NHS Wales Band 2 Pay 2026/27

Last updated: 12 November 2026 · Figures verified against Welsh Government Pay Letters AfC(W) 02/2026 and AfC(W) 01/2026, including the 1 June 2026 correction to Band 3.

NHS Wales Band 2 pay scale 2026/27

Band 2 in Wales has one pay point, and one pay point only. The Welsh scale published in AfC(W) 02/2026 lists Band 2 as a single spot rate of £26,300 a year, and the annex shows two years until the top step point, but the top is also £26,300, so the two-year wait changes nothing. Both Band 2 pay points were lifted to £26,300 by the January 2026 Living Wage circular, AfC(W) 01/2026, which applied the Living Wage Foundation rate of £13.45 an hour as a floor. That is why there is no entry and top gap to climb: the floor caught both points at the same level. A Band 2 worker who stays in the grade for twenty years earns the same basic pay as a Band 2 worker who started last week, and the only way the basic rises is through the annual pay award or a move to Band 3.

The weekly figure of £504.38 comes from dividing £26,300 by 52.143 weeks, and the monthly figure of £2,191.67 comes from dividing it by twelve. The hourly rate of £13.45 comes from dividing the annual salary by 52.143 weeks and 37.5 hours, which is 1,955.36 hours a year, and that divisor reproduces the circular's own £13.45 floor exactly, which is why the Welsh pages use it. England uses a 52.2-week divisor instead, which gives values a penny or two lower at higher bands, but at Band 2 the two divisors agree to the penny on the Welsh floor because the floor itself is the published rate. To work out your own hourly rate from any salary, use the hourly rate calculator.

Band 1 tells the other half of the story. Band 1 in Wales also pays £26,300 in 2026/27, exactly the same as Band 2, because the same £13.45 floor lifted its single point too. The difference is that Band 1 is closed to new entrants, so nobody starts on Band 1 any more, while Band 2 is the live entry grade for healthcare assistants, porters, cleaners, catering staff, ward clerks and other support roles. If you are offered a Band 1 post in Wales, it is a legacy grade, and the pay is the same £26,300, but the grade itself is being phased out. For the England picture of the same grade, see the Band 2 salary guide, and for the full Welsh scale, see the Wales pay guide.

Band 2 take-home pay in Wales

Take-home pay is what is left after the NHS pension contribution, income tax and National Insurance. The table below shows the full breakdown for a full-time Band 2 worker in Wales, worked on the official 2026/27 England and Wales pension tiers and the UK income tax bands. Student loan repayments are not included, because there is nothing to repay at this salary: £26,300 sits below the Plan 2 threshold of £29,385, so the deduction is £0.

The pension contribution of £1,709.50 a year comes first, because it is taken off pay before tax is calculated. That leaves £24,590.50 of pension-adjusted pay, and after the £12,570 personal allowance, £12,020.50 is taxable at 20%, which is £2,404.10 a year. National Insurance is charged on gross pay, not on pension-adjusted pay, at 8% of the £13,730 between the £12,570 threshold and the £26,300 salary, which is £1,098.40 a year. Gross pay of £26,300 minus pension of £1,709.50, tax of £2,404.10 and National Insurance of £1,098.40 leaves £21,088.00 a year, or £1,757.33 a month. That is about 80% of gross pay kept, which is a higher share than at the higher bands, because the whole salary sits inside the 20% tax band and the pension tier is the second-lowest. For take-home pay across every band, see the take-home pay by band guide.

Wales Band 2 compared with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Wales pays more than England and Northern Ireland at Band 2, and less than Scotland, and the reasons are different in each case. England awarded the same 3.3% headline rise as Wales, but England has no living-wage floor, so its Band 2 spot rate stayed at £25,272, which is £1,028 a year below Wales. In England, Band 2 rose from £24,465 in 2025/26 to £25,272, a rise of £807 a year or £67.25 a month. Scotland negotiated its own 3.75% deal and a 36-hour week, so its Band 2 steps are £26,696 at entry and £28,988 at the top, and the shorter week pushes the hourly rate higher still. Northern Ireland has not implemented the 3.3% award at all, so the 2025/26 scale is still in payment there, and Band 2 is £24,465, which is £1,835 a year below Wales.

The hourly gap tells the story more sharply than the annual gap. Wales pays £13.45 an hour against England's £12.91, a difference of £0.54 an hour, and against Northern Ireland's £12.50, a difference of £0.95 an hour. Scotland pays £14.22 an hour at entry and £15.44 at the top, so Wales is £0.77 an hour behind Scotland at entry and £1.99 behind at the top, even though the annual gap to Scotland's entry point is only £396. The reason is the working week: Scotland's 36-hour week spreads a similar salary over fewer hours, so the hourly rate rises faster than the annual figure. A Wales Band 2 worker who moved to Scotland at the entry point would gain £396 a year in basic pay but £0.77 an hour, while a move to England would lose £1,028 a year and £0.54 an hour. For the full four-nation picture, see NHS pay scales by country and the Scotland Band 2 pay guide.

Take-home pay narrows the gaps but does not change the order. Wales takes home £1,757.33 a month, which is £57.22 a month more than England's £1,700.11 and £105.41 a month more than Northern Ireland's £1,651.92. Scotland takes home more than Wales at both steps, £1,784.46 a month at entry and £1,900.61 at the top, so Wales is £27.13 a month behind Scotland at entry and £143.28 behind at the top. The Scotland gap is smaller in take-home than in gross pay at entry, because Scotland's pension contribution is slightly lower at 6.4% against Wales's 6.5%, and Scottish income tax at this level is only a little higher than UK tax, but the top step pulls away because the higher gross pay and the 7.0% pension tier still leave more in hand. One honest quirk is worth stating: Wales has no High Cost Area Supplement, so a Band 2 worker in Cardiff gets the same £26,300 as a Band 2 worker in Wrexham, while an England Band 2 worker in inner London gets £31,066 with the £5,794 minimum uplift, which is £4,766 a year more than Wales. The Welsh advantage over England holds outside London only.

Unsocial hours at Wales Band 2

Wales uses the same unsocial hours percentages as England, set out in Section 2 of the Agenda for Change Handbook. For Band 2, Saturday and weekday night work, from 8pm to 6am, pays the basic rate plus 41%, and Sunday and public holiday work pays basic plus 83%. Those are the highest percentages in the NHS, because Bands 1 to 3 kept the older, higher enhancements when the 2018 changes reduced the rates for Bands 4 to 9. The enhancements are pensionable, and where more than half of a shift falls inside the unsocial window, the whole shift is paid at the unsocial rate. One rate applies per hour, so a Saturday night shift is paid at the Saturday rate, not both rates at once.

A 7.5-hour Saturday shift pays £142.20 at the £18.96 Saturday rate, against £100.88 at the plain £13.45 rate, a difference of £41.32 for the one shift. A 7.5-hour Sunday shift pays £184.58 at the £24.61 Sunday rate, against £100.88 plain, a difference of £83.70. A 12-hour night shift pays £227.52 at the Saturday rate, against £161.40 plain, a difference of £66.12. Staff who work a public holiday also get equivalent time off in lieu at plain time rates, on top of the enhanced pay. In England the same percentages apply on the lower £12.91 hourly rate, so a Saturday hour is worth £18.20 and a Sunday hour £23.63, which is £0.76 and £0.98 less than Wales. In Scotland, Band 2 gets time plus 44% on Saturday and nights and time plus 88% on Sundays and public holidays, so a Saturday hour there is worth £20.48 at entry and £22.23 at the top, and a Sunday hour £26.73 at entry and £29.03 at the top. For the full rates tables and the England rules, see the unsocial hours and overtime guide.

Overtime at Wales Band 2

Overtime in Wales follows Section 3 of the Handbook: work beyond the full-time week of 37.5 hours, agreed in advance, is paid at time and a half for Bands 1 to 7, and double time for hours worked on a public holiday. At the Wales Band 2 hourly rate of £13.45, time and a half is £20.18 an hour and double time is £26.90 an hour. Five hours of overtime pays £100.90 at the £20.18 rate, against £67.25 at the plain rate, a difference of £33.65, and four hours pays £80.72. A 7.5-hour shift on a public holiday at double time pays £201.75, against £100.88 plain, a difference of £100.87. Part-time staff are paid plain time for extra hours until they reach the full-time week of 37.5 hours, and only then do the overtime rates apply. Unsocial hours enhancements are not paid on top of overtime for the same hours, so a Saturday overtime hour is paid at the overtime rate, not the overtime rate plus the Saturday enhancement. Overtime above full-time equivalent hours is not pensionable. Bands 8 and 9 do not get paid overtime in England and Wales; they get time off in lieu instead. In England the same overtime rates on the £12.91 hourly rate give £19.37 an hour at time and a half and £25.82 at double time. In Scotland, by contrast, every band from 1 to 9 qualifies for paid overtime. For the full overtime rules, see the unsocial hours and overtime guide and the overtime calculator.

NHS Wales Band 2 pension

Wales uses the same pension contribution tiers as England, set by NHS Business Services Authority guidance and in force from 1 April 2026. There are six tiers, from 5.2% to 12.5%, and the tier is set by actual annual pensionable pay. Band 2 at £26,300 sits in the second tier, which runs from £13,260 to £28,854, so the contribution is 6.5% of pensionable pay, which is £1,709.50 a year or £142.46 a month. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £6,233.10 a year or £519.43 a month, so the total going into the scheme each year is £7,942.60. The scheme is a career average revalued earnings scheme, accruing at 1/54th of pensionable pay each year, which is £487.04 a year of pension for a full-time Band 2 worker, revalued each year in line with prices. For the full tier table, see the pension contributions by band guide.

The pension contribution also saves income tax, because it comes off pay before tax is calculated. At Band 2 the whole contribution falls inside the 20% tax band, so the tax saved is £341.90 a year, which is 20% of the £1,709.50 contribution. That is why the take-home calculation puts pension first: the tax figure of £2,404.10 already reflects the saving. One point catches part-time staff out, and it is worth stating plainly. The contribution tier is set by actual annual pensionable pay, never by the whole-time equivalent salary. At Band 2 that makes no difference to the rate, because both the full-time salary of £26,300 and a part-time salary such as £15,780 sit in the same 6.5% tier, but at higher bands the same rule can move a part-timer down a tier, and the worked example in the part-time section below shows the maths. For the full pension picture, see the NHS pension contributions guide.

Part-time Band 2 pay in Wales

Part-time Band 2 pay is the full-time salary multiplied by the contracted fraction. A 0.6 whole-time-equivalent post, which is 22.5 hours a week, pays 60% of £26,300, which is £15,780 a year, or £1,315.00 a month. The pension tier for that post is set by the actual pay of £15,780, which falls in the 6.5% tier running from £13,260 to £28,854, so the contribution is £1,025.70 a year, or £85.48 a month. After income tax of £436.86 and National Insurance of £256.80, take-home pay is £14,060.64 a year, or £1,171.72 a month. The tax is low because pension-adjusted pay is £14,754.30, so only £2,184.30 sits above the £12,570 personal allowance. Part-time staff who work additional hours are paid plain time up to 37.5 hours a week, with unsocial hours enhancements applying to those additional hours, and the additional hours up to full-time equivalent are pensionable at the standard rate. For the full part-time picture, see the part-time pay guide and the part-time pay calculator.

Annual leave for part-time staff is pro rata in hours. A 0.6 whole-time-equivalent Band 2 worker gets 16.8 days of annual leave on appointment, which is 126 hours, plus 4.8 days of public holiday leave, which is 36 hours, giving 21.6 days or 162 hours a year in total. The leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and previous NHS service counts towards the five-year and ten-year thresholds.

Annual leave at Wales Band 2

Wales gives one extra day of annual leave at every tier compared with England. The entitlement is 28 days on appointment, 30 days after five years of service and 34 days after ten years, plus 8 public holidays at every tier. On a 7.5-hour standard day, that is 210 hours of leave on appointment, 225 hours after five years and 255 hours after ten years, with 60 hours of public holiday leave, giving totals of 270, 285 and 315 hours a year. England gives 27, 29 and 33 days plus the same 8 public holidays, which is 262.5, 277.5 and 307.5 hours, so Wales is 7.5 hours ahead at every tier, which is exactly one working day.

The 8 Welsh public holidays are New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, the Spring Bank Holiday, the August Bank Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March, entitlement is calculated in hours, and previous NHS service is aggregated, so service at another NHS employer in England or Scotland counts towards the five-year and ten-year thresholds. For the full leave rules, see the annual leave guide and the annual leave calculator.

What jobs are Band 2 in NHS Wales?

Band 2 is the main entry grade for support work in the Welsh NHS, and the roles are the ones that keep wards and departments running day to day. Healthcare assistants are the largest group: they help patients wash, dress and eat, take observations, help with mobility and support registered nurses on the ward. Porters move patients, equipment, samples and notes around the hospital, often on foot for most of the shift. Cleaners and domestic staff keep wards, theatres and public areas safe and hygienic. Catering assistants prepare and serve patient meals and work in staff restaurants. Ward clerks handle admissions paperwork, answer phones, book transport and keep patient records in order. Administrative assistants, medical secretaries at the junior end, drivers, laundry staff and stores staff are also commonly Band 2. The full list of roles and what each one involves is covered in the healthcare assistant salary guide, the porter pay guide, the cleaner pay guide and the catering assistant pay guide.

None of these roles needs a degree, and most ask for GCSE English and Maths or equivalent, plus the right to work in the UK and a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service check. Training is on the job, with competency sign-off, and many health boards run a healthcare support worker induction that covers moving and handling, infection control and basic life support. The uniform flat-rate expense is worth claiming: healthcare assistants are named in the HMRC list at £125 a year, which is worth £25 a year in tax relief at the basic rate, or £50 at the higher rate, and it can be backdated for four tax years. For the full claim, see the uniform tax rebate guide.

From Band 2 to Band 3 in Wales, and beyond

Band 2 has no steps to climb, so the only way basic pay rises inside the grade is the annual award. The first real step up is Band 3, and in Wales that step is now worth more than it was in February 2026, because the Welsh Government corrected the Band 3 entry point on 1 June 2026. The February circular had printed Band 3 entry as £26,300, the same as Band 2, which wiped out the differential between the grades. The correction raised Band 3 entry to £26,813, restoring a £513 gap, which is £42.75 a month gross, and the top of Band 3 is £27,890, reached after two years, which is £1,590 a year above Band 2, or £132.50 a month. Band 3 hourly rates are £13.71 at entry and £14.26 at the top. Take-home pay at Band 3 entry is £1,785.89 a month, which is £28.56 a month more than Band 2, after a pension contribution of £1,742.85 a year at the same 6.5% tier. Senior healthcare assistants, phlebotomists, maternity support workers and ward clerks with extra competencies are the usual Band 3 roles, and the move normally needs a competency framework signed off by the ward manager rather than a new qualification.

Beyond Band 3, the Welsh scale runs to Band 4 at £28,819 to £31,626, Band 5 at £32,557 to £39,631, and up to Band 9 at £114,475 to £131,732. The realistic route for a Band 2 healthcare assistant is Band 3, then nursing associate at Band 4 through a two-year apprenticeship, then registered nurse at Band 5 through a nursing degree apprenticeship, earning throughout and without student debt. Each step needs the qualification and the post, and none of them is automatic, but the apprenticeship route is the one most health boards fund. For the full Welsh scale, see the Wales pay guide, and for the nursing associate route, see the trainee nursing associate pay guide.

Trainee pay at Band 2 in Wales

Not every Band 2 worker starts on the full rate. Under Agenda for Change Annex 21, a trainee who does all of their training as an NHS employee is paid a percentage of the qualified band maximum, by time to completion: 75% in the final year before completion, 70% in the year before that, 65% the year before, and 60% for more than three years to go. The percentage is applied to the top point of the band, and for Wales Band 2 the top point is £26,300, so the trainee figures are as follows.

A trainee on a three-year course runs at 65% in year one, which is £17,095 a year or £1,424.58 a month, then 70% in year two at £18,410, and 75% in year three at £19,725, before moving onto the full £26,300 on completion. One floor applies: a trainee must receive at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, and where the percentage falls below that floor, payroll adds a supplement equal to the cash difference. The percentages are the national framework applied to NHS apprenticeship posts, and some employers use local policies, so the exact figure on a payslip can vary. For the full trainee picture, see the trainee nursing associate pay guide.

On-call and sleeping-in allowances in Wales

Wales publishes its own on-call and sleeping-in rates in the Welsh circular, and both rose by 3.3% from 1 April 2026. The on-call allowance is £26.05 per session on a weekday or at the weekend, and £52.08 per session on a public holiday. The sleeping-in allowance is £44.82 per session. A Band 2 worker who covers four weekday on-call sessions in a month receives £104.20, and two public holiday sessions pay £104.16. Four sleeping-in sessions in a month pay £179.28. On-call availability payments with a rota commitment are pensionable, while the sleeping-in allowance is paid per session worked. These allowances are separate from basic pay and from unsocial hours enhancements, and they are paid on top of both where they apply. For the full allowances picture, see the unsocial hours and overtime guide.

No High Cost Area Supplement in Wales

Wales pays no High Cost Area Supplement, and that is a deliberate difference from England, not an oversight. There is no inner, outer or fringe London weighting in Wales, and no equivalent uplift for Cardiff, Swansea or any other Welsh city. A Band 2 worker in Cardiff gets the same £26,300 as a Band 2 worker in Wrexham or Bangor. In England, the same grade in inner London is lifted by the £5,794 minimum to £31,066, which is £4,766 a year more than Wales, and even the fringe minimum of £1,373.80 at the top of Band 3 shows how much London weighting can add. The Welsh advantage over England at Band 2, £1,028 a year in basic pay, holds outside London only, and anyone comparing a Cardiff post with a London post should compare the London total, not the London basic. For the London rates, see the London weighting guide.

The 3.3% award and the Real Living Wage floor

The 2026/27 Welsh award was 3.3% on the Welsh 2025/26 scales, effective from 1 April 2026, accepting the NHS Pay Review Body 39th report recommendation in full. The award was paid on time in April salaries, so there was no backpay to complicate 2026/27 payslips. The Living Wage advance did not stack on top of the 3.3%: the January 2026 circular, AfC(W) 01/2026, applied the £13.45 floor as an advance payment, and the February circular then applied the 3.3% to the underlying scale, with the floor holding the lowest points at £26,300 where the percentage alone would have left them lower. The Welsh Government confirmed the resulting increases for the lowest-paid staff ranged from 3.8% to 5.9%, well above the 3.3% headline. The February circular also printed Band 3 entry as £26,300, which the 1 June 2026 correction fixed to £26,813, restoring the differential over Band 2. Any source that still quotes £26,300 as the Band 3 entry figure is using the superseded February circular, and this page uses the corrected figure throughout.

What comes next is the 2027/28 pay round. The UK government's evidence to the Pay Review Body plans for 2.4% for the next award, but that is a plan, not an award, and Wales negotiates its own position through the Welsh Government, so the Welsh figure for 2027/28 will be set in Wales. The Real Living Wage rate itself has also moved on: the Living Wage Foundation announced £14.10 for the UK and £15.45 for London in October 2026, to be implemented by 1 May 2027, but that is the voluntary rate for accredited employers, and whether Wales applies it to the NHS scale is a decision for the Welsh Government, not something this page can predict. Until then, the figures on this page are the ones to plan around. For the Welsh outlook, see the Wales pay rise 2027 guide, and for the full Welsh picture, see the Wales pay guide.

Frequently asked questions

How much does NHS Wales Band 2 pay?

In 2026/27, NHS Wales Band 2 pays £26,300 a year for a full-time 37.5-hour contract, which is £13.45 an hour. Band 2 is a single spot rate in Wales, so there is no entry and top step: every Band 2 worker is on the same £26,300. That is £1,028 a year more than England, where Band 2 pays £25,272.

What is the hourly rate for Wales Band 2?

The hourly rate is £13.45, calculated as the £26,300 annual salary divided by 52.143 weeks and 37.5 hours. The rate is the Real Living Wage floor itself: the Welsh Government lifted both Band 2 pay points to £13.45 an hour from 1 April 2026, so the hourly rate is a published figure, not a rounded estimate.

What is Wales Band 2 take-home pay?

Take-home pay is £1,757.33 a month, or £21,088.00 a year, after a pension contribution of £1,709.50 a year at 6.5%, income tax of £2,404.10 and National Insurance of £1,098.40. That is £57.22 a month more than an England Band 2 worker takes home. Student loan repayments are £0, because £26,300 sits below the Plan 2 threshold of £29,385.

Why is Wales Band 2 the same as Band 1?

Both bands were lifted to the same £13.45-an-hour Real Living Wage floor by the Welsh Government pay circular AfC(W) 01/2026, so Band 1 and Band 2 both pay £26,300 in 2026/27. The difference is that Band 1 is closed to new entrants, while Band 2 is the live entry grade for healthcare assistants, porters, cleaners and other support roles.

How much more does Wales Band 2 pay than England?

Wales pays £1,028 a year more in basic pay, £26,300 against £25,272, which is £85.67 a month gross and £0.54 an hour. After pension, tax and National Insurance, the take-home gap is £57.22 a month in Wales's favour. Wales also gives one extra day of annual leave at every tier, and pays no High Cost Area Supplement, so there is no London uplift to close the gap.

What pension tier is Wales Band 2?

The NHS pension contribution is 6.5% of pensionable pay, which is £1,709.50 a year or £142.46 a month on £26,300. That is the second tier of the official 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, which runs from £13,260 to £28,854. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £6,233.10 a year, and the scheme accrues at 1/54th of pensionable pay each year.

What are the unsocial hours rates for Wales Band 2?

Saturday and weekday night work pays £18.96 an hour, which is the £13.45 basic rate plus 41%, and Sunday and public holiday work pays £24.61 an hour, basic plus 83%. Overtime is time and a half at £20.18 an hour, and double time at £26.90 an hour on public holidays. A 7.5-hour Saturday shift pays £142.20 against £100.88 at the plain rate.

How much annual leave does Wales Band 2 get?

Wales gives 28 days of annual leave on appointment, rising to 30 days after five years and 34 days after ten years, plus 8 public holidays at every tier. In hours that is 270 hours a year on appointment, 285 after five years and 315 after ten years, which is 7.5 hours more than England at every tier.

Sources and independence

Source: Welsh Government, Pay Letter AfC(W) 02/2026, Agenda for Change pay rates from 1 April 2026 (Band 2 £26,300 spot rate; Band 3 entry corrected 1 June 2026 to £26,813; on-call £26.05/£52.08 and sleeping-in £44.82).

Source: Welsh Government, Pay Letter AfC(W) 01/2026, Living Wage advance (Real Living Wage floor £13.45 an hour from 1 April 2026).

Source: Welsh Government, Pay Letter AfC(W) 02/2026 Correction to Band 3, 1 June 2026 (Band 3 entry £26,813, correcting the February figure of £26,300).

Source: GOV.WALES, Written Statement: Responding to the 39th NHS Pay Review Body, 12 February 2026 (3.3% award accepted in full; lowest-paid increases 3.8% to 5.9%).

Source: Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Annual Leave Policy WOD63 (Wales leave 28/30/34 days plus 8 public holidays; 270/285/315 hours).

Source: NHS Employers, Agenda for Change pay scales 2026/27 (England Band 2 £25,272, for comparison).

Source: NHS Scotland, NHS Circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 (Scotland Band 2 £26,696/£28,988; 36-hour week).

Source: NHS Employers, Unsocial hours payments (Agenda for Change Section 2 framework rates).

NHS Bands Pay is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the NHS, NHS Wales or the Welsh Government. Figures were verified against the official sources above on 12 November 2026 and can change, always confirm with the relevant official body before making financial decisions.