How We Calculate — Sources, Methods and Corrections
Every figure on SalaryCheckUK comes from a published source and a calculation you can check. This page sets out both — plus a public log of every correction we have made.
Our sources
Nothing here is estimated from other calculators. Pay scales, enhancements and leave come from NHS Employers’ Agenda for Change pay scales 2026/27 and the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook. Tax, National Insurance and student loan thresholds come from HMRC’s rates and thresholds for employers 2026/27 and GOV.UK. Statutory maternity pay (£194.32 a week for 2026/27) follows the GOV.UK uprating notice. Teacher scales follow the Department for Education’s School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document. When sources disagree we say so on the page, and we re-verify every figure before each tax year and at every pay award.
How take-home pay is worked out
Our calculator applies deductions in the same order as an NHS payroll: pension first (NHS Pension contributions are taken under a net-pay arrangement, so they reduce taxable pay but not National Insurance), then income tax (2026/27 bands, personal allowance £12,570 tapering above £100,000 of adjusted net income; Scottish rates when you select Scotland), then National Insurance on gross pay (8% between £12,570 and £50,270, 2% above), then student loan repayments at your plan’s threshold. National Insurance and student loan deductions are modelled on an annualised basis: for staff on a steady salary this matches the payroll outcome (payroll itself calculates National Insurance each pay period), but a month with heavy overtime or arrears can differ slightly in practice.
NHS specifics are modelled the way the Handbook sets them out: hourly rates are annual salary ÷ 52.2 ÷ weekly hours; unsocial-hours enhancements follow Section 2 and are band-dependent (Band 2 +41%/+83%, Band 3 +35%/+69%, Bands 4–9 +30%/+60%); overtime beyond 37.5 hours is time and a half (double time on bank holidays) and is not pensionable; pension tiers are set on actual pensionable pay — basic plus HCAS, excluding overtime — and the tier rate applies to all of it; HCAS follows the 2026/27 zones and cash limits (inner 20%, £5,794–£8,746; outer 15%, £4,870–£6,137; fringe 5%, £1,346–£2,270).
What we don’t cover (yet)
Honest limits: the Scotland option currently applies Scottish income tax with England & Wales pension tiers and scales — the full Scottish build (SPPA pension tiers, Scottish Agenda for Change scales, the 36-hour week and Scottish enhancement rates) is in progress. Estimates assume a standard tax code and no salary-sacrifice arrangements, benefits in kind or arrears adjustments. Maternity estimates use your current salary as average weekly earnings; real SMP uses your earnings in the eight weeks before your qualifying week. Our figures are careful estimates for planning, not a substitute for your payslip or professional advice — if a figure here disagrees with your payroll, tell us via the contact page and we will check it in public, below.
The four nations
Agenda for Change pay is devolved, and each nation’s calculator on this site uses that nation’s own published scales. Scotland: Scottish Government circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 (scales and the 36-hour week), with SPPA contribution tiers under NHS Circular 2026/03 — nine tiers set by actual pensionable pay since 1 October 2023. Wales: the NHS Wales 2026/27 scales, including the June 2026 correction that raised Band 3 entry to £26,813. Northern Ireland: the 2025/26 scales currently in payment, because the 2026/27 award had not been implemented at the time of writing; the page is updated when that changes. England: NHS Employers’ 2026/27 scales. Where a nation’s own document could not be obtained, we say so on the page and cross-check at least two independent sources before publishing a figure.
Corrections log
23 October 2026 — NHS unsocial hours page: corrected the whole-shift rule (when more than half of a weekday shift falls between 20:00 and 06:00, the whole shift is enhanced), restated the enhancement rates band by band in the introduction, FAQs, calculator labels and meta description, removed an incorrect statement that paid enhancements stop at Band 7 (that limit applies to overtime), and prefilled the calculator’s example result instead of £0.
21 October 2026 — Section 2 enhancement rates. An early version of our calculators applied a flat +30%/+60% enhancement to all bands. NHS Employers’ Section 2 table is band-dependent: Band 2 staff receive +41%/+83% and Band 3 staff +35%/+69%. We corrected the calculator engine, every affected table on the Band 2, Band 3 and Unsocial Hours pages, and the worked examples, and re-verified the figures live the same day. The error understated Band 2 and 3 unsocial-hours pay while it was live (20–21 October).
21 October 2026 — hourly rate convention. Two calculator screens briefly divided annual salary by 52 weeks while the site’s tables used the correct 52.2. Both now use ÷ 52.2 throughout (a Band 5 entry hourly rate of £16.38, not £16.45).
22 October 2026 — Scotland pension tiers corrected. The Scotland calculator originally set a part-time member’s SPPA contribution tier by their whole-time-equivalent salary. SPPA has set tiers on actual pensionable pay since 1 October 2023. The calculator and Scotland page now use actual pay throughout: a part-time Band 5 nurse on 18 hours a week (£17,272) is in the 6.4% tier (£1,105.41 a year), not 8.7% (£1,502.66). Full-time results were unaffected.
If you spot anything else, we would rather hear it than be right by accident — contact us.