NHS Midwife Salary Calculator

The calculator starts from the official Band 5 pay point and contracted hours, then estimates gross pay, NHS pension, income tax, employee NI and take-home. For an English Agenda for Change contract, FTE is contracted weekly hours divided by 37.5. A top-point Band 5 salary of £39,043 at 0.8 FTE is £31,234 of basic pay before pension and tax. Add unsocial-hours, HCAS or student loan only where they apply.

NHS Band 5 midwife basic pay in England is £32,073 to £39,043 from 1 April 2026. NHS Employers publishes three pay points for Band 5, shown below. These are full-time gross salaries before pension, PAYE, National Insurance or additions for shifts and location.

The experience labels describe eligibility timing, not a guarantee that every pay step happens without the required review.

A newly qualified midwife normally enters Band 5 at £32,073. The NHS Employers scale shows eligibility for the intermediate point after two years and the top point after a further two years. Under the England pay progression rules, the pay-step review checks standards such as appraisal completion and required statutory or mandatory training. A period of maternity leave, sickness absence or another break can require payroll and HR to apply specific rules, so use the pay-step date in ESR and your contract. A national cost-of-living award is separate from progression and normally changes every point on the scale.

Band 5 is the usual starting band for a registered midwife, but career development can lead to differently evaluated posts. A Band 6 role may involve greater autonomy, specialist practice, shift coordination or additional responsibility. Band 7 posts can include senior midwife, team leadership, advanced practice or service-management duties. Promotion is not automatic when you reach the top of Band 5: you must secure or be appointed to a role evaluated at the higher band.

Part-time midwife pay is pro rata, so the same Band 5 pay point produces a different annual salary as contracted hours change. Use hours divided by 37.5 rather than days worked, because long shifts and unpaid breaks can make a three-day rota different from 0.6 FTE.

Keep the exact hours ratio for payroll comparisons and round only the final result.

A Band 5 midwife in England falls within the Bands 4 to 9 row of Section 2 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook. Eligible standard hours on Saturdays and on weekdays after 8pm and before 6am attract time plus 30%. Sundays and public holidays attract time plus 60%. Only one unsocial-hours rate applies to an hour, and the enhancement is based on eligible basic pay rather than HCAS. If more than half of a continuous weekday evening or night shift falls between 8pm and 6am, the night enhancement can apply to the whole shift under the handbook rule.

Unsocial-hours pay rewards when contracted standard hours are worked; overtime rewards authorised hours above the full-time weekly threshold. Bands 1 to 7 are eligible for Section 3 overtime, normally time-and-a-half above 37.5 hours in a week and double time on general public holidays. A part-time midwife receives plain-time additional hours until total hours exceed 37.5, although eligible unsocial-hours rules may still apply to the timing of those standard or additional hours. Unsocial-hours payments are not included when calculating the overtime rate, and on-call arrangements have separate rules. Check the roster coding before assuming two enhancements can be stacked.

NHS pension contributions are based on actual annual pensionable pay, so part-time work can put a midwife in a lower tier than the full-time salary suggests. NHS Employers' 2026/27 table sets 8.3% for £28,855 to £35,155 and 9.8% for £35,156 to £52,778. That makes the full-time entry and intermediate Band 5 points likely to use 8.3%, while the £39,043 top point uses 9.8%, before other pensionable earnings.

Enter the correct Band 5 point, calculate FTE from 37.5 hours and use the result as annual gross basic pay. Then account for roster enhancements, pension and payroll deductions separately. Common edge cases include London HCAS, acting-up as shift coordinator, bank shifts on a separate contract, back pay, on-call payments and a second pensionable NHS role. Occupational maternity pay can also reflect average earnings in the relevant reference period rather than basic salary alone. Job titles do not decide the band, so a specialist-sounding vacancy may remain Band 5 if its evaluated duties do not meet Band 6 requirements. Use the contract, job description, ESR record and local payroll team for a final check.