NHS Wales Band 5 Pay 2026/27

Last updated: 12 November 2026 · Figures verified against Welsh Government Pay Letters AfC(W) 02/2026 and AfC(W) 01/2026.

NHS Wales Band 5 pay scale 2026/27

Band 5 in Wales has three pay points, and the gap between them is the widest of any band below Band 6. The entry point is £32,557 a year, the intermediate point is £35,114, reached after two years, and the top is £39,631, reached after two more years, so the top is reached after four years in total. The difference between entry and intermediate is £2,557 a year, which is £213.08 a month gross, and the difference between intermediate and top is £4,517 a year, which is £376.42 a month. The full range from entry to top is £7,074 a year, which is £589.50 a month gross, or £3.62 an hour. That is a wider range than England, where Band 5 runs from £32,073 to £39,043, a gap of £6,970, because the Welsh points sit above the English ones at all three steps. The Welsh scale was published in Annex 1 of AfC(W) 02/2026, the Welsh Government pay circular of 12 February 2026, and it applies from 1 April 2026. Unlike Band 3, whose entry figure needed a correction in June 2026, the Band 5 figures were printed correctly first time, and no correction applies to them.

The weekly figures of £624.38 at entry, £673.42 at the intermediate point and £760.04 at the top come from dividing the annual salaries by 52.143 weeks, and the monthly figures of £2,713.08, £2,926.17 and £3,302.58 come from dividing them by twelve. The hourly rates of £16.65, £17.96 and £20.27 come from dividing the annual salaries 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 the difference at Band 5 is only a penny or two on the hourly rate. To work out your own hourly rate from any salary, use the hourly rate calculator.

Band 5 is the registered-professional grade, and it is the grade that carries most of the Welsh NHS workforce. A newly qualified nurse, midwife, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, dietitian, radiographer, paramedic or speech and language therapist starts here, and so does a newly registered pharmacist at the entry point of their grade. The move into Band 5 from Band 4 is worth £931 a year at the entry point, which is £77.58 a month gross, and take-home pay at Band 5 entry is £2,066.57 a month, which is £50.71 a month more than the Band 4 top of £2,015.86. The move needs the qualification and the post: a nursing degree for an assistant practitioner moving into registered nursing, a physiotherapy degree for a therapy assistant, or a pharmacy degree for a pharmacy technician. For the England picture of the same grade, see the Band 5 salary guide, and for the full Welsh scale, see the Wales pay guide.

Band 5 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 5 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 in the table, because they differ between the three steps, and every Band 5 salary sits above the Plan 2 threshold of £29,385, so a Plan 2 borrower repays something at all three steps: 9% of the £3,172 above the threshold at entry, which is £285.48 a year or £23.79 a month; 9% of the £5,729 above it at the intermediate point, which is £515.61 a year or £42.97 a month; and 9% of the £10,246 above it at the top, which is £922.14 a year or £76.85 a month. With a Plan 2 loan, take-home pay is £2,042.78 a month at entry, £2,162.87 at the intermediate point and £2,335.39 at the top.

At the entry point, the pension contribution of £2,702.23 a year comes first, because it is taken off pay before tax is calculated. That leaves £29,854.77 of pension-adjusted pay, and after the £12,570 personal allowance, £17,284.77 is taxable at 20%, which is £3,456.95 a year. National Insurance is charged on gross pay, not on pension-adjusted pay, at 8% of the £19,987 between the £12,570 threshold and the £32,557 salary, which is £1,598.96 a year. Gross pay of £32,557 minus pension of £2,702.23, tax of £3,456.95 and National Insurance of £1,598.96 leaves £24,798.86 a year, or £2,066.57 a month. At the intermediate point, the same steps give a pension contribution of £2,914.46, income tax of £3,925.91 and National Insurance of £1,803.52, leaving £26,470.11 a year, or £2,205.84 a month. At the top, the pension contribution is £3,883.84, income tax is £4,635.43 and National Insurance is £2,164.88, leaving £28,946.85 a year, or £2,412.24 a month. The step from entry to intermediate is worth £139.27 a month in take-home pay, and the step from intermediate to top is worth £206.40 a month. For take-home pay across every band, see the take-home pay by band guide.

Wales Band 5 compared with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Wales pays more than England and Northern Ireland at Band 5, and less than Scotland, and the size of each gap tells a different story. England awarded the same 3.3% headline rise as Wales, but England has no living-wage floor, so its Band 5 points stayed at £32,073, £34,592 and £39,043, which are £484, £522 and £588 a year below Wales. Scotland negotiated its own 3.75% deal and a 36-hour week, so its Band 5 steps are £34,544 at entry, £36,911 at the intermediate point and £43,039 at the top, which are £1,987, £1,797 and £3,408 a year above Wales. Northern Ireland has not implemented the 3.3% award at all, so the 2025/26 scale is still in payment there, and Band 5 is £31,049 at entry, £33,487 at the intermediate point and £37,796 at the top, which are £1,508, £1,627 and £1,835 a year below Wales.

The hourly gap tells the story more sharply than the annual gap. Wales pays £16.65 an hour at entry against England's £16.38, a difference of £0.27 an hour, £17.96 against £17.67 at the intermediate point, a difference of £0.29, and £20.27 against £19.95 at the top, a difference of £0.32. Against Northern Ireland, Wales is £0.79 an hour ahead at entry, £0.85 at the intermediate point and £0.96 at the top. Scotland pays £18.40 an hour at entry, £19.66 at the intermediate point and £22.93 at the top, so Wales is £1.75 an hour behind Scotland at entry, £1.70 behind at the intermediate point and £2.66 behind at the top, even though the annual gap to Scotland's top point is £3,408. The reason is the working week: Scotland's 36-hour week spreads a higher salary over fewer hours, so the hourly rate rises faster than the annual figure. A Wales Band 5 worker who moved to Scotland at the entry point would gain £1,987 a year in basic pay and £1.75 an hour, while a move to England would lose £484 a year and £0.27 an hour. For the full four-nation picture, see NHS pay scales by country and the Scotland Band 5 pay guide.

Take-home pay narrows the gaps but does not change the order. Wales takes home £2,066.57 a month at entry, which is £26.36 a month more than England's £2,040.21 and £86.27 a month more than Northern Ireland's £1,980.30, and £2,412.24 a month at the top, which is £31.44 more than England's £2,380.80 and £103.15 more than Northern Ireland's £2,309.09. Scotland takes home more than Wales at all three steps, £2,167.21 a month at entry, £2,293.70 at the intermediate point and £2,590.01 at the top, so Wales is £100.64 a month behind Scotland at entry, £87.86 behind at the intermediate point and £177.77 behind at the top. The Scotland gap is wider in take-home than the Wales-England gap, because Scotland's higher gross pay outweighs its higher pension contribution of 8.7% at entry and the intermediate point and its higher Scottish income tax at this level. Student loan makes the Scotland gap wider still for Plan 2 borrowers: Scotland's entry salary of £34,544 attracts £464.31 a year, or £38.69 a month, its intermediate point of £36,911 attracts £677.34 a year, or £56.45 a month, and its top of £43,039 attracts £1,228.86 a year, or £102.41 a month, while Wales entry attracts £23.79, intermediate £42.97 and top £76.85. England's entry step of £32,073 attracts £241.92 a year, or £20.16 a month, its intermediate point £468.63 a year, or £39.05 a month, and its top £869.22 a year, or £72.44 a month. In Northern Ireland, the entry step of £31,049 attracts £149.76 a year, or £12.48 a month for a Plan 2 borrower, the intermediate point £369.18 a year, or £30.77 a month, and the top £756.99 a year, or £63.08 a month. One honest quirk is worth stating: Wales has no High Cost Area Supplement, so a Band 5 nurse in Cardiff gets the same £32,557 to £39,631 as a Band 5 nurse in Wrexham, while an England Band 5 nurse in inner London gets £38,487.60 at entry, £41,510.40 at the intermediate point and £46,851.60 at the top with the inner London uplift, which is £5,930.60, £6,396.40 and £7,220.60 a year more than Wales. The Welsh advantage over England holds outside London only.

Unsocial hours at Wales Band 5

Wales uses the same unsocial hours percentages as England, set out in Section 2 of the Agenda for Change Handbook. For Band 5, Saturday and weekday night work, from 8pm to 6am, pays the basic rate plus 30%, and Sunday and public holiday work pays basic plus 60%. Band 5 sits in the top group for enhancements: Bands 4 to 9 all share the same 30% and 60% rates, lower than Band 3 at 35% and 69% and Band 2 at 41% and 83%. The percentages fall as the band rises, because the 2018 framework agreement reduced the enhancements for Bands 1 to 3 in England and Wales, while Scotland kept the older, higher rates for those bands. At Band 5 and above the two countries agree, so a Band 5 nurse in Wales and a Band 5 nurse in England are paid the same percentages, on slightly different basic rates. 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 at the entry rate pays £162.38 at the £21.65 Saturday rate, against £124.88 at the plain £16.65 rate, a difference of £37.50 for the one shift. A 7.5-hour Sunday shift at the top rate pays £243.23 at the £32.43 Sunday rate, against £152.03 plain, a difference of £91.20. A 12-hour night shift at the top rate pays £316.20 at the £26.35 Saturday rate, against £243.24 plain, a difference of £72.96. 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 £16.38, £17.67 and £19.95 hourly rates, so a Saturday hour is worth £21.29 at entry, £22.97 at the intermediate point and £25.94 at the top, and a Sunday hour £26.21, £28.27 and £31.92. A 7.5-hour Saturday shift in England at entry pays £159.68 against £122.85 plain, a difference of £36.83, and a 7.5-hour Sunday shift at the top pays £239.40 against £149.63 plain, a difference of £89.77. In Scotland, Band 5 gets the same 30% and 60% as Wales, so a Saturday hour there is worth £23.92 at entry, £25.56 at the intermediate point and £29.81 at the top, and a Sunday hour £29.44, £31.46 and £36.69. For the full rates tables and the England rules, see the unsocial hours and overtime guide.

Overtime at Wales Band 5

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 5 entry hourly rate of £16.65, time and a half is £24.98 an hour and double time is £33.30 an hour; at the intermediate rate of £17.96, time and a half is £26.94 and double time is £35.92; at the top rate of £20.27, time and a half is £30.41 and double time is £40.54. Five hours of overtime at entry pays £124.90 at the £24.98 rate, against £83.25 at the plain rate, a difference of £41.65, and a 7.5-hour shift on a public holiday at double time pays £249.75, against £124.88 plain, a difference of £124.87. 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 £16.38, £17.67 and £19.95 hourly rates give £24.57, £26.51 and £29.93 an hour at time and a half, and £32.76, £35.34 and £39.90 at double time, and five hours of overtime at the England top rate pays £149.65 against £99.75 plain, a difference of £49.90. 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 5 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 5 is the first band where the entry and intermediate points share a tier while the top sits in the next one up. The entry salary of £32,557 and the intermediate salary of £35,114 both fall in the third tier, which runs from £28,855 to £35,155, so the contribution is 8.3% of pensionable pay, which is £2,702.23 a year or £225.19 a month at entry, and £2,914.46 a year or £242.87 a month at the intermediate point. The top salary of £39,631 falls in the fourth tier, which runs from £35,156 to £52,778, so the contribution is 9.8%, which is £3,883.84 a year or £323.65 a month. The intermediate point sits just £41 below the boundary, so a single increment changes the rate, and the step from intermediate to top costs an extra £969.38 a year in pension contributions, on top of the extra tax and National Insurance. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £7,716.01 a year or £643.00 a month at entry, £8,322.02 a year or £693.50 a month at the intermediate point, and £9,392.55 a year or £782.71 a month at the top, so the total going into the scheme each year is £10,418.24 at entry, £11,236.48 at the intermediate point and £13,276.39 at the top. The scheme is a career average revalued earnings scheme, accruing at 1/54th of pensionable pay each year, which is £602.91 a year of pension at entry, £650.26 at the intermediate point and £733.91 at the top, 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 5 the whole contribution falls inside the 20% tax band, so the tax saved is £540.45 a year at entry, £582.89 at the intermediate point and £776.77 at the top, which is 20% of the contribution. That is why the take-home calculation puts pension first: the tax figures of £3,456.95, £3,925.91 and £4,635.43 already reflect 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 5 that changes the rate by a lot: a part-time worker on 0.6 whole-time equivalent at the top step earns £23,778.60 a year, which sits in the 6.5% tier, not the 9.8% tier that applies to the full-time top step, 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 5 pay in Wales

Part-time Band 5 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 the full-time salary: £19,534.20 a year at the entry point, or £1,627.85 a month, £21,068.40 a year at the intermediate point, or £1,755.70 a month, and £23,778.60 a year at the top, or £1,981.55 a month. The pension tier for those posts is set by the actual pay, which falls in the 6.5% tier running from £13,260 to £28,854 at all three steps, so the contribution is £1,269.72 a year, or £105.81 a month, at entry, £1,369.45 a year, or £114.12 a month, at the intermediate point, and £1,545.61 a year, or £128.80 a month, at the top. That is the point that catches people out: the full-time top step pays 9.8%, but the 0.6 whole-time-equivalent top step pays 6.5%, because the tier follows the actual £23,778.60, not the whole-time-equivalent £39,631. After income tax of £1,138.90 and National Insurance of £557.14, take-home pay at entry is £16,568.44 a year, or £1,380.70 a month; at the intermediate point, after tax of £1,425.79 and National Insurance of £679.87, take-home pay is £17,593.29 a year, or £1,466.11 a month; at the top, after tax of £1,932.60 and National Insurance of £896.69, take-home pay is £19,403.70 a year, or £1,616.98 a month. The tax is low because pension-adjusted pay is £18,264.48 at entry, so only £5,694.48 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 5 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 5

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 5 in NHS Wales?

Band 5 is the registered-professional grade in the Welsh NHS, and the roles are the ones that need a degree and a professional registration. Staff nurses are the largest group: adult nurses, mental health nurses, learning disability nurses and children's nurses, working on wards, in the community and in specialist units. Midwives deliver babies in hospital and community settings, and run their own caseloads. Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, radiographers, speech and language therapists and podiatrists are the allied health professions at this grade, working across hospitals, clinics and community teams. Paramedics are Band 5 in the Welsh Ambulance Services, and dental therapists work in community and hospital dental services. Operating department practitioners support anaesthetists and surgeons in theatre. Pharmacists start at the entry point of Band 5 and move through Band 6 and 7 as they specialise. The full picture for each role is covered in the healthcare assistant salary guide for the grade below, the midwife salary guide, the physiotherapist salary guide and the paramedic salary guide.

Wales trains its nurses, midwives and allied health professionals through university degrees, supported by the NHS Wales Bursary Scheme. For 2026/27, tuition fees are paid, plus a non-means-tested NHS Grant of £1,000 a year and a means-tested bursary of up to £2,643 a year for students living away from the parental home, or up to £2,207 for students living at home, with a reduced maintenance loan alongside. The condition is a commitment to work in NHS Wales after qualifying: two years for a three-year course, or eighteen months for a two-year course, starting within three months of completing. Students have ten weeks from the start of the course to opt out and take standard student finance instead. For the student finance picture, see the student nurse finance guide and the newly qualified nurse pay guide.

None of these roles needs anything beyond the degree and the registration to start, though some, like midwifery and paramedic science, are direct-entry degrees in their own right. The uniform flat-rate expense is worth claiming: nurses 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 pharmacy and laboratory staff are named at £80 a year, which is worth £16 a year at the basic rate, or £32 at the higher rate, and both can be backdated for four tax years. For the full claim, see the uniform tax rebate guide.

From Band 5 to Band 6 in Wales, and beyond

Band 5 has three steps to climb, and the top is reached after four years, so a Band 5 worker who stays in the grade tops out slowly, and the next rise has to come from a move to Band 6. In Wales, Band 6 runs from £40,559 to £48,841, so the move from the top of Band 5 is worth £928 a year, which is £77.33 a month gross, and take-home pay at Band 6 entry is £2,461.86 a month, which is £49.62 a month more than the Band 5 top. Band 6 is the specialist and senior grade, so the move needs the experience and the post: a specialist nurse role, a senior physiotherapist post, a charge nurse or team leader role, or a specialist midwife post. The full Welsh scale runs from Band 2 at £26,300 through Band 5 at £32,557 to £39,631 and up to Band 9 at £114,475 to £131,732. Each step needs the qualification and the post, and none of them is automatic. For the full Welsh scale, see the Wales pay guide, and for the Band 6 picture, see the Band 6 salary guide and the Wales Band 6 pay guide.

The step down matters too. A Band 4 worker who moves to Band 5 gains £931 a year at the entry point, which is £77.58 a month gross, and take-home pay at Band 5 entry is £2,066.57 a month, which is £50.71 a month more than the Band 4 top of £2,015.86. The move is usually a degree and a registration rather than a simple sign-off, and it is the first step where the pension tier changes for part-timers: the Band 4 top sits in the 8.3% tier, and the Band 5 top sits in the 9.8% tier, so the extra £7,074 a year between Band 5 entry and top costs an extra £1,181.61 a year in pension contributions. Anyone whose payslip still shows Band 5 entry below £32,557 should raise it with payroll, because the 2026/27 scale has applied since 1 April 2026.

Trainee pay at Band 5 in Wales

Not every Band 5 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 5 the top point is £39,631, so the trainee figures are as follows.

A trainee on a three-year course runs at 65% in year one, which is £25,760.15 a year or £2,146.68 a month, then 70% in year two at £27,741.70, and 75% in year three at £29,723.25, before moving onto the full £39,631 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 5 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 5 nurse in Cardiff gets the same £32,557 to £39,631 as a Band 5 nurse in Wrexham or Bangor. In England, the same grade in inner London is lifted to £38,487.60 at entry, £41,510.40 at the intermediate point and £46,851.60 at the top. At all three steps, 20% of the basic pay sits above the £5,794 minimum, so the percentage applies: 20% of £32,073 is £6,414.60, of £34,592 is £6,918.40 and of £39,043 is £7,808.60. That is £5,930.60, £6,396.40 and £7,220.60 a year more than Wales. In outer London the totals are £36,943 at entry, £39,780.80 at the intermediate point and £44,899.45 at the top, because 15% of the basic pay falls below the £4,870 minimum at entry, so the minimum applies there, while the percentage applies at the other two steps, and in the fringe the totals are £33,676.65, £36,321.60 and £40,995.15. The Welsh advantage over England at Band 5, £484 a year at entry, £522 at the intermediate point and £588 at the top, 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, lifting Band 1, the Band 2 spot rate and the Band 3 minimum all to £26,300, 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. Band 5 sits above the floor, so its points came from the percentage award, not from the floor, and the Band 5 figures needed no correction, unlike Band 3, whose entry point was corrected on 1 June 2026 from £26,300 to £26,813.

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 5 pay?

In 2026/27, NHS Wales Band 5 pays £32,557 a year at the entry point, £35,114 a year at the intermediate point and £39,631 a year at the top, for a full-time 37.5-hour contract. That is £16.65 an hour at entry, £17.96 an hour at the intermediate point and £20.27 an hour at the top. Band 5 has three pay points in Wales, the intermediate point is reached after two years and the top after four years, and the range from entry to top is £7,074 a year, which is £589.50 a month gross.

What is the hourly rate for Wales Band 5?

The hourly rate is £16.65 at the entry point, £17.96 at the intermediate point and £20.27 at the top, calculated as the annual salary divided by 52.143 weeks and 37.5 hours. That divisor reproduces the Welsh Government's own £13.45 Real Living Wage floor exactly, which is why the Welsh pages use it. England uses a 52.2-week divisor instead, which gives £16.38, £17.67 and £19.95 for the same band.

What is Wales Band 5 take-home pay?

Take-home pay is £2,066.57 a month at the entry point, £2,205.84 a month at the intermediate point and £2,412.24 a month at the top, after the pension contribution, income tax and National Insurance, and before any student loan deduction. A Plan 2 borrower repays £23.79 a month at entry, £42.97 at the intermediate point and £76.85 at the top, because every Band 5 salary sits above the Plan 2 threshold of £29,385.

Why is the pension rate different at the top step?

The entry salary of £32,557 and the intermediate salary of £35,114 both fall in the 8.3% pension tier, which runs from £28,855 to £35,155, while the top salary of £39,631 falls in the 9.8% tier, which runs from £35,156 to £52,778. The intermediate point sits just £41 below the boundary, so a single increment changes the rate. The tier is set by actual annual pensionable pay, so a part-time worker on 0.6 whole-time equivalent at the top step, on £23,778.60 a year, stays in the 6.5% tier.

How much more does Wales Band 5 pay than England?

Wales pays £484 a year more at the entry point, £32,557 against £32,073, which is £40.33 a month gross and £0.27 an hour, £522 a year more at the intermediate point, £35,114 against £34,592, which is £43.50 a month gross and £0.29 an hour, and £588 a year more at the top, £39,631 against £39,043, which is £49.00 a month gross and £0.32 an hour. After pension, tax and National Insurance, the take-home gap is £26.36 a month at entry, £28.43 at the intermediate point and £31.44 at the top. 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 jobs are Band 5 in NHS Wales?

Band 5 in Wales is the registered-professional grade, and it covers staff nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, radiographers, paramedics, speech and language therapists, podiatrists, dental therapists and operating department practitioners, plus pharmacists at the entry point of their grade. These are the roles that need a professional registration and a degree, and they are the grade most newly qualified nurses, midwives and allied health professionals start on. Wales trains its nurses, midwives and allied health professionals through university degrees supported by the NHS Wales Bursary Scheme, which pays tuition fees plus a non-means-tested grant of £1,000 a year and a means-tested bursary of up to £2,643 a year.

What are the unsocial hours rates for Wales Band 5?

Saturday and weekday night work pays £21.65 an hour at entry, £23.35 at the intermediate point and £26.35 at the top, which is the basic rate plus 30%, and Sunday and public holiday work pays £26.64 an hour at entry, £28.74 at the intermediate point and £32.43 at the top, basic plus 60%. Overtime is time and a half at £24.98 an hour at entry, £26.94 at the intermediate point and £30.41 at the top, and double time at £33.30, £35.92 and £40.54 an hour on public holidays. A 7.5-hour Saturday shift at entry pays £162.38 against £124.88 at the plain rate.

How much annual leave does Wales Band 5 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 5 £32,557 entry, £35,114 intermediate, £39,631 top; 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: 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 5 £32,073/£34,592/£39,043, for comparison).

Source: NHS Scotland, NHS Circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 (Scotland Band 5 £34,544/£36,911/£43,039; 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.