NHS London Take Home Pay Calculator

High Cost Area Supplements are additional payments for NHS staff working in or around London. For 2026/27: Inner London pays 20% of basic pay (min £5,794, max £8,746); Outer London pays 15% (min £4,870, max £6,137); Fringe pays 5% (min £1,346, max £2,270). HCAS is pensionable and taxable.

Yes. London weighting (HCAS) is pensionable. It is added to your basic pay to calculate your total pensionable pay, which determines your pension contribution tier and monthly pension deduction. It also increases your future pension accrual in the 2015 CARE scheme. Some calculators show HCAS as non-pensionable — that is incorrect. Our calculator applies HCAS to pensionable pay correctly.

Inner London: Central London boroughs (e.g., Westminster, Camden, Southwark), 20% of basic pay. Outer London: Greater London boroughs (e.g., Croydon, Barnet, Brent), 15% of basic pay. Fringe: Commuter belt areas (e.g., parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, and Kent), 5% of basic pay.

For Inner London, HCAS is capped at £8,746 per year. A Band 7 earning £49,387 would have 20% of basic (£9,877), but the cap reduces it to £8,746, approximately £729 per month gross. Total pensionable pay becomes £58,133, placing Band 7 in Tier 5 at 10.7% pension.

A full-time Band 5 nurse in Inner London takes home approximately £2,351 per month after tax, NI, and pension — that’s £311 more per month than the same role outside London (£2,040). In Outer London, the benefit is £229/month, and in the Fringe £88/month. HCAS is pensionable, so the net benefit is lower than the gross supplement.

HCAS is calculated on your pro-rata basic pay. However, the annual minimum and maximum caps are absolute and apply in full regardless of your hours. A part-time Band 5 in Inner London (22.5 hrs) receives the full minimum cap of £5,794 even though their pro-rata basic is only £19,244. The calculator handles this automatically.

Yes. Because HCAS is pensionable, your total pensionable pay (basic + HCAS) may cross a pension tier boundary. For example, Band 5 entry in Inner London has total pensionable pay of £38,488, placing them in Tier 4 at 9.8% rather than the Tier 3 at 8.3% that applies outside London. The calculator recalculates your tier automatically when you select a London zone.

Very accurate. It uses the official 2026/27 HCAS caps, applies HCAS as pensionable pay (consistent with the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook), recalculates pension tiers on total pensionable pay, and applies cumulative PAYE. Most calculators don’t do all of this correctly.

If you move from Outer London to Inner London, your HCAS rate increases from 15% to 20% (subject to caps). Your total pensionable pay increases, which may push you into a higher pension tier. Both your take-home and your long-term pension entitlement increase.

Yes. HCAS is added to your gross pay and is subject to income tax and National Insurance at your marginal rates, as well as pension contributions. The net take-home benefit is typically around 60–70% of the headline HCAS figure.

The maximum Inner London HCAS is £8,746 per year (approximately £729 per month). This cap applies to all bands — Band 7, Band 8a, and above all receive the same maximum where their basic pay exceeds the cap threshold.

Yes. HCAS increases your gross pay, which may affect student loan repayments if it pushes your total income above the repayment threshold. The calculator applies this correctly.

HCAS is pensionable, so working in London increases both your monthly pension deduction and your long-term pension accrual. Over a 30-year career, Inner London HCAS can add meaningfully to your annual pension in retirement. Your pension tier is also recalculated on your total pensionable pay including HCAS, which may place you in a higher tier than colleagues outside London.