Theatre Nurse Hourly Rate 2026/27

Last updated: 9 November 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Ask a theatre nurse what she earns and she will probably answer in hours, not in years. That is how the work is lived: long lists, late finishes, nights on call, weekends on the emergency list, and a payslip that changes every month because the mix of plain, night, Sunday and call-out hours changes every month. The annual salary on the job advert is the starting point, but the hourly rate is the number that decides whether the extra list is worth it, whether the Saturday list beats the bank shift on Tuesday, and whether the move from Band 5 to Band 6 is worth the responsibility. This page gives the full 2026/27 picture in hourly terms: the plain-time rate at every pay step from Band 5 to Band 6, how the rate is worked out, night and weekend rates, overtime rates, on-call pay with a worked month, what a month of real theatre shifts is worth, take-home pay after pension, tax and National Insurance, London weighting in hourly terms, part-time pay, the bank and agency comparison, the difference between scrub, anaesthetics and recovery, the ODP comparison, and how the figures differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Theatre nurse hourly rates 2026/27 by band and step

Theatre nurses, working in anaesthetics, scrub and recovery, are typically Band 5 on qualification, with senior theatre nurses at Band 6 and theatre team leaders at Band 7. There is no separate theatre pay scale, and no theatre-specific uplift to basic pay. The 3.3% 2026/27 award, effective 1 April 2026, applies to every step. The table below gives the hourly rate at every pay step in England from Band 5 to Band 6, alongside the annual, monthly and weekly figures it is worked out from. 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.

Read the table from the top and the shape of a theatre career is clear. A newly qualified nurse joining theatres starts at Band 5 entry on £16.38 an hour, or £2,672.75 a month. The intermediate step at Band 5 pays £17.67 an hour, and the top of Band 5 pays £19.95. The step to Band 6 is the first real jump: a senior theatre nurse at Band 6 entry earns £20.41 an hour, and the top of Band 6 pays £24.58. The step from the top of Band 5 to the entry of Band 6 is worth £916 a year, or £76.33 a month gross, and in hourly terms it is 46 pence, from £19.95 to £20.41. That is a modest cash step for the first leadership post, and it surprises nurses who expect a bigger jump, but the step is not the point: the Band 6 post is where the nurse stops being responsible for her own list and starts being responsible for the theatre, and that change in accountability is what the band is paying for. The full journey from Band 5 entry to the top of Band 6 is worth £16,044 a year, or £8.20 an hour, from £16.38 to £24.58. For the annual-led picture at each band, see the theatre nurse salary guide, the Band 5 salary guide and the Band 6 salary guide.

How the hourly rate is worked out

The hourly rate is not a figure the NHS publishes directly. It is worked out from the annual salary by dividing by 52.2 weeks, then dividing by 37.5 hours. The 52.2 weeks, not 52, is the convention because it accounts for annual leave across the year, and 37.5 hours is the standard full-time Agenda for Change week in England. So a Band 6 theatre nurse at entry on £39,959 a year earns £39,959 divided by 52.2, which is £765.50 a week, divided by 37.5, which is £20.41 an hour. A Band 5 nurse at entry on £32,073 earns £614.43 a week, or £16.38 an hour. A Band 6 nurse at the top on £48,117 earns £921.78 a week, or £24.58 an hour. Every hourly rate on this page is worked out the same way, and every enhancement rate is calculated from the rounded hourly rate, which is how payroll systems apply them. To work out your own hourly rate from any salary, use the hourly rate calculator.

The 2026/27 rates are higher than last year at every step, because England awarded Agenda for Change staff 3.3% from 1 April 2026. At Band 5 the award added £1,024 a year at entry, £1,105 at the intermediate step and £1,247 at the top, or £85.33, £92.08 and £103.92 a month gross. In hourly terms, Band 5 entry rose from £15.86 to £16.38, a rise of 52 pence an hour. At Band 6 the award added £1,277 a year at entry, £1,347 at the intermediate step and £1,537 at the top, or £106.42, £112.25 and £128.08 a month. In hourly terms, Band 6 entry rose from £19.76 to £20.41, a rise of 65 pence an hour, and the top of Band 6 rose from £23.80 to £24.58, a rise of 78 pence an hour. No back pay was due in England because the increase was paid on time in April salaries. Progression within a band is not automatic: it depends on a satisfactory appraisal and completion of statutory and mandatory training, and Band 6 moves through its three steps over around five years, though the exact timing follows the trust's incremental progression policy.

One warning about the maths is worth stating plainly, because it catches people out. The hourly rate on this page is the rate for a full-time 37.5-hour week, and it is the rate that enhancement percentages are applied to. It is not the rate you get by dividing your monthly pay by the hours you happened to work in that month, because the hours in a month vary with the rota and with annual leave, and the 52.2-week divisor already accounts for leave. A nurse who divides a month's pay by a month's hours will get a different number every month, and the difference is not an error, it is the rota. The rate that matters for comparing posts, for valuing an extra list, and for checking a payslip is the rate in the table above, worked out from the annual salary the same way every time.

Night, Saturday and Sunday rates

Theatre is one of the most shift-heavy areas in nursing, with evening and weekend operating lists and emergency lists running around the clock. That means Section 2 enhancements are structural, not occasional: they are a regular part of a theatre nurse's payslip, not an occasional extra. Agenda for Change Section 2 pays Bands 4 to 9 time plus 30% for Saturday and weekday night hours (8pm to 6am) and time plus 60% for Sunday and public-holiday hours. The table below applies those percentages to the rounded hourly rates from the scales above, and adds the overtime rates, which are dealt with in full in the next section. For the full unsocial-hours rules, including overtime and time off in lieu, see the unsocial hours and overtime guide.

Worked example: a Band 5 theatre nurse at entry works a 7.5-hour Saturday list. Plain time for the shift would be £122.85 (7.5 hours at £16.38). At time plus 30%, the same shift pays £159.68 (7.5 hours at £21.29). The enhancement alone is worth £36.83 for that one shift. A second example, from the other end of the week: a Band 6 theatre nurse at the top works a 12-hour Sunday shift. Plain time would be £294.96 (12 hours at £24.58). At time plus 60%, the shift pays £471.96 (12 hours at £39.33), an extra £177.00 for the shift. A third example, a night shift: a Band 6 theatre nurse at entry works a 7.5-hour Sunday night shift. Plain time would be £153.08 (7.5 hours at £20.41). At time plus 60%, the shift pays £244.95 (7.5 hours at £32.66), an extra £91.87 for the shift. That is why two theatre nurses on the same band and step can take home different amounts, and why asking about the rota matters as much as asking about the band: a nurse on a rota with regular weekends and nights earns several hundred pounds a month more than a nurse on a mainly weekday rota.

The night rate deserves a closer look, because nights are the backbone of theatre staffing. A Band 5 nurse at entry earns £21.29 an hour at night, against £16.38 plain time; at the top of Band 5 the night rate is £25.94, against £19.95. A Band 6 nurse at entry earns £26.53 an hour at night, and at the top of Band 6 the night rate is £31.95. Night hours are 8pm to 6am on weekdays, and Saturday hours are paid at the same plus 30% rate, so a Saturday day list and a Tuesday night shift pay the same enhancement. Sunday and bank-holiday hours pay plus 60% at every step: £26.21 an hour at Band 5 entry, £31.92 at the top of Band 5, £32.66 at Band 6 entry and £39.33 at the top of Band 6. The Sunday rate at the top of Band 6, £39.33 an hour, is nearly two and a half times the plain-time rate at Band 5 entry, which is the honest scale of what unsocial hours are worth in this specialty.

Weekend lists deserve a note of their own, because they are the theatre-specific version of the unsocial-hours story. Waiting-list initiatives and Saturday lists are a regular feature of most theatre departments, and they are paid at the enhanced rates in the table above, not at plain time. An 8-hour Saturday list for a Band 6 theatre nurse at the intermediate step pays £224.00 (8 hours at £28.00), against £172.32 at plain time, an extra £51.68 for the list. That is the figure to keep in mind when a department offers extra lists: the list is worth the enhanced rate, and the enhancement is the reason theatre nursing is consistently among the better-paid Band 5 roles in practice.

Overtime hourly rates and worked examples

Overtime is time and a half for hours worked above 37.5 a week, and double time on bank holidays, for Bands 1 to 7. In theatres, overtime usually means staying past the end of a list, covering a colleague's sickness absence, or working an extra list when the department is short. A Band 6 theatre nurse at entry who works 4 extra hours in a week at time and a half is paid 4 hours at £30.62, or £122.48, against £81.64 at plain time, an extra £40.84 for the week. A Band 5 nurse at the top who works 5 extra hours is paid 5 hours at £29.93, or £149.65, against £99.75 at plain time, an extra £49.90. Bank-holiday overtime is double time: £39.90 an hour at the top of Band 5, £49.16 at the top of Band 6 and £40.82 at Band 6 entry. The overtime rates for every step are in the table in the previous section, in the last two columns.

Overtime is not a reliable part of the salary, and departments vary in how much they offer. A nurse budgeting on overtime every week is budgeting on something the department may withdraw, so the figures above are best read as the value of an occasional extra list, not as a second salary. Staff may elect time off in lieu instead of overtime pay, which suits nurses who would rather bank the hours after a run of weekends. Overtime and unsocial-hours enhancement cannot both be claimed for the same hours, so a Sunday list worked as overtime is paid at the overtime rate, not at the overtime rate plus the Sunday enhancement. In Scotland the overtime threshold is 36 hours rather than 37.5, because Scotland moved to a 36-hour week from April 2026, which is dealt with in the nations section below.

On-call: the theatre premium

Emergency operating lists run around the clock, so theatre nurses join on-call rotas. Agenda for Change pays on-call in two parts: an availability payment for being on call (a flat sum per on-call period, with the rate depending on frequency, set nationally, applied locally) and call-out payments when you are called in, usually at overtime rates for the hours worked, with a minimum credit per call-out under most local agreements. The availability rate is agreed locally and there is no national figure, so it is not quoted as a number anywhere on this page. Always get the on-call policy in writing when comparing theatre jobs; it can be worth more than a pay step.

A worked illustration for a Band 5 theatre nurse at the top of the band (£19.95 an hour). Suppose an on-call week brings three call-outs: two 3-hour cases and one 5-hour case, all at night. Each 3-hour call-out pays 3 hours at £19.95 at time and a half, which is £89.78, so the two together pay £179.55. The 5-hour call-out pays 5 hours at £19.95 at time and a half, which is £149.63. The call-out total for the week is £329.18, plus the availability payments for the on-call periods. A busy on-call month with several such weeks can add £1,000 or more to take-home pay, which is why theatre nurses watch their on-call frequency as closely as their band.

The same maths at Band 6 shows why the on-call rota matters at every grade. A Band 6 theatre nurse at entry (£20.41 an hour) called in for a single 4-hour case at time and a half is paid £122.46 for the call-out, against £81.64 at plain time. A Band 6 nurse at the top (£24.58 an hour) called in for the same 4-hour case is paid 4 hours at £36.87, or £147.48. But the terms are local: availability rates, call-out minimums and how quickly call-outs are paid vary by trust. Two trusts can offer the same band and the same basic pay and still leave a theatre nurse hundreds of pounds a month apart, because one trust's on-call rota is heavier, or its availability payment is higher, or its call-out minimum is more generous. Ask about the rota at interview, ahead of the band: how many nights a month, how many call-outs a typical week brings, what the availability payment is, and whether call-outs are paid at time and a half with a minimum credit. For the full on-call picture, including the worked month, see the theatre nurse salary guide.

What a month of theatre shifts is worth

The tables above give rates. This section puts them together into a month, because that is how the money actually arrives. Take a Band 6 theatre nurse at entry, on £20.41 an hour plain time, working a four-week block of 150 hours: 100 hours at plain time, 30 hours at night, and 20 hours on Sundays. The plain-time hours pay £2,041.00 (100 hours at £20.41). The night hours pay £795.90 (30 hours at £26.53). The Sunday hours pay £653.20 (20 hours at £32.66). The block is worth £3,490.10 in total, against £3,061.50 if all 150 hours had been plain time. The enhancements alone are worth £428.60 for the four weeks, and the effective hourly rate across the whole block is £23.27, against £20.41 plain time. That is the shape of theatre pay: the basic rate is the floor, and the rota is worth around a fifth on top of it in a typical month.

The same maths works at every step, and the gap grows with the band. A Band 5 nurse at entry on the same rota pattern would earn £16.38 plain time, £21.29 at night and £26.21 on Sundays, so 100 plain hours pay £1,638.00, 30 night hours pay £638.70 and 20 Sunday hours pay £524.20, a block total of £2,800.90 against £2,457.00 at plain time, an enhancement of £343.90, and an effective hourly rate of £18.67 across the block. A Band 6 nurse at the top on the same pattern would earn £24.58 plain time, £31.95 at night and £39.33 on Sundays, so 100 plain hours pay £2,458.00, 30 night hours pay £958.50 and 20 Sunday hours pay £786.60, a block total of £4,203.10 against £3,687.00 at plain time, an enhancement of £516.10, and an effective hourly rate of £28.02 across the block. The pattern is the same at every step, and it is the reason the rota is the first thing to ask about at interview, ahead of the band: two nurses on the same band and step can be several hundred pounds a month apart, and the difference is the rota, not the scale.

None of this is guaranteed income. A month with annual leave in it carries fewer enhancement hours, because leave is paid at plain time. A month on a supernumerary induction, on a course, or on light duties after an injury carries fewer nights and weekends. And a department that is fully staffed offers fewer extra lists than a department that is short. The honest way to read the rota example is as a typical month on a typical theatre rota, not as a promise. The annual salary in the table at the top of this page is the guaranteed part. Everything in this section is the variable part, and it is the part that makes theatre pay hard to compare with ward pay on annual salary alone. On-call money sits on top of the figures in this section, and it is dealt with in the section above.

Take-home pay after pension, tax and National Insurance

Gross pay is not what arrives in the bank. The table below works out take-home pay for each step in England, using the same method used across this site: the pension contribution comes off first, income tax is charged on what is left after the personal allowance, and National Insurance comes off gross pay. Student loan repayments are not in the table, and are dealt with separately below. The enhancement and on-call money from the previous sections is not in the table either: these are the take-home figures for plain-time basic pay only, and a real theatre payslip will be higher by the enhancement and on-call money on that month's rota.

Read the table across one row and the shape of a theatre nurse's payslip is clear. At Band 5 entry, on £32,073 a year, the pension takes £2,662.06, income tax takes £3,368.19 and National Insurance takes £1,560.24, leaving £24,482.51 a year, or £2,040.21 a month. At the top of Band 5, on £39,043, the pension takes £3,826.21, tax takes £4,529.36 and National Insurance takes £2,117.84, leaving £28,569.59 a year, or £2,380.80 a month. Within Band 5, take-home rises by £340.59 a month from entry to the top. At Band 6 entry, on £39,959, take-home is £2,429.78 a month, and at the top of Band 6, on £48,117, it is £2,865.96 a month, a rise of £436.18 a month within the band. The step to Band 6 entry from the top of Band 5 is worth only £48.98 a month in take-home, against a gross step of £916 a year, because the pension contribution, tax and National Insurance all rise with the pay. The full journey from Band 5 entry to the top of Band 6 is worth £825.75 a month in take-home, from £2,040.21 to £2,865.96.

Student loans come off after the figures in the table. Most staff who studied in England or Wales are on Plan 2, which takes 9% of earnings above £29,385 a year. On theatre nurse pay that is £241.92 a year, or £20.16 a month, at Band 5 entry, £468.63 a year, or £39.05 a month, at the intermediate step, and £869.22 a year, or £72.44 a month, at the top of Band 5. Take-home with a Plan 2 loan is therefore £2,020.05 a month at Band 5 entry, £2,138.36 at the intermediate step and £2,308.36 at the top of Band 5. At Band 6 the Plan 2 deduction is £79.31 a month at entry, £95.89 at the intermediate step and £140.49 at the top, so take-home with a Plan 2 loan is £2,350.47 a month at Band 6 entry, £2,452.10 at the intermediate step and £2,725.47 at the top. The student loan repayments on NHS pay guide works out the deduction for any salary and plan.

London weighting in hourly terms

High Cost Area Supplement is paid on top of basic pay for staff working in London and the fringe zone, so it lifts the hourly rate too. In 2026/27, inner London pays 20% of basic pay (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), outer London pays 15% (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and the fringe zone pays 5% (minimum £1,346, maximum £2,270). The table below gives the total annual pay and the resulting hourly rate for each zone, at the entry and top of each band. For the full HCAS rules, see the London weighting guide.

The pattern below the caps is worth checking on a payslip. A Band 5 theatre nurse at entry in inner London receives £6,414.60, which is 20% of the basic, for a total of £38,487.60 and an hourly rate of £19.66, against £16.38 outside London. The same nurse in outer London receives the £4,870 minimum, because 15% of £32,073 is only £4,810.95, for a total of £36,943.00 and an hourly rate of £18.87. In the fringe zone the same nurse receives £1,603.65, which is 5% of the basic, for a total of £33,676.65 and an hourly rate of £17.20. The cap binds at the top of the ladder: a Band 6 nurse at the top in inner London receives the £8,746 maximum, not 20% of £48,117, for a total of £56,863 and an hourly rate of £29.05, against £24.58 outside London. These small rules are the ones that catch people out when they estimate London pay from a percentage alone, so the table above gives totals and hourly rates, not just percentages.

Pension: what the hourly rate really costs

NHS pension contributions are the largest regular deduction after tax for most theatre nurses, and they are also the most valuable part of the package. Under the official 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, a Band 5 theatre nurse pays 8.3% of pensionable pay at entry and at the intermediate step, from £221.84 a month at entry to £239.26 a month at the intermediate step, and 9.8% at the top of Band 5, or £318.85 a month. A Band 6 nurse pays 9.8% at every step, from £326.33 a month at entry to £392.96 a month at the top, with £344.39 a month at the intermediate step. The employer contributes 23.7% on top of pensionable pay, which is £7,601.30 a year at Band 5 entry and £11,403.73 a year at the top of Band 6. The tiers are the official NHSBSA tiers, confirmed and in force from 1 April 2026. For the full tier table, see the pension contributions guide.

A nurse who moves from the intermediate step of Band 5 (£34,592) to the top (£39,043) crosses a tier boundary, where the rate rises from 8.3% to 9.8%, and the monthly contribution jumps from £239.26 to £318.85, a rise of £79.59 a month. That is normal tier behaviour, not a payroll error. The tier is set by your actual pensionable pay, so a part-time nurse is tiered on the part-time earnings they actually receive, not on the full-time rate for the post.

Each year of service accrues pension at 1/54th of pensionable earnings in the 2015 CARE scheme, so a year at Band 5 entry accrues £593.94 of annual pension, a year at the intermediate step accrues £640.59 and a year at the top of Band 5 accrues £723.02. A year at Band 6 entry accrues £739.98, a year at the intermediate step accrues £780.93 and a year at the top of Band 6 accrues £891.06. The built-up pension is revalued each April. The contribution also cuts the tax bill, because it comes off before tax. Pensionable pay is basic pay plus any pensionable allowances, and for most theatre nurses that means basic pay alone, since unsocial-hours enhancements, overtime and on-call payments are not pensionable. That last point matters for the hourly comparison: the night, Sunday and call-out rates on this page are paid gross, with no pension accruing on them, while the plain-time rate carries the pension with it.

Part-time work: the same hourly rate, a smaller payslip

Part-time pay in Agenda for Change is pro rata to the whole-time equivalent fraction, and the hourly rate does not change. A Band 5 theatre nurse at entry on a 0.8 whole-time equivalent contract earns £25,658.40 a year, which is 80% of £32,073, and the hourly rate is still £16.38, because the same annual salary divided by the same 52.2 weeks and 37.5 hours gives the same answer. The pension tier is 8.3%, set by the full-time salary of £32,073, and it takes £2,129.65 a year, income tax is £2,191.75 a year and National Insurance is £1,047.07, leaving take-home of £20,289.93 a year, or £1,690.83 a month. A Band 6 nurse at entry on a 0.6 contract earns £23,975.40 a year, and takes home £1,575.19 a month, on the same £20.41 hourly rate as a full-time colleague. Unsocial-hours percentages, on-call terms and High Cost Area Supplement apply to the pro rata basic in the same way as to a full-time basic. For the full pro-rata rules, see the part-time pay guide.

Part-time theatre work is common, and it is worth understanding what the hourly rate does and does not do for a part-time nurse. The hourly rate is identical, so a part-time nurse is not paid less per hour. But the payslip is smaller, the pension accrues more slowly because it accrues on the actual pensionable pay, and the enhancement and on-call money depends on the hours actually worked, so a part-time nurse on a rota with few nights and few call-outs earns proportionally less variable money than a full-time colleague on the same rota pattern. A nurse comparing a part-time theatre post with a full-time ward post should compare the hourly rate and the rota together, not the annual salary alone, because the annual salary on a part-time post is a fraction of a whole-time equivalent figure, and the rota decides how much enhancement and on-call money sits on top of it.

Bank and agency: the hourly rate looks higher

The headline hourly rates for agency theatre work are among the highest in nursing, and they are the reason the agency comparison comes up in every theatre pay conversation. Scrub and anaesthetic nurses are in constant demand, and agencies quote rates well above the substantive hourly rates on this page. But the comparison is not like for like. Agency work carries no NHS pension, no sick pay and no paid annual leave, and no on-call structure beyond the hourly rate, and the rate has to cover all of that, plus the gaps between bookings and the cost of finding the next shift. A substantive theatre nurse who picks up bank shifts keeps the pension, the sick pay and the leave, and is paid the enhanced hourly rate for the extra shifts, which is why most theatre nurses maximise income with a substantive post plus bank shifts rather than full-time agency. Bank work is paid on the same Agenda for Change rates, so the hourly rates on this page apply to bank shifts too, with the same unsocial-hours enhancements for nights and Sundays. For the full comparison, including umbrella companies and the tax position, see the agency versus bank pay guide.

Local recruitment and retention premia exist in some trusts for theatre posts, but they are time-limited and trust-specific, not a national entitlement, so check the advert and ask at interview. The postgraduate qualification in perioperative care does not carry its own pay uplift, but it is the standard gateway to Band 6 in theatres, so it unlocks the higher-paid posts. Most trusts expect senior theatre nurses to hold it or be working towards it, and it underpins applications for surgical first assistant, practice educator and advanced practice roles. Ask whether the trust funds it: funded study is effectively part of the pay package. Beyond the theatre, perioperative skills open roles with different banding and hours, including surgical care practitioner posts, typically Band 7 to 8a, for nurses who want to work in and out of the operating theatre as first or second assistant to the operating surgeon. Those roles suit theatre nurses seeking variety without leaving the specialty, and surgical care practice in particular is a recognised route to advanced clinical practice at Band 7 to 8a.

Scrub, anaesthetics and recovery: same banding, different days

The three theatre roles share the same pay scale: a scrub nurse, an anaesthetic nurse and a recovery nurse at Band 5 all earn £32,073 to £39,043, and the hourly rates, enhancements and on-call terms on this page apply to all three in the same way. The differences are in the work and the rota: anaesthetic nurses are often first on the on-call rota for emergency cases; scrub nurses cover the full range of lists; recovery nurses' hours track list finish times, which can mean late finishes paid as overtime. None is systematically better paid, so choose by aptitude, not money.

The rota differences are real, even though the pay scale is shared. An anaesthetic nurse on the emergency on-call rota can expect more call-outs than a recovery nurse whose lists finish in the early evening, and that shows up in the payslip as more call-out money at time and a half. A scrub nurse covering the full range of lists, including weekend lists, can expect more Saturday and Sunday enhancement than a nurse on a mainly weekday list. A recovery nurse whose lists overrun will see more overtime, because late finishes past the end of the shift are paid as overtime. The hourly rates are identical, but the mix of hours is different, and the mix is what decides the monthly total. That is the point of this page: the hourly rate is the starting point, and the rota is the rest of the story.

Theatre nurse vs ODP

The question every theatre department answers at interview. Basic pay is identical at the same band: a Band 5 theatre nurse and a Band 5 operating department practitioner both earn £32,073 to £39,043, the same hourly rates, the same enhancements and the same on-call terms. The differences are in training and registration, not in pay. ODPs train specifically for theatres, in anaesthetics, surgery and recovery, and register with the Health and Care Professions Council. Nurses train as nurses first, specialise in theatres after, and register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which keeps every other nursing specialty open as an alternative. See the ODP salary guide for the full comparison, including the Band 6 and Band 7 picture for both routes.

The choice matters for the career that follows, and it matters in hourly terms too, because the two routes reach the higher bands by different paths. A theatre nurse moves to Band 6 as a senior theatre nurse, then to Band 7 as a theatre team leader, on £49,387 to £56,515, or £25.23 to £28.87 an hour. An ODP follows the same band structure in theatres. The pay is the same at each step, so the decision is about the training, the registration and the options it keeps open, not about the money. A nurse who wants the option of moving out of theatres later, into intensive care, the emergency department or a ward, keeps that option by staying NMC-registered. An ODP who wants to stay in theatres for a whole career loses nothing by choosing the ODP route, because the pay, the enhancements and the on-call terms are identical.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland awarded 3.75% from 1 April 2026 under its two-year deal, and moved to a 36-hour week from April 2026. The Scotland scale is its own, published in the circular PCS(AFC)2026/1, and the hourly maths changes with the week: in Scotland the hourly rate is the annual salary divided by 52.143 weeks and then by 36 hours. For comparison, Scotland Band 5 pays £34,544 at entry, £36,911 at the intermediate step and £43,039 at the top, or £18.40, £19.66 and £22.93 an hour, or £2,878.67, £3,075.92 and £3,586.58 a month. Scotland Band 6 pays £43,231 at entry, £45,135 at the intermediate step and £52,679 at the top, or £23.03, £24.04 and £28.06 an hour, or £3,602.58, £3,761.25 and £4,389.92 a month. The shorter week is worth real money in hourly terms, and it also changes the overtime threshold, since overtime in Scotland starts above 36 hours rather than 37.5. Scotland also has its own nine-tier pension structure, at 5.7% to 12.7%, with thresholds that differ from the England and Wales tiers quoted above, and an employer contribution of 22.5%. A Scotland Band 5 nurse at entry takes home £2,167.21 a month, worked out on the same site method with Scottish tax and the Scottish pension tiers.

Wales awarded 3.3%, implemented 1 April 2026 and paid on time. Wales Band 5 pays £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, or £16.63, £17.94 and £20.25 an hour on the 37.5-hour week. The Real Living Wage floor applies to the lowest bands in Wales and does not bind at Band 5. No Wales Band 6 salary figures are quoted on this page, because they are not in the verified data file this page is built from.

Northern Ireland is different: the 3.3% award was recommended but had not been implemented at the time the data file was last checked, so Northern Ireland theatre nurse pay should not be budgeted on the England figures. Staff there remain on the 2025/26 scale, which is Band 5 £31,049 at entry, £33,487 at the intermediate step and £37,796 at the top, or £15.86, £17.11 and £19.31 an hour; and Band 6 £38,682 at entry, £40,823 at the intermediate step and £46,580 at the top, or £19.76, £20.85 and £23.80 an hour. That is 52 pence an hour less than England at Band 5 entry, 65 pence less at Band 6 entry and 78 pence less at the top of Band 6, and the gap is the award that has not yet been paid. The Scotland pay guide, the Wales pay guide and the Northern Ireland pay guide carry the nation positions in full.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hourly rate for a theatre nurse in the NHS?

In England in 2026/27, a theatre nurse earns £16.38 an hour at Band 5 entry, £17.67 at the intermediate step and £19.95 at the top of Band 5; £20.41 to £24.58 at Band 6. There is no separate theatre pay scale: theatre nurses are paid on the same Agenda for Change bands as every other nurse, and the premium comes from on-call payments and unsocial-hours enhancements on 24/7 theatre rotas, not from a higher basic rate. The rates are for a full-time 37.5-hour week, before tax, National Insurance and pension deductions.

How is the NHS hourly rate worked out?

Divide the annual salary by 52.2 weeks, then divide by 37.5 hours. The 52.2 weeks, not 52, is the convention because it accounts for annual leave across the year, and 37.5 hours is the standard full-time Agenda for Change week in England. So a Band 6 theatre nurse at entry on £39,959 a year earns £39,959 divided by 52.2, which is £765.50 a week, divided by 37.5, which is £20.41 an hour. Every hourly rate on this page is worked out the same way, and every enhancement rate is calculated from the rounded hourly rate, which is how payroll systems apply them.

What is the night rate for a theatre nurse?

Agenda for Change Section 2 pays Bands 4 to 9 time plus 30% for Saturday hours and for weekday night hours, which are 8pm to 6am. A Band 5 theatre nurse at entry earns £21.29 an hour at night, against £16.38 plain time; a Band 6 nurse at the top earns £31.95, against £24.58. Theatre is a 24/7 service with emergency lists running through the night, so night hours are a regular part of the rota, not an occasional extra, and the night enhancement is a structural part of a theatre nurse's take-home pay.

What is the Sunday rate for a theatre nurse?

Time plus 60%. Sunday and public-holiday hours are paid at the plain hourly rate plus 60% for Bands 4 to 9 under Agenda for Change Section 2. A Band 5 theatre nurse at entry earns £26.21 an hour on a Sunday, against £16.38 plain time; a Band 6 nurse at entry earns £32.66, against £20.41; and a Band 6 nurse at the top earns £39.33, against £24.58. A 12-hour Sunday shift at the top of Band 6 pays £471.96, against £294.96 at plain time, an extra £177.00 for the shift.

How does on-call pay work for theatre nurses?

Agenda for Change pays on-call in two parts: an availability payment for being on call, and call-out payments when you are called in, usually at overtime rates for the hours worked, with a minimum credit per call-out under most local agreements. The availability rate is agreed locally and there is no national figure, so always get the on-call policy in writing when comparing theatre jobs. A worked illustration for a Band 5 theatre nurse at the top of the band (£19.95 an hour): an on-call week bringing three call-outs, two 3-hour cases and one 5-hour case, all at night, pays £179.55 for the two 3-hour call-outs and £149.63 for the 5-hour call-out, a call-out total of £329.18, plus the availability payments for the on-call periods. A busy on-call month with several such weeks can add £1,000 or more to take-home pay.

What is the overtime rate for a theatre nurse?

Overtime is time and a half for hours worked above 37.5 a week, and double time on bank holidays, for Bands 1 to 7. A Band 6 theatre nurse at entry earns £30.62 an hour on overtime, against £20.41 plain time; at the top of Band 6 the overtime rate is £36.87, against £24.58. Bank-holiday overtime is double time: £49.16 an hour at the top of Band 6 and £40.82 at Band 6 entry. Overtime and unsocial-hours enhancement cannot both be claimed for the same hours, and staff may elect time off in lieu instead of overtime pay.

How much does a theatre nurse earn a month?

In England in 2026/27, gross monthly pay is £2,672.75 at Band 5 entry, £3,253.58 at the top of Band 5, £3,329.92 at Band 6 entry and £4,009.75 at the top of Band 6, before any unsocial-hours enhancement, overtime, on-call or London weighting. After pension, tax and National Insurance, take-home pay is £2,040.21 a month at Band 5 entry, £2,380.80 at the top of Band 5, £2,429.78 at Band 6 entry and £2,865.96 at the top of Band 6, without a student loan repayment. A typical theatre rota adds several hundred pounds a month in enhancements and on-call money on top of those figures.

Do theatre nurses get London weighting on the hourly rate?

Yes. High Cost Area Supplement is paid on top of basic pay, so it lifts the hourly rate too. In 2026/27, inner London pays 20% of basic pay (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), outer London pays 15% (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and the fringe zone pays 5% (minimum £1,346, maximum £2,270). A Band 5 theatre nurse at entry in inner London earns £19.66 an hour, against £16.38 outside London; a Band 6 nurse at the top earns £29.05 an hour in inner London, against £24.58. The cap binds at the top: a Band 6 nurse at the top in inner London receives the £8,746 maximum, not 20% of £48,117.

Sources and independence

Source: NHS Employers, Unsocial hours payments (Agenda for Change Section 2 rates) and the Agenda for Change pay circular 2026/27 (England pay scales, High Cost Area Supplement, pension tiers and mileage rates).

Source: NHSBSA, official 2026/27 pension contribution tiers for England and Wales (in force from 1 April 2026); NHS Scotland circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 (Scotland 2026/27 scale and 36-hour week); NHS Employers pay scales for 2025/26 (Northern Ireland scale in payment).

Source: the live theatre nurse salary guide on this site (Band 5 scrub, anaesthetics and recovery, Band 6 senior theatre nurse, Band 7 team leader; on-call availability plus call-outs at overtime rates, worked month).

NHS Bands Pay is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the NHS, NHS Employers, or any NHS trust. Figures were verified against the official sources above on 9 November 2026 and can change, always confirm with the relevant official body before making financial decisions.