Published 8 July 2026

England · 2026/272016 contract

Resident Doctor Pay

Take-home pay for a resident doctor in England, by training stage, on a standard 40-hour week (£40,190 to £76,582 gross). Pick your stage below for the figure after tax, National Insurance and pension.

Gross / yr

£40,190£76,582

Take-home / yr

£29,305£49,231

Pension rate9.8%–12.5%
GradeNodal pointGross / yr

These are the latest published 2026/27 figures, including the 3.5% DDRB award applied from 1 April 2026. An accepted June 2026 deal will raise them further once its pay circular is published.

Figures are basic pay for a standard full-time week of 40 hours; your take-home moves with the hours you actually work. We show only the current 2016 contract, not the older 2002 contract. Gross from Annex A of the 2016 resident doctor contract (England, 2026/27), published by NHS Employers Pay & Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2026R. Take-home assumes the standard tax code, no student loan or salary sacrifice.
Resident doctor gross pay · England (2026/27) · full scale: gross and net take-home for every role and point.
RoleGradeGross salaryNet take-home
Resident doctorFY1£40,190£29,305
Resident doctorFY2£45,994£33,030
Resident doctorCT1-2£54,499£38,348
Resident doctorCT3-4£67,325£45,284
Resident doctorST1-2 / SpR1-2£54,499£38,348
Resident doctorST3-5 / SpR3-5£67,325£45,284
Resident doctorST6-8 / SpR6-8£76,582£49,231

Frequently Asked Questions

These are basic full-time pay. Extra and unsocial hours push it up: under the England 2016 contract you earn a 37% enhancement on hours between 9pm and 7am, a weekend allowance that scales with how often you work weekends, and an 8% allowance for non-resident on-call, plus any additional hours and locum shifts. Working less than full time pulls it down, pro-rata: a 60% post pays about 60% of the figure, with allowances scaled to match. The enhancements depend on your rota; open our calculator for a detailed answer.

Your pay changes from the date you progress, not the start of the tax year. If your trust applies it late, the difference is backdated. Take-home for the year is worked out on your actual pay at each stage.

Yes. “Junior doctor” was renamed “resident doctor” in 2024, so junior doctor pay scales and resident doctor pay scales are the same thing. The rename changed the name only; the grades, the nodal points and the pay are unchanged.

Yes. The four nations negotiate separately and run different contracts, so the pay and the way extra hours are paid differ, not just the numbers. The enhancement rates on this page are for England.

No. NHS Employers publishes the official pay scales, but no NHS or government body runs a calculator. The tools that do are third-party: the BMA’s Pay Checker (BMA members only, England, checks a real payslip against your rota) and the community Doctors Vote calculator. Those are for auditing an actual payslip; this page is the quick estimate straight from the published scales.

These are the currently published 2026/27 figures (the 3.5% DDRB award). In June 2026, resident doctors in England voted to accept a government offer that raises pay by between 3.5% and 7.1% per nodal point from April 2026, with a second phase in April 2027. We show the published figures until the new pay circular lands, then these update automatically.

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