NHS Band 9 Salary 2026/27
Band 9 is the top of Agenda for Change — executive directors and the most senior clinical leaders. Pay runs from £112,782 to £129,783 in 2026/27, deep inside personal-allowance taper territory.
NHS Band 9 salary by pay point — take-home 2026/27
| Pay point | Annual salary | Take-home / month | Pension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | £112,782 | £5,626.03 | 12.5% |
| Intermediate | £119,583 | £5,835.00 | 12.5% |
| Top | £129,783 | £6,115.48 | 12.5% |
Typical Band 9 roles include executive directors of nursing, operations and finance in trusts that grade the post on Agenda for Change, and a small number of very senior clinical directors. Some executive directors are instead paid on local Very Senior Manager (VSM) contracts — Band 9 is the ceiling of the national AfC structure. Hourly rates run from £57.62 at entry to £66.30 at the top. Figures assume full-time hours, NHS Pension included, no student loan or enhancements.
Jobs at Band 9
Band 9 is the highest Agenda for Change band: chief nurses and directors of nursing in smaller trusts, directors of operations and of allied health professions, and the most senior consultant practitioners. Every Band 9 salary sits inside the £100,000 personal-allowance taper zone, which is why take-home rises more slowly than gross pay across this band.
Band 9 hourly rate — and what it is worth
| Pay point | Hourly rate | Saturday / night rate | Sunday / bank holiday rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry · £112,782 | £57.62 | £74.90 | £92.18 |
| Intermediate · £119,583 | £61.09 | £79.42 | £97.74 |
| Top · £129,783 | £66.30 | £86.19 | £106.08 |
Band 9 hourly rates run from £57.62 to £66.30 — the highest on Agenda for Change. The Saturday and Sunday columns show the Section 2 enhancement rates for comparison only: executive posts are paid without enhancements, and out-of-hours commitments are part of the role. Use the hourly figures to benchmark interim executive and consultancy day rates against substantive pay. Every rate is worked out from the NHS Band 9 salary points for 2026/27.
Band 9 is the summit of Agenda for Change — very few posts in each trust sit here. Enter your hours, region and student loan in the calculator above to turn the NHS Band 9 salary into your own monthly take-home figure — your NHS Band 9 salary after pension, tax and NI, not just the headline number.
Pay progression at Band 9 — the taper band. Band 9 runs from £112,782 to £129,783, and it is where the personal-allowance taper starts to bite. The entry point just escapes it: the 12.5% pension (£14,097.75) brings adjusted net income to £98,684, below the £100,000 threshold. From the intermediate point that protection runs out — adjusted net income of £104,635 cuts the personal allowance to £10,253, and at the top point (£129,783) adjusted net income of £113,560 cuts it to £5,790. Income inside the taper zone faces an effective marginal rate above 60% once the allowance loss is counted. Even so, take-home rises from £5,626.03 a month at entry to £5,835.00 at the intermediate point and £6,115.48 at the top — £489.45 a month across the band, and £166.99 a month more than the top of Band 8d at the entry step. Because extra pension contributions reduce adjusted net income, Band 9 post-holders are the group most likely to use additional voluntary contributions to pull income back under £100,000.
Pension and leave at Band 9. Every Band 9 point pays 12.5% into the NHS Pension — £14,097.75 a year at entry and £16,222.88 at the top, the largest employee contributions in Agenda for Change. Annual leave follows the standard ladder: 27 days plus bank holidays on appointment, 29 days after five years and 33 days after ten, pro-rata for part-time hours — in practice, every Band 9 post-holder is on the 33-day rung by service.
Worked example — the top point with a Plan 2 loan. At £129,783, the pension takes £16,222.88 a year, income tax £35,568.05 and National Insurance £4,606.26. Add a Plan 2 student loan — still held by younger executives — and a further £9,035.82 a year (£752.99 a month) comes off, leaving take-home of £5,362.50 a month. Without the loan, the same point pays £6,115.48 a month, as the table above shows.
Unsocial hours at Band 9. Band 9 roles are executive posts paid without Section 2 enhancements; on-call and out-of-hours commitments are part of the role and handled locally. The hourly figures — £57.62 to £66.30 — are mainly useful for benchmarking interim and consultancy rates against substantive executive pay.
Band 9 pay in London — the smallest uplift of any band. London Band 9 roles add the High Cost Area Supplement: 20% of basic pay in inner London, 15% in outer London and 5% in the fringe zone, within minimum and maximum payments (£5,794 to £8,746 inner, £4,870 to £6,137 outer, £1,346 to £2,270 fringe in 2026/27). At the top point (£129,783), 20% would be £25,956.60 — the inner maximum caps it at the same flat £8,746 a Band 6 receives. Gross pay becomes £138,529, but adjusted net income of about £121,213 cuts the personal allowance to roughly £1,964, and take-home rises only to about £6,328.18 a month: £212.70 more than outside London, the smallest London uplift of any band in cash terms.
The supplement sits on top of the NHS Band 9 salary and is taxed and pensionable in the same way. Enter the HCAS figure from your payslip in the calculator above for your exact take-home.
Sources: NHS Employers Agenda for Change pay scales 2026/27; HMRC rates and thresholds 2026/27.
Band 9 part-time pay — take-home at 30 and 22.5 hours
Part-time pay is your full-time salary scaled by contracted hours — 30 hours is 0.8 of full-time, 22.5 hours is 0.6. On most bands, reducing hours drops your pension tier (tiers are set by your actual pay in England) and softens the cut. Band 9 is the exception: even at 22.5 hours, the entry salary of £67,669.20 clears the top-tier threshold of £67,668 by just £1.20, so the 12.5% rate applies at every pattern — the only band where part-time hours buy no pension relief at all.
| Pay point | Full-time (37.5h) | 30 hours (0.8) | 22.5 hours (0.6) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry point | £112,782 → £5,626.03/mo | £90,225.60 → £4,676.78/mo | £67,669.20 → £3,727.53/mo |
| Top point | £129,783 → £6,115.48/mo | £103,826.40 → £5,249.14/mo | £77,869.80 → £4,156.80/mo |
Working fewer or different hours? Run the NHS part-time calculator with your exact contracted hours.
Band 9 questions
How much does a Band 9 take home?
From about £5,626 a month at entry (£112,782) to about £6,115 a month at the top (£129,783), after NHS pension, tax and NI.
How much personal allowance does a Band 9 keep?
At the entry point, all of it — pension contributions pull adjusted net income to about £98,684, under the £100,000 threshold. At the intermediate point the allowance falls to £10,253, and at the top point to £5,790.
What pension does a Band 9 pay?
12.5% of pensionable pay at every point — the top NHS Pension tier. That is £14,097.75 a year at entry and £16,222.88 at the top.
Is Band 9 the highest NHS band?
Yes — Band 9 is the top of Agenda for Change. Some trust executive directors sit outside it on local Very Senior Manager (VSM) contracts instead, with pay set by the trust board.