonographers at Bands 6 and 7 therefore qualify for overtime pay, unlike their Band 8a colleagues, who take time off in lieu. Overtime only starts above 37.5 hours a week, and you cannot claim overtime and an unsocial hours enhancement for the same hour, so an extra Saturday hour is paid either as overtime or with the unsocial enhancement, under the rules that give the better result for that hour, not both.

A worked example shows how overtime stacks up in a busy week. A Band 7 sonographer at the top of the band who works four overtime hours beyond 37.5 earns £173.24 for those four hours, at £43.31 an hour, against £115.48 for four plain hours. A Band 6 trainee at the entry step who works three overtime hours earns £91.86, at £30.62 an hour, against £61.23 plain. Staff may elect time off in lieu instead of overtime pay, which suits sonographers who would rather bank the hours for a quieter week, but the choice is per occasion and the overtime rate is the cash benchmark to compare it against. Part-time sonographers should note the threshold rule: hours above contracted hours up to 37.5 are paid at plain time, plus any unsocial enhancement that applies, and overtime rates only kick in beyond 37.5.

Weekend cover and on-call: where they apply in ultrasound

Most sonography is daytime outpatient work: general abdominal, gynaecology, vascular and musculoskeletal lists that run on weekdays, plus obstetric scanning clinics. The unsocial hours in sonography therefore cluster in two places. The first is obstetric cover, where evening and weekend lists and emergency referrals create Saturday, Sunday and night work. The second is emergency ultrasound, where acute departments need out-of-hours imaging for patients who cannot wait for the next weekday list. A sonographer in a purely weekday clinic post may earn almost no unsocial enhancement all year, while a sonographer on an obstetric rota in the same trust, on the same band and step, earns a meaningful uplift every month.

On-call follows the same pattern. Where a trust runs obstetric or emergency ultrasound cover outside normal hours, Agenda for Change pays an availability payment for the on-call period plus call-out payments at overtime rates when you attend. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step, on £25.23 an hour, called in for three hours would earn £113.55 for the call-out itself, which is 3 times £37.85, plus the availability payment. The availability payment and the exact call-out terms vary by trust and by local policy, so this page quotes no fixed on-call amount beyond the call-out maths. Sonographers in weekday-only services rarely carry on-call at all, which is one of the attractions of the specialty for staff moving from ward-based rotas, and it is worth weighing against the higher unsocial earnings of an obstetric post when choosing between them.

London sonographer hourly rates with HCAS

High Cost Area Supplement is a percentage of basic pay, subject to a minimum and a maximum, and it is pensionable. Inner London pays 20% with a minimum of £5,794 and a maximum of £8,746, outer London pays 15% with a minimum of £4,870 and a maximum of £6,137, and the fringe pays 5% with a minimum of £1,346 and a maximum of £2,270. The caps bite quickly for sonographers, because even Band 6 salaries are high enough for the percentage to exceed the maximum at the top steps. The table below gives the resulting total hourly rate, basic plus supplement, for the two ends of each main band.

The cap effect is easy to see. A Band 6 trainee at the entry step gets the full 20% in inner London, which is £7,991.80 a year, giving a total of £47,950.80 and £24.50 an hour. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step would get £9,877.40 at a straight 20%, but the supplement is capped at £8,746, giving a total of £58,133 and £29.70 an hour. At the top of Band 7, the same £8,746 cap gives £65,261 and £33.34 an hour. In outer London the cap is £6,137, which already binds at Band 6 top and at both Band 7 steps, and in the fringe the £2,270 cap binds at Band 6 top and both Band 7 steps. The full HCAS rules, including which trusts fall in each zone, are set out in the London weighting guide.

Community mileage: the extra sonographers rarely earn

Sonography is mostly a hospital-based specialty, so mileage is a smaller part of the picture than it is for district nurses or community midwives. Most sonographers scan in one department, in one building, and travel between sites only when a trust runs satellite clinics. Where travel is required, Agenda for Change Section 17 mileage is an expense payment, not pay, and it sits outside the hourly rates on this page. The current rates are 59p a mile for car travel up to 4,500 miles in the mileage year, then 36p a mile above that threshold, with 30p for motorcycles, 20p for pedal cycles, 5p for passengers and 3p for heavy or bulky equipment.

A worked example keeps the scale honest. A sonographer who drives 250 business miles in a month, between a main hospital and a satellite clinic, claims £147.50 at 59p a mile, provided those miles are within the 4,500 mile threshold for the year. Home to normal workplace travel is not claimable, which is the rule most often misunderstood. A sonographer who covers several community clinics in a week should check the trust's mileage year and the October 2026 review position before budgeting on the 59p rate, because Section 17 rates are reviewed twice yearly and the threshold changed as recently as July 2026.

Part-time sonographer hourly pay

Part-time work does not change the hourly rate. It changes only the annual total, because the full-time salary is multiplied by the contracted fraction and the hourly rate is the same figure divided back out. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step on 0.8 whole-time equivalent earns £39,509.60 a year, which is £3,292.47 a month gross, for a 30 hour week, and the plain-time rate is still £25.23 an hour. A Band 6 trainee at the top of the band on 0.6 whole-time equivalent earns £28,870.20 a year for a 22.5 hour week, again at the full Band 6 top rate of £24.58 an hour. A Band 7 sonographer at the intermediate step on 0.6 whole-time equivalent earns £31,159.20 a year at £26.53 an hour.

The threshold rule is the part-time detail that catches people out. Hours above contracted hours up to 37.5 are paid at plain time, plus any unsocial enhancement that applies, so a part-time sonographer who picks up an extra Saturday clinic is paid the Saturday enhanced rate for those hours, not the overtime rate, until the week passes 37.5 hours. Pension contributions for part-time staff are calculated on the actual pensionable pay received, under the same provisional tiers, so a part-time sonographer on a lower actual salary may fall in a lower pension tier than the whole-time equivalent salary suggests. Check the payslip against the tier thresholds rather than assuming the whole-time tier applies.

NHS versus bank, locum and private sonographer work

Ultrasound is a shortage specialty, and that shortage shows up in the bank and locum market. Bank and agency sessions usually pay above the AfC hourly rate, but there is no national rate card and rates vary widely by region, urgency and specialty, so this page quotes no bank or locum hourly figure. The AfC rate is still the right benchmark, because it is the pension-building foundation: every bank or locum hour worked outside substantive employment is an hour that does not build NHS pension in the same way, and the substantive post also carries annual leave, sick pay and the other Agenda for Change terms that sessional work does not.

Private clinic work sits in a different frame again. Sonographers who scan privately are paid by the clinic, not by Agenda for Change, and the hourly economics depend on session fees, reporting fees and clinic overheads that have no published national scale. The honest comparison is therefore qualitative: substantive NHS work gives a predictable hourly rate, pension, leave and a structured ladder from Band 6 to Band 7 and beyond, while sessional work gives a higher cash hourly rate with less security and no pension accrual on those hours. Sonographers weighing the two should compare a full month, including pension and leave value, not a single sessional rate against a single AfC hour.

Career progression in hourly terms

The sonographer ladder reads cleanly in hourly terms, which is why it is worth setting out as a single path. A Band 5 radiographer at the top of that band earns £19.95 an hour. A trainee sonographer at Band 6 entry earns £20.41, rising to £24.58 at the top of Band 6. A qualified sonographer at Band 7 entry earns £25.23, rising to £28.87 at the top of Band 7. An advanced or lead sonographer at Band 8a entry earns £29.39, rising to £33.08 at the top of Band 8a. Each step also lifts the value of weekend, night and overtime hours, because every enhancement is a percentage of the higher plain rate.

The training route shapes the timeline. Most sonographers enter from radiography, midwifery or nursing, complete a postgraduate ultrasound qualification while employed at Band 6, and move to Band 7 on qualification. Trusts short of sonographers sometimes advertise trainee posts with a development plan to Band 7 on qualification, and those posts are worth reading carefully, because the timeline and the evidence required for progression should be explicit in the advert. The shortage is leverage in that negotiation: it is one of the few clinical labour markets where the candidate has real bargaining power, and a trainee post with a vague progression promise is worth less than one with a dated plan.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The rates on this page are for England. Scotland agreed a 3.75% award from 1 April 2026 and moved to a 36 hour week, which changes the hourly calculation: the divisor becomes 52.2 times 36, or 1,879.2 hours a year, instead of 1,957.5. Wales applied the 3.3% award with a £13.45 an hour living wage floor, and Welsh Band 5 steps of £32,557, £35,114 and £39,631 are in the verified data. Northern Ireland had the 3.3% award recommended but not implemented at the last check, so do not budget on it. This page quotes no Scotland or Wales sonographer hourly figures, because the verified data file holds the Scotland and Wales award terms and a small set of example bands, not a full sonographer scale for either nation, and inventing a devolved hourly rate from the England scale would breach the figures rule this site works under.

For sonographers considering a move, the practical point is to compare like with like: take the devolved annual salary for the exact band and step, divide by 52.2, then divide by the devolved full-time week, 36 hours in Scotland and 37.5 in Wales, and only then compare the hourly result with the England figures on this page. A Scotland salary that looks higher in annual terms can work out closer in hourly terms once the shorter week is factored in, and a Wales post with the living wage floor matters most at the lower bands, not at Band 7. Check the trust's own pay circular for the devolved scale before accepting a post on the basis of an England hourly rate.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hourly rate for an NHS sonographer in 2026/27?

In England in 2026/27, a trainee sonographer on Band 6 earns £20.41 an hour at the entry step, £21.54 an hour at the intermediate step and £24.58 an hour at the top of the band. A qualified sonographer on Band 7 earns £25.23 an hour at entry, £26.53 an hour at the intermediate step and £28.87 an hour at the top. Those are plain-time rates for a 37.5 hour week, before weekend, night, overtime, London weighting or mileage payments.

How is the NHS sonographer hourly rate worked out?

Divide the full-time annual salary by 52.2, the number of weeks in the NHS year, and then by 37.5, the standard full-time week. A Band 6 trainee sonographer on £39,959 a year therefore earns £39,959 divided by 52.2 divided by 37.5, which is £20.41 an hour. Enhancements on this page are worked from the rounded hourly rate, which is how the site's other hourly guides present them.

What band is a trainee sonographer on, and what does it pay an hour?

Trainee sonographers are typically employed at Band 6 while they complete a postgraduate ultrasound qualification, usually on top of a radiography, midwifery or nursing background. Band 6 pays £20.41 an hour at entry (£39,959 a year), £21.54 an hour at the intermediate step (£42,170 a year) and £24.58 an hour at the top (£48,117 a year). On qualification, sonographers normally move to Band 7, which starts at £25.23 an hour.

Do sonographers get paid more for weekends and nights?

Yes, where the rota includes unsocial hours. Under Agenda for Change Section 2, Bands 4 to 9 get 30% on top of plain time for Saturday and weekday night hours, from 8pm to 6am, and 60% on top for Sunday and bank holiday hours. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step therefore earns £32.80 for a Saturday or night hour and £40.37 for a Sunday or bank holiday hour, against a plain rate of £25.23. Most sonography is daytime outpatient work, so the weekend and evening hours that attract these rates sit mainly in obstetric and emergency ultrasound cover.

What is sonographer overtime pay per hour?

Overtime for Bands 1 to 7 pays time and a half, and double time on bank and public holidays. A Band 6 trainee sonographer at the entry step earns £30.62 an overtime hour and £40.82 on a bank holiday, while a Band 7 sonographer at the top of the band earns £43.31 and £57.74. Overtime only starts above 37.5 hours a week, and you cannot claim overtime and an unsocial hours enhancement for the same hour. Part-time staff earn plain time, plus any unsocial enhancement that applies, for hours above their contracted hours up to 37.5, and overtime rates only kick in beyond that point.

Do sonographers get on-call pay?

Some do, where a trust runs obstetric or emergency ultrasound cover outside normal hours. Agenda for Change pays an availability payment for the on-call period plus call-out payments at overtime rates when you attend. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step, on £25.23 an hour, called in for three hours would earn £113.55 for the call-out itself, which is 3 times £37.85, plus the availability payment. The availability payment and the exact call-out terms vary by trust and by local policy, so this page quotes no fixed on-call amount beyond the call-out maths.

What is the London sonographer hourly rate with HCAS?

High Cost Area Supplement is a percentage of basic pay, subject to a minimum and a maximum, and it is pensionable. Inner London pays 20% with a minimum of £5,794 and a maximum of £8,746, outer London pays 15% with a minimum of £4,870 and a maximum of £6,137, and the fringe pays 5% with a minimum of £1,346 and a maximum of £2,270. A Band 6 trainee sonographer at the entry step therefore earns £24.50 an hour in inner London, £23.48 in outer London and £21.43 in the fringe, against a basic rate of £20.41. At the top of Band 7, the inner supplement is capped at £8,746, giving £33.34 an hour.

Does part-time sonographer work change the hourly rate?

No. The hourly rate stays the same and only the annual total changes, because it is the full-time salary multiplied by the contracted fraction. A Band 7 sonographer at the entry step on 0.8 whole-time equivalent earns £39,509.60 a year, which is £3,292.47 a month gross, for a 30 hour week, and the plain-time rate is still £25.23 an hour. A Band 6 trainee at the top of the band on 0.6 whole-time equivalent earns £28,870.20 a year for a 22.5 hour week, again at the full Band 6 top rate of £24.58 an hour.

Source: NHS Employers unsocial hours payments. Salary figures from the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular, as summarised in the site's verified pay data.