NHS night shift pay: how much extra you get, band by band

The short answer: NHS staff on Agenda for Change get time plus 30% for every hour worked between 8pm and 6am on a weekday, if they’re on Band 4 or above. Band 3 gets time plus 35% and Band 2 time plus 41%. Hours that fall on a Saturday get the same rate, and hours on a Sunday or bank holiday get roughly double that. For a newly qualified Band 5, a 12-hour weekday night adds about £49 to the £197 of basic pay.

The night rate by band

The night window runs from 8pm to 6am, Monday to Friday. Saturday counts from midnight to midnight, so the whole of a Saturday, day or night, is paid at the night rate. Sundays and public holidays also run midnight to midnight and get the higher rate.

Each hour gets one rate, set by when it falls

Some pay sites say night and weekend enhancements stack. They don’t. Each hour is paid at one rate, decided by the day and time it falls in. That makes the day of the week matter a lot for a night shift, because the hours after midnight belong to the next day:

Entry step of each band, before tax. Unpaid breaks come off the hours you’re paid for, so check how your trust records them. On a Friday night, every hour is enhanced: the evening hours are weekday night hours, and the hours after midnight are Saturday hours. A Saturday night is the best-paid regular night, because eight of its hours fall on Sunday.

What each night adds

Band 2 and Band 3 staff get the biggest percentages, so on a weekday night a Band 2 healthcare assistant earns about £53 extra, compared with £49 for a Band 5 nurse on a much higher basic rate.

Over a month and a year

Take a rota with three weekday nights and one Saturday night a month. That adds roughly:

For a Band 5, that’s about £2,952 a year before tax. The last column is what you keep after Income Tax, National Insurance and the extra NHS Pension contribution. Unsocial hours pay is pensionable, so part of it is going into your pension rather than disappearing. It can also lift you into a higher contribution tier: a Band 5 on £32,073 who earns more than about £3,000 a year in enhancements moves from the 8.3% tier to 9.8%, on all their pay.

Things that catch people out

• Unsocial hours or overtime, not both. If a night shift is also overtime, you get the overtime rate (time and a half, or double time on a public holiday) instead of the night rate, not on top of it.
• Holiday pay. If you regularly work nights, your pay during annual leave should include your usual unsocial hours payments.
• Sickness. NHS sick pay is normally based on what you would have earned, including your usual unsocial hours.
• Bank shifts. Bank rates are set locally. Some trusts pay the same enhancements as for permanent staff, others pay a flat rate. See NHS overtime and bank shifts.
• Ambulance staff. Some long-serving ambulance staff and those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are paid under an older system, Annex 5, which pays a flat percentage based on your average unsocial hours.

Put your own rota into the unsocial hours calculator, or see every band’s rates in NHS hourly rates.

England Agenda for Change rates from 1 April 2026, Section 2 of the NHS terms and conditions handbook. Take-home figures use 2026/27 tax and NHS Pension tiers.