How much do nurses earn?

Anyone considering a career in nursing will be keen to know how much they are likely to be paid. Salaries for experienced nurses range from £35,000 to £115,000, and this article describes how much nurses earn in different roles and at different stages of their career.

Qualified nurses working in hospitals in England and health visitors are paid an average of £40,733, according to figures from NHS Digital for 2023/24.[1] This is made up of £34,565 in basic pay plus £6,167 in additional payments. Additional payments are paid for things like working in high-cost areas, such as in and around London, working shifts, being on call and overtime. It is not possible to look at average pay for nurses alone, because NHS Digital’s data groups nurses and health visitors together.

Many nurses work part time so that is reflected in the average pay of a nurse, ie, this means that the average nurse would not be working full time. If the average nurse had worked full time in 2023/24 their basic salary would have been £38,713. [1]

Nursing as a profession encompasses a wide variety of roles, from entry level to very highly paid senior management positions, so nursing pay varies considerably. Full time salaries for experienced nurses range from around £35,000 to around £115,000. Pay for nurses, like that for most NHS staff, other than doctors, is determined by a pay scale called Agenda for Change. Agenda for Change was introduced in December 2004 as an attempt to create a consistent and fair pay structure with roles evaluated and allocated to a pay band.

Nurses rise through the nine Agenda for Change pay bands as they gain experience, take on more responsibility, and gain new skills and qualifications. In order to know your earning potential as a nurse, you need to know the pay band for your intended role.

The rates given in this article are all for England. Agenda for Change rates are higher in Scotland and Wales than in England and Northern Ireland, except for nurses who work in and around London who qualify for additional allowances to recognise the higher cost of living there. Full details of Agenda for Change rates for different parts of the UK can be found here.

Newly qualified nurses

Newly qualified registered nurses are paid the bottom (entry level) rate of Agenda for Change Band 5 in their first role, regardless of whether they trained and qualified as an adult, children’s, learning disability or mental health nurse. The Band 5 entry rate in England was £28,407 in 2023/24.

Nurses are eligible for pay progression to the intermediate Band 5 rate after two years, and to the top Band 5 rate after another three years.

Most nurses and health visitors are paid at Band 5; data from March 2022 show 43% of nurses and midwives paid at Band 5 had reached the top rate for that band.[2] The top rate for Band 5 in England in 2023/24 was £34,581.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is concerned that many nurses are stuck in Band 5 and it is pushing for nurses to automatically graduate from Band 5 to Band 6 once they have gained a certain level of experience.[3] This already happens for midwives and paramedics after they have completed one or two years of consolidated learning on the job, known as preceptorship, under the guidance of a senior colleague to help them make the transition from graduate to independent professional.

Senior and specialist nurses

Nurses are only paid rates higher than Band 5 if they move to roles that carry additional responsibilities.

Roles that require some leadership skills and management of junior staff or specialist knowledge and/or additional training are paid at Band 6. In England, the salary for a Band 6 role started at £35,392 in 2023/24 rising to £42,618 after 5 years. Band 6 roles include junior sister/charge nurse and deputy ward manager, where the nurse is responsible for running of a ward or unit during a shift or specific period, and roles such as specialist staff nurse and specialist nurse practitioner.

Nurses paid at Band 7 work in roles with more responsibility for managing staff teams and coordinating patient care, such roles include ward sister/charge nurse and ward manager. Many Band 7 nurses work as senior sisters or nurse practitioners in roles that require advanced clinical skills and often must obtain a masters degree or equivalent. With these advanced clinical skills they can manage complex patient care, conduct detailed assessments, make diagnoses, and prescribe medicines. In 2023/24, the salary for a Band 7 role in England started at £43,742 rising to £50,056 after 5 years.

Very senior leadership roles

The most senior posts in nursing are paid at Bands 8 and 9. These are leadership roles with responsibility for large teams of staff.

Band 8 posts include roles such as senior nurse manager, matron, consultant, assistant directors of nursing and divisional directors of nursing. Band 8 is subdivided into four separate bands – a, b, c and d – with salaries rising within these bands over a 5-year period. For example, in 2023/24 salaries in England for posts at Band 8a started at £50,952 rising to £57,349 over 5 years, while salaries for posts at Band 8d started at £83,571 rising to £96,376.

Band 9 roles are those at the very top of the profession – roles like chief nursing officer and director of nursing. In 2023/24 salaries for Band 9 posts started at £99,891 rising to £114,949 after 5 years.

Click here to see a comprehensive list of all Agenda for Change rates for England (with and without additional allowances for working in and around London), Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

References

[1] NHS Digital. NHS Staff Earnings Estimates, March 2024, 27 June 2024.

[2] NHS Pay Review Body. Thirty-Sixth Report: 2023, 13 July 2023. 

[3] Royal College of Nursing. New nursing profiles don’t go far enough, says RCN, 24 July 2024.