Virtual Ward Nurse Salary 2026/27

Last updated: 30 October 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Virtual ward nurse pay 2026/27: the Band 5 to Band 7 scales

England awarded Agenda for Change staff 3.3% from 1 April 2026, and the award was paid on time in April salaries. The scales below are 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 and overtime 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 the wider picture at each band, including the roles that share these scales, see the Band 5 salary guide, the Band 6 salary guide and the Band 7 salary guide.

The step structure tells the story of this ladder. Inside each band, the journey is worth £6,970 at Band 5, £8,158 at Band 6 and £7,128 at Band 7. Between bands, the steps are small: £916 from the top of Band 5 to the entry of Band 6, and £1,270 from the top of Band 6 to the entry of Band 7. A nurse who moves from Band 5 top to Band 6 entry gains less than £80 a month in basic pay, which surprises people who expect a promotion to transform their salary. The real gain at Band 6 is the higher ceiling, £48,117 against £39,043, and the different work: a caseload to run rather than a list to work through. The same logic applies at Band 7, where the ceiling reaches £56,515 and the work shifts again, from running a caseload to leading a service.

One point that trips up newcomers: the band follows the post, not the person and not the job title. A trust can advertise a Band 5 virtual ward nurse post, a Band 6 senior virtual ward nurse post and a Band 7 virtual ward lead post in the same service, with overlapping duties, and pay them from different scales. The job evaluation behind each post decides the band, based on the knowledge, responsibility and effort the post demands. That is why this page quotes bands and steps rather than a single salary figure. Anyone comparing offers should ask for the band and the step, not just the headline annual figure, because the step alone can be worth £2,519 at Band 5, from £32,073 at entry to £34,592 at the intermediate step.

What a virtual ward nurse actually does

A virtual ward, also called hospital at home, cares for patients in their own homes who would otherwise occupy a hospital bed. The patients are not less ill than ward patients. They are people whose condition can be monitored and treated safely at home with the right support: a frail older person recovering from pneumonia, a heart failure patient whose fluid balance needs daily checking, a post-operative patient who needs wound review and blood tests without a ward stay. The virtual ward nurse is the clinician who makes that safe. The work mixes remote monitoring with hands-on visiting, and the balance between the two is what separates one trust's virtual ward from another's.

A typical day starts with the virtual ward board: the list of patients on the ward, their latest observations, and any alerts from overnight monitoring. Some patients wear devices that send observations automatically. Others take their own readings with a tablet or a phone app and submit them each morning. The nurse reviews the readings, phones the patients who need a call, and plans the visiting list for the day. Visits go to the patients who need hands-on care: intravenous antibiotics, bloods, wound dressings, a catheter change, or a face-to-face assessment because the readings look wrong. Between visits, the nurse stays in contact with the hub team, the consultant or advanced practitioner who holds clinical responsibility, the GP, and the district nurses who may share the patch. Escalation is part of the job, not a failure of it. When a patient deteriorates, the virtual ward nurse arranges admission, and does it early, while the patient can still be moved safely.

The closest neighbouring role is the community staff nurse, and the comparison is useful. A community staff nurse works a visiting list set by a district nurse, at Band 5. A virtual ward nurse at Band 5 does similar visiting work, but the patients are acutely unwell rather than stable, the monitoring is continuous rather than episodic, and the escalation decisions are more urgent. A district nurse at Band 6 holds a caseload in the community. A Band 6 virtual ward nurse holds a caseload too, but of patients who would otherwise be inpatients, with daily review and a consultant-led plan behind each one. The pay scales are the same Agenda for Change scales in both cases. What differs is the acuity, the technology and the speed of the decisions.

Lone working runs through the whole role. A virtual ward nurse visits homes alone, drives between patients, and makes clinical judgements without a ward team a few steps away. The hub, by phone or video, is the backup, and good services keep that line genuinely open. Nurses who move from wards into virtual wards often say the autonomy is the attraction and the isolation is the adjustment. A nurse weighing a move should ask to shadow a virtual ward team for a day, drive a patch, and sit in on a board round before deciding, because the job description alone does not convey how different a day feels when the ward is spread across a town.

Becoming a virtual ward nurse: the route in

Virtual ward posts are registered nurse posts, so the starting point is NMC registration and a period of post-registration experience, usually on wards or in the community. Band 5 virtual ward posts suit nurses with solid ward experience who want to move into community-based acute care. The skills that transfer best are assessment, recognising deterioration, and confidence with observations and early warning scores. Band 6 posts usually ask for more: community or acute experience, a specialist qualification or evidence of working towards one, and experience of running a caseload or supervising junior staff. Band 7 lead posts carry service leadership: setting rotas, holding the clinical governance for the service, working with consultants on admission criteria, and representing the service to the trust.

Training follows the post rather than preceding it in most cases. A Band 5 nurse joining a virtual ward service will be trained on the remote monitoring platform, the escalation pathways and the documentation system by the service itself. Advanced assessment skills, non-medical prescribing and specialist qualifications in areas such as respiratory or heart failure care strengthen Band 6 and Band 7 applications, and many trusts support nurses through those courses once in post. The honest picture is that virtual wards are still a young service model, so the training pathways are less settled than for district nursing or health visiting. A nurse should ask a prospective employer what training is funded, what the supervision structure looks like, and how the service handles a nurse who is the only clinician on a visit, because those answers vary more between trusts than the pay scales do.

Unsocial hours: the seven-day rota

Virtual wards run seven days a week in most trusts, and the rota is where the headline salary starts to move. 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. For the full unsocial-hours rules, including overtime and time off in lieu, see the unsocial hours and overtime guide.

Worked example: a Band 6 virtual ward nurse at the top of the band works a Sunday shift of 7.5 hours. Plain time for the shift would be £184.35 (7.5 hours at £24.58). At time plus 60%, the same shift pays £294.98 (7.5 hours at £39.33). The enhancement alone is worth £110.63 for that one shift. A nurse who regularly works weekends will see a payslip well above the basic monthly figure, and a nurse who works weekdays only will see a payslip close to it. That is why two 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.

Evening and night cover works differently in virtual wards than on hospital wards. Some services run a hub overnight, staffed by nurses who monitor readings and take calls, with a visiting nurse on call for patients who need a visit. Others hand overnight cover to a different team entirely. The unsocial-hours percentages above apply to the hours actually worked, in either model, but the amount of night work in a given post depends on the local service design. A post advertised as hub-based will carry more night and weekend hours than a post advertised as visiting-only, and the payslips will reflect that.

Overtime: time and a half, double on bank holidays

Overtime in Agenda for Change is paid at time and a half for hours above the standard week, and at double time for hours worked on a public holiday, subject to the usual conditions on the service. For a virtual ward nurse, overtime usually means staying past the end of a visiting list, covering a colleague's sickness absence, or working an extra shift when the ward is full. The hourly overtime rates below are calculated from the rounded plain-time rates.

Worked example: a Band 5 nurse at entry works 5 extra hours in a week at time and a half. That is 5 hours at £24.57, or £122.85, against £81.90 at plain time, an extra £40.95 for the week. Overtime is not a reliable part of the salary, and services vary in how much they offer. A nurse budgeting on overtime every week is budgeting on something the service may withdraw, so the figures above are best read as the value of an occasional extra shift, not as a second salary.

On-call: the figure this page does not quote

On-call is the one part of virtual ward pay that cannot be quoted nationally, and this page does not pretend otherwise. Some trusts pay an on-call availability payment for being contactable overnight, plus a payment for each call-out or visit. Others fold on-call into a rota allowance. The frequency matters as much as the rate: a service that calls its nurse out twice a night pays very differently from a service that calls once a month, even on the same availability payment. The on-call allowance guide covers the general picture, but the only figure that counts for a specific post is the one in that trust's local terms. Ask for it in writing before accepting a post, along with the rota pattern, the expected call-out frequency, and how travel time for call-out visits is treated.

London weighting: what HCAS adds

High Cost Area Supplement is paid on top of basic pay for staff working in London and the fringe zone. 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 cap binds at the top of this 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 a Band 7 nurse at entry in inner London also receives £8,746, for a total of £58,133. For the full HCAS rules, see the London weighting guide, and to check any zone and salary combination, use the HCAS calculator.

The outer London minimum matters at the bottom of the ladder. A Band 5 nurse at entry in outer London receives £4,870, not 15% of £32,073, because 15% of the basic is £4,810.95, below the minimum. The total is therefore £36,943. The same nurse in the fringe zone receives £1,603.65, which is 5% of the basic, above the £1,346 minimum, for a total of £33,676.65. 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, not just percentages.

Pension: what comes off the payslip

NHS pension contributions are the largest regular deduction after tax for most virtual ward nurses, and they are also the most valuable part of the package. Under the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, a Band 5 nurse at entry pays 8.3% of pensionable pay, £221.84 a month, and at the intermediate step £239.26 a month. A Band 5 nurse at the top pays 9.8%, £318.85 a month. Band 6 nurses pay 9.8% at every step, from £326.33 a month at entry to £392.96 a month at the top. Band 7 nurses pay 9.8% at entry and the intermediate step, £403.33 and £424.11 a month, and 10.7% at the top, £503.93 a month. The employer contributes 23.7% on top of pensionable pay, which is £13,394.06 a year at the top of Band 7. The tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, and have not yet been formally published, so a nurse should check the final tiers when they are confirmed. For the full tier table, see the pension contributions guide.

Pensionable pay is basic pay plus any pensionable allowances, and for most virtual ward nurses that means basic pay alone, since unsocial-hours enhancements and overtime are not pensionable. That distinction matters when comparing a virtual ward payslip with a ward payslip: a nurse who earns a lot of unsocial-hours money takes home more in the month, but builds pension on the basic only. The pension itself is a career average scheme, so each year's pensionable pay adds a slice to the retirement pension, and the slices from higher-band years are worth more than the slices from lower-band years. A nurse who spends the last years of a career at Band 7 retires on a pension built from those years at their full value, which is one reason the Band 7 ceiling matters beyond the monthly pay.

Part-time work, annual leave and mileage

Part-time pay in Agenda for Change is pro rata to the whole-time equivalent fraction. A Band 5 virtual ward nurse at entry on a 0.6 whole-time equivalent contract earns £19,243.80 a year, and a Band 7 nurse at the top on a 0.8 contract earns £45,212 a year. Unsocial-hours percentages and HCAS apply to the pro rata basic in the same way as to a full-time basic, and pension contributions are calculated on the actual pensionable pay, not the whole-time equivalent figure. Virtual ward services often offer part-time posts, because the visiting list and the hub rota can both be split, but the on-call commitment of a part-time post should be checked, since some services expect part-time nurses to take a full share of on-call.

Annual leave follows the Agenda for Change tiers used across the site: 27 days on joining, 29 days after five years of service and 33 days after ten years, plus eight public holidays, with part-time leave calculated pro rata in hours. A virtual ward nurse who works weekends will take some of those public holidays as working days and receive the unsocial-hours enhancement instead, which is the standard trade in seven-day services. For the full leave rules and a calculator for part-time and mid-year cases, see the annual leave guide.

Mileage is the other regular money for visiting nurses. Under Agenda for Change Section 17, a car user is paid 59p a mile for the first 4,500 miles in a year and 36p a mile after that. A nurse driving 5,000 miles in a year receives £2,835, and a nurse driving 4,000 miles receives £2,360. Motorcycle users receive 30p a mile and cyclists 20p a mile, and a passenger carried on NHS business adds 5p a mile. Mileage is an expense reimbursement, not pay, and it is kept separate from salary in every example on this page. For the full rates and more worked examples, see the mileage rates guide. Travel time between visits is a separate question from mileage, and it is governed by local arrangements and working-time rules rather than by a national mileage rate, so a nurse should ask how travel time is counted in the working day.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland awarded Agenda for Change staff 3.75% from 1 April 2026 and moved to a 36-hour week, which changes the hourly maths even where the annual figure looks close to England. Scotland pays Band 5 £34,494 at entry and £42,977 at the top in 2026/27, which works out at £18.36 an hour at entry and £22.87 at the top on the 36-hour week, against £16.38 and £19.95 in England on 37.5 hours. 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. Wales awarded 3.3% and pays Band 5 £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, which is £484, £522 and £588 a year ahead of England at each step, or £16.63, £17.94 and £20.25 an hour. The Wales position also includes the Real Living Wage floor of £13.45 an hour, which lifts the lowest bands but does not change the Band 5 figures quoted here. Northern Ireland has a 3.3% recommendation for 2026/27 that had not been implemented, so no 2026/27 Northern Ireland figure is quoted on this page. For the four-nation comparison, see the NHS pay scales by country guide. No Band 6 or Band 7 Scotland or Wales figures are quoted here, because the verified figures held for those nations cover Band 5 only, and this page does not fill the gap by guessing.

The honest picture: what virtual ward nurse pay does and does not do

Virtual ward nurse pay is solid, transparent and nationally set, which is its strength. A nurse can look up the band scale, add the unsocial-hours percentage for the rota, add HCAS for London, and know the gross figure within a few pounds. There are no hidden bonuses and no negotiation over the basic: the scale is the scale. The ceiling is the weakness. Band 5 tops out at £39,043, and a nurse who wants more must move to Band 6 or Band 7, which means a caseload or a leadership post, not simply more years in the same job. On-call pay, which can be a meaningful part of a virtual ward income, is set locally and varies, so the national scales alone do not tell the whole story for this specialty. The job itself is the reason to take it: acute care in people's homes, real autonomy, and a service model that is still growing, with new posts appearing as trusts expand their virtual wards. The pay is fair for the band. The work, the rota and the local on-call terms are what should decide the choice between two virtual ward posts at the same band.

Frequently asked questions

What band is a virtual ward nurse?

Most virtual ward nurses sit at Band 5, Band 6 or Band 7. In England in 2026/27, 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, and Band 7 pays £49,387 at entry, £51,932 at the intermediate step and £56,515 at the top. The band follows the post, not the job title, so a nurse running a visiting list and a nurse leading a virtual ward service can sit at different bands in the same trust.

How much does a virtual ward nurse earn a month?

In England in 2026/27, a Band 5 virtual ward nurse 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. A Band 6 nurse earns £3,329.92 a month at entry, £3,514.17 at the intermediate step and £4,009.75 at the top, and a Band 7 nurse earns £4,115.58 a month 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 virtual ward nurses get unsocial-hours pay?

Yes, when the hours are worked. 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. A Band 5 virtual ward nurse at entry earns £21.29 an hour on a Saturday or at night and £26.21 on a Sunday or bank holiday, against £16.38 plain time. At the top of Band 7, £28.87 an hour becomes £37.53 and £46.19. Virtual wards run seven days a week in most trusts, so weekend and evening cover is a regular part of the rota, not an occasional extra.

Do virtual ward nurses get on-call pay?

Many do, but the rate is set locally, so this page quotes no on-call figure. On-call arrangements for virtual wards differ by trust: some services pay an on-call availability payment plus call-out pay, others use a different model, and the frequency of call-outs depends on how the service is staffed overnight. Anyone comparing virtual ward posts should ask for the on-call rota and the local on-call terms in writing, because two trusts with the same band and step can pay quite different totals once on-call is counted. The general on-call picture is covered in the on-call allowance guide.

Does a virtual ward nurse get London weighting?

Yes, in London. High Cost Area Supplement in 2026/27 is 20% of basic pay 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). A Band 5 virtual ward nurse at entry in inner London earns £38,487.60 in total, and a Band 7 nurse at entry in inner London earns £58,133, because the 20% supplement is capped at £8,746. A Band 7 nurse at the top in the fringe zone earns £58,785 in total.

What pension contribution does a virtual ward nurse pay?

Under the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, a Band 5 virtual ward nurse at entry or the intermediate step pays 8.3% of pensionable pay, which is £221.84 or £239.26 a month, and a Band 5 nurse at the top pays 9.8%, which is £318.85 a month. Band 6 nurses pay 9.8% at every step, from £326.33 to £392.96 a month. Band 7 nurses pay 9.8% at entry and the intermediate step, £403.33 and £424.11 a month, and 10.7% at the top, £503.93 a month. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £13,394.06 a year at the top of Band 7. The 2026/27 member tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, and have not yet been formally published.

Do virtual ward nurses get paid mileage?

Yes, when driving is part of the job, under Agenda for Change Section 17. A car user is paid 59p a mile for the first 4,500 miles in a year and 36p a mile after that. A nurse driving 5,000 miles in a year receives £2,835: £2,655 for the first 4,500 miles plus £180 for the remaining 500. Motorcycle users receive 30p a mile, cyclists 20p a mile, and a passenger carried on NHS business adds 5p a mile. Mileage is an expense reimbursement, not pay, so it is kept separate from salary in every example on this page. Nurses who work mainly from a hub, monitoring patients remotely, will claim far less mileage than nurses who spend the day visiting.

How does virtual ward nurse pay differ in Scotland and Wales?

Scotland pays Band 5 £34,494 at entry and £42,977 at the top in 2026/27, on a 36-hour week, which works out at £18.36 an hour at entry and £22.87 at the top. Wales pays Band 5 £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, which is £484, £522 and £588 a year ahead of England at each step. No Band 6 or Band 7 Scotland or Wales figures are quoted on this page, because the data file holds the nation figures for Band 5 only, and this page does not invent the rest. Northern Ireland has a 3.3% recommendation for 2026/27 that had not been implemented, so no 2026/27 Northern Ireland figure is quoted here.