Junior Doctor Salary After Tax UK 2026/27
Resident doctor pay depends on grade, contract, rota, LTFT percentage, pension and student loan. This page gives a transparent base-pay take-home estimate for common England 2016 contract grades, with clear caveats for enhancements and rota variation.
Estimated monthly take-home pay: £2,442.13 after tax, NI and NHS pension.
Estimate assumptions
Illustrative annualised 2026/27 estimate using a standard tax code, Cat A NI and NHS pension membership. Student-loan deductions are annualised; payroll calculates and rounds them by pay period. Your payslip can also differ with overtime, salary sacrifice, arrears or a different tax code.
Junior doctor salary after tax UK: the quick answer
By Dan · Updated 8 June 2026 · Checked against BMA, NHS Employers and GOV.UK rates.
Resident doctors, the grades formerly called junior doctors, have some of the most confusing payslips in the NHS, because basic pay is only part of the story: nodal points, rota enhancements and the pension all pull in different directions. This page starts with the basic-pay take-home for 2026/27, then explains why a rota-based payslip can read higher.
The term “junior doctor” is still widely searched, but current official guidance increasingly uses “resident doctor”. In 2026/27 England, the basic salaries used here are £40,190 for FY1, £45,994 for FY2, £54,499 for CT1/ST1 and £67,325 for CT3/ST3 before rota additions.
This page estimates base-pay take-home for common England grades. It does not try to predict an individual rota, nights, weekends, additional hours, locum shifts or salary sacrifice.
Medical-contract London weighting is not Agenda for Change HCAS. This calculator uses the national medical allowances shown in the 2026/27 pay circular: £2,162 for the London Zone, £527 for extra-territorial locations and £149 for the Fringe Zone, pro-rated for less-than-full-time work.
Resident doctor salary after tax by grade
| Grade | Basic salary | Pension rate | Monthly net | With Plan 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY1 | £40,190 | 9.8% | £2,442.13 | £2,361.09 |
| FY2 | £45,994 | 9.8% | £2,752.45 | £2,627.88 |
| CT1–CT2 / ST1–ST2 | £54,499 | 9.8% | £3,195.63 | £3,007.27 |
| CT3 / ST3–ST5 | £67,325 | 10.7% | £3,773.64 | £3,489.09 |
| ST6–ST8 | £76,582 | 12.5% | £4,102.61 | £3,748.63 |
FY1 take-home pay after tax
FY1 basic pay in England is £40,190 for 2026/27. The calculator estimates the base payslip after NHS pension, tax and NI, before rota-specific additions. If your payslip differs, check the separate work-schedule lines: additional hours, weekend allowance, night enhancement, London weighting, PAYE, NI, pension and student loan. The base figure is a starting point, not a forecast of a particular rota.
If the payslip differs from the calculator, check the separate lines first: basic salary, additional hours, weekend allowance, night enhancement, pension, PAYE tax, NI and student loan. The calculator is deliberately conservative because it models basic salary rather than predicting an individual rota.
FY2 take-home pay after tax
FY2 basic pay is higher than FY1, but the extra gross salary does not all reach take-home pay. Pension, Income Tax, National Insurance and student loans rise with earnings, so the net monthly jump is smaller than the headline salary increase.
Use the FY2 figure as a baseline, then add rota-specific payments mentally or from your work schedule. If you are comparing two rotations, the rota pattern can matter as much as the grade because weekends, nights and additional hours can change the final payslip.
Junior doctor salary after tax with student loan
Resident doctors often have more than one student-loan consideration: an undergraduate plan, sometimes a postgraduate loan, and occasionally a plan change depending on when and where they studied.
In 2026/27, undergraduate plans 1, 2, 4 and 5 are repaid at 9% of earnings above the relevant threshold; postgraduate loan is 6% above £21,000. A postgraduate loan can run alongside an undergraduate plan, so the combined deduction can be visible on FY2, CT/ST and registrar payslips. Use your Student Loans Company account or payslip to confirm the plan before comparing figures.
How LTFT affects resident doctor pay
Less-than-full-time pay is not just “full-time net divided by hours”. For example, 80% LTFT reduces basic salary, pensionable pay and some rota additions, but PAYE, NI and student-loan thresholds are still applied through payroll to the reduced earnings. Use the working-pattern selector for base pay, then compare it with your work schedule for nights, weekends and additional hours.
Pension, tax, NI and student-loan thresholds are applied through payroll to actual earnings, while rota additions depend on the work schedule. An 80% LTFT FY1 basic salary is roughly £32,152 before rota additions; an 80% LTFT FY2 is roughly £36,795. Use the selector for base pay, then compare it with the night, weekend, London-weighting and other additions on the work schedule.
Why junior doctor take-home pay differs from basic salary
Resident doctor basic pay excludes several payslip lines that can be significant: additional rostered hours, weekend frequency allowance, night enhancement, on-call availability, London weighting and any back pay. That is why two FY2 doctors on the same £45,994 basic salary can have different monthly pay if one rota has more nights or weekends.
The calculator separates the stable part from the variable part. An FY1 basic estimate is around £2,442 a month before student loan, but a rota with additional hours, nights and weekends can be materially higher. Compare the payslip additions line by line rather than assuming rota-enhanced pay is the same as the national basic salary.
Resident doctor basic pay versus actual pay
This is the most important thing to understand about resident (junior) doctor pay: the calculator shows basic nodal-point pay for a 40-hour week, while many work schedules also include nights, weekends, on-call availability or other rota-related additions. Actual take-home can therefore be materially different from the basic-pay estimate.
Under the 2016 contract, basic pay is set by nodal point rather than annual increments. On top of that, doctors earn: additional rostered hours above 40 a week, paid at the basic hourly rate; a 37% enhancement for night work (broadly 9pm to 7am); a weekend allowance set as a percentage of basic pay according to how often you work weekends; and an 8% availability allowance where you are required to be on non-resident on-call. Certain shortage specialties also attract flexible pay premia.
Because these additions depend on your work schedule, no national calculator can produce an exact total from grade alone. Use the basic figure here as a baseline. Then compare the separate additional-hours, night-enhancement, weekend-allowance and on-call lines in your work schedule or payslip; their treatment depends on the contracted pattern.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an FY1 doctor take home a month?▼
On basic pay only, a full-time FY1 is estimated at around £2,442.13 a month after NHS pension, Income Tax and National Insurance, before any student loan. Actual pay can be higher once rota enhancements are added.
Why is my actual pay higher than this basic figure?▼
Resident doctor pay is built from a basic nodal-point salary for 40 hours plus extras: additional rostered hours at basic rate, a 37% enhancement for night work, a weekend allowance based on rota frequency, and an 8% availability allowance for non-resident on-call. These can lift total pay well above basic.
What is the 37% night enhancement?▼
Hours worked between 9pm and 7am attract basic pay plus 37%. The whole shift can qualify if it starts between 8pm and midnight and lasts at least eight hours, or ends between midnight and 4am. The qualifying hours are averaged across the rota.
How does working less than full time affect resident doctor pay?▼
Basic pay is based on average weekly hours as a proportion of the 40-hour full-time week. Weekend and night additions follow the contract formulas for the work schedule; the standard additional-rostered-hours line applies to full-time contracted hours above 40 rather than to the LTFT basic-pay calculation.
Is a resident doctor the same as a junior doctor?▼
Yes. The BMA and government adopted the term resident doctor from September 2024, while the national contract remains titled for doctors and dentists in training. Both terms refer here to qualified doctors from foundation training through specialty training.
Does a student loan reduce resident doctor take-home pay?▼
Yes, once earnings exceed the plan threshold. Plan 2 and Plan 5 take 9% of the excess, and because enhancements raise total pay, the deduction can be larger than the basic-pay figure suggests.
What NHS pension tier do resident doctors pay?▼
The tier is based on actual pensionable pay including enhancements. An FY1 on basic pay sits in the 9.8% tier, and higher total earnings can move a doctor into the next tier.
Is take-home pay different in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?▼
Pay scales are negotiated separately across the nations, and Scotland also applies its own income tax bands. The figures here use the England scales and rest-of-UK tax, so other nations will differ.
Sources, methodology and data quality
| Source | How this page uses it | Link |
|---|---|---|
| BMA resident doctor grade structure and terminology | Used to cross-check grade labels and resident-doctor terminology; 2026/27 salary values are taken from the NHS Employers pay circular. | BMA resident doctor pay scales |
| NHS Employers 2026/27 medical and dental pay circular | Used for FY1–ST8 basic salaries and the medical London Zone (£2,162), extra-territorial (£527) and Fringe Zone (£149) allowances. | NHS Employers medical pay circular |
| NHS Employers less-than-full-time medical trainee guidance | Used for the 40-hour full-time basis and pro-rating of salary and London weighting for LTFT examples. | NHS Employers LTFT guidance |
| NHSBSA pension contribution tiers from 1 April 2026 | Used to apply the employee NHS pension contribution rate against pensionable pay. | NHSBSA pension tiers |
| GOV.UK student and postgraduate loan deduction tables 2026/27 | Used for Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5 and postgraduate loan thresholds. | GOV.UK student loan tables |
| GOV.UK Income Tax and National Insurance guidance | Used for 2026/27 PAYE and employee NI assumptions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. | GOV.UK income tax rates |