If you’re a newly qualified nurse or a nursing student, you’re obviously wondering about what the future holds for you in terms of the pay scale and career growth. In fact, one of the most common questions in the industry is how much does a newly qualified nurse earn? Or, in simpler terms, the starting wage of a nurse. Well, this is exactly what we’re here to tell you, a nurse’s starting salary in the UK! Stick around and learn everything there is to know about how the pay scale works for nurses in the UK and what bands mean.
A massive amount of the UK’s healthcare professionals are managed by the NHS, the National Health Service, which, of course, also dictates their pay scale. The NHS has created various bands that help fairly decide what a nurse should be paid. If you aren’t familiar with how they work, don’t worry; we’ll get to that. First, let’s look into the question every nursing student is asking.
What Is A Nurse’s Starting Salary In The UK?
A newly qualified nurse is considered a band 5 NHS qualified nurse, and they can earn anywhere from £25,655 to £31,534. In case you’re wondering, the average starting salary of a newly qualified nurse is around £27,000.
But this standardised salary is only for nurses working for the NHS; for nurses who choose to work for private institutions, salaries might be different, which are, of course, unregulated.
A band 5 nurse is newly qualified and is at the start of their career, which means that there is ample room to grow in terms of salary as you gain more experience. But to answer the question of what is a nurse’s starting salary in the UK, you can expect £25,655 annually.
Let’s take a look at how these various NHS bands work.
NHS Nurse Salary
Now that you have an idea about a nurse’s starting salary in the UK, let’s start looking into how NHS has structured the nurse pay scale as you become a more experienced nurse.
First up is band 6.
Band 6 Nurse Salary
If you have upwards of five years of experience, so one year more than a band 5 nurse, you are qualified to be a band 6 NHS nurse. As a band 6 nurse, you are entitled to a salary between £32,306 and £39,027.
Band 7 Nurse Salary
Nurses who have taken up special training, as well as a master’s education, to pursue becoming clinical specialists, emergency nurse practitioners, and even ward managers are qualified as band 7 nurses. As an NHS band 7 qualified nurse, your annual salary is somewhere between £40,057 to £45,839.
Band 8 Nurse Salary
A band 8 NHS nurse, also known as a chief nurse, is a highly experienced healthcare professional who is paid between £47,125 to £90,837. The amount is, of course, dependent on the years of experience they possess.
Now, let’s take a look at the highest band an NHS-qualified can achieve!
Band 9 Nurse Salary
Band 9 nurses are considered experts in their field. But not just that, band 9 nurses also work on educating others in order to contribute to the healthcare education sector. So, to become a band 9 nurse, you need extensive experience and have to actively educate others. If you are eligible to become a band 9 nurse, you can expect your salary to be anywhere between £93,735 to £108,075.
So, these are the NHS bands that dictate what nurses are paid in the UK. But, as a nursing student or a newly qualified nurse, NHS nurse wages in the UK are not the only thing you might be concerned about.
Benefits Of Being An NHS-Qualified Nurse
Of course, there are several benefits you can expect from a regulated healthcare authority. As an NHS-qualified nurse, you are entitled to the following employee benefits:
- A 37.5-hour working week, which is divided into shifts.
- As an NHS nurse, you have a minimum of 27 annual leaves. This is on top of the bank holidays.
- The NHS also takes personal development quite seriously. Annual personal development reviews and planning are offered to help achieve any future goals in the healthcare industry. NHS employees are also given access to training courses!
- And even though it doesn’t need to be mentioned, you are also entitled to sick leaves.
So, a regulated salary structure isn’t the only major benefit you can expect from NHS; you also receive pretty decent employee benefits!
There are a bunch of things you should know about when it comes to nurse wages in the UK. For instance, the NHS bands that we have explained. You have to understand them before you can understand what you’re entitled to. An NHS-qualified nurse’s starting salary in the UK is £25,655 at a minimum, which is, of course, subject to raise. Do keep in mind that these particular salaries for NHS bands are regulated in England, Ireland and Wales, not Scotland. The NHS pays almost an average of £1000 more in each band.
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