Nhs nurse pay- band 6

[FineWithWine]

I’m in a serious predicament!

I’m 25 years old and currently work full time (37.5 hours a week) as a band 5 staff nurse nurse in a ward- lots of nights and weekends. I average around £1700 most months as my monthly pay, I bank around 2 Sunday’s a month for extra, so around an additional £400 a month as weekly bank pay (this goes into my savings).

I’m applying for a position in my ideal job- band 6 clinical nurse specialist in an specialised area. A fantastic opportunity as it’s a new role and guided by a nurse consultant who is very very well known in said speciality circles. Lots of additional training and potential for band 7 and even 8 roles. However, it’s only 19 hours a week and those are set as week days so no unsociable hours enhancements.
Obviously I would bank on wards alongside this. I’ve just bought a flat (alone) and expect my mortgage and all bills to be £1000 a month. That’s not including savings- but mortgage, council tax, phone, WiFi, water etc.

How much should I expect to earn in my monthly pay as a band 6 on 19 hours a week? The salary stated in the job interview is £31K which obviously isn’t correct, that’s full time band 6.

I would love to take the opportunity but don’t want my monthly wage to be so low it doesn’t even cover my mortgage and bills so I have to bank for those, especially as I’m concerned about dropping down to part time at just 25! Although with banks shifts I would be doing full time hours.

Sorry this probably won’t make sense to anybody outside of the nhs! But in my current role with my monthly wage and bank shifts I earn around £2100 a month in total. I suppose I’m scared that if I take the band 6 role, even with 2 bank shifts a week, I would still bring home considerably less?

I used the pro rata calculator

I have no idea if that's accurate but that's how I have always worked out pro rata salary

Sounds like would be roughly half pay then isn't it due to it being half the full time hours? You can put the gross figures into an online income tax calculator to get your estimated take home pay.

Would be worth inquiring if those hours are set days and see if you can take up a second role on the remaining days. Outpatients come to mind as easier to work set days. I would be wary about relying solely on Bank work though to top up your income.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/tax-calculator/

I do 18.75 I'm a few pay points up on band 6 but I take home £1040

I use the salary calculator to work out net pay. Its pretty accurate.

It's helpful to hear from people like pp because of all the pension deductions. Just over a grand sounds about right.

Thank you for the responses! ThAts the problem, the NHS takes pension takes 9.3%. I pay around £200/£220 a month on my pension now. So if AllHallowsEve takes home £1040 then I think I would get about £950.

It’s sad but I don’t think I can take the opportunity because relying on bank seems precarious ☹️

Yeah I did the various calculations and it would be just over a grand. How many days is that over? To get that back to your level you would have to do an extra three shifts. Is that feasible?

Especially because I don’t want to work just to live- I want to save more and still be able to go on holiday etc. I am considering asking if I could maybe have a contract for a few hours elsewhere? No idea how that would work with tax

@LeroyJenkinssss I could do an extra two shifts a week- 3 shifts would be too much as it’s 12.5 hours per shift on the wards at my trust. I could bank the extra two but I’m wary about relying on bank. Argh it’s hard!

I also have a problem with a senior manager bullying me in my current workplace so am keen to leave but not at the expense of my own lifestyle e

Actually your pension contribution would drop to 5.6% as your gross salary drops you to the second lowest contribution bracket. According to the salary calculator based on that you’d bring home £1100 or so

How long would you need to be in that role for? If it is a gateway post on average how long before it’d be realistic to move?

If your trust is anything like ours there will always be bank going

Could you do nights over the weekend? I doubt there’ll ever be a time you’ll struggle for bank tbh. And by taking the 19 hours you’ve got yourself to a band 6, with much more scope for extra hours and progression than if you just stayed as a B5. That to me would be worth living frugally for a while.

Is there a possibility of picking up a full time position once you’re in? Anyone going on mat leave etc?

Could you top up the hours on your current unit? I'm a top band 5. Usual take home between & £2100-2200. Was off sick for September so no Unsocial hours are all and am down £300. It's going to be difficult to get your unsocial in with a 9-5 job.

So the post is a new post- it’s for a specific neuro condition, currently in my trust there is one specialist nurse (very very well known) sho I believe covers the whole county alongside neurologists. This is a new position and states it’s for ‘succession within the department’ in mind, so it sounds to me like there is scope for progression.

I’ve also applied for a masters in the area (awaiting for the trust to agree to fund this!). In terms of a gateway post and moving I feel like I would need to do at least 1 year/18 months- I’ve been on my current ward for 9 months (3 months notice period, so would be 12 months by the time I leave) and prior to that worked on a ward for 6 months then bank for 6 months. Not keen to have too many moves on my CV!

I would like to top up the hours on my current unit but due to a bullying problem with one of the senior managers, I really can’t see her supporting me at all! It’s even to the point where she says hello to everybody except for me. Anyway, that’s another point.

The speciality is epilepsy- so there are lots of specialist nurse jobs and I’m not far from UCLH which is a big epilepsy centre.

Also, being only 25 but also having a mortgage, I want to still enjoy life and be able to go on holiday etc with friends (Covid permitting!) rather than working just to exist. But I am keen on progression and to climb the ladder! Sorry for the rant/whining

If it were me (I have been a nurse specialist for 13 years now and started off like you - I was also a single parent at the time) I would take the job and do bank to make up the hours. It's an opportunity that's too good to miss by the sounds of it. I know bank isn't reliable but honestly I can't think there are many hospitals right now that aren't desperate for bank staff and that is only going to get even more likely over the next few months.
The UK salary take home pay calculator is excellent to work out exactly how much you will take home after tax and pension contributions, have a look at that.

Take into consideration too that if you bank on your unit you will bank as a band 6 as you cant be paid below your banding and theres always bank even if it isnt on wards you would prefer. I would take the opportunity and if it doesnt work out theres always band 5 roles out there x

Don't let it pass you by. Like pp said if it doesn't work out you can always go back to another band 5 job and it sounds like your current job is untenable long term anyway. Can you bank more at the moment to build up a buffer?

Hi there, I’m a band 6 AHP in NHS doing 22 hours and take home £1350 a month after pension is deducted.
The job opportunity sounds great, I think you should go for it as you’ll always be able to get bank shifts and would then probably be paid for these at Band 6. It sounds like an opportunity you shouldn’t miss out on. Good luck!

@FineWithWine

Thank you for the responses! ThAts the problem, the NHS takes pension takes 9.3%. I pay around £200/£220 a month on my pension now. So if AllHallowsEve takes home £1040 then I think I would get about £950.

It’s sad but I don’t think I can take the opportunity because relying on bank seems precarious ☹️

You’ll go down to 7.1% pension won’t you?

I do 24 hours a week in a nursing job that pays £31000 a year for 37.5 hours. Daytime only no enhancements except for bank holidays. I bring home around £1400 per calendar month after taxes and pension.

@Flowers94

Take into consideration too that if you bank on your unit you will bank as a band 6 as you cant be paid below your banding and theres always bank even if it isnt on wards you would prefer. I would take the opportunity and if it doesnt work out theres always band 5 roles out there x

Thats not the case on my trust or the acute trust in my city. The only way I would get band 6 was if I was picking up a specific band 6 bank shift which are only weekday shifts for a specific service which I'm not qualified for. However since I'm band 6 I do get the top band 5 pay for a bank shift which if you're at the bottom band 6 works put about the same.

@Flowers94

Take into consideration too that if you bank on your unit you will bank as a band 6 as you cant be paid below your banding and theres always bank even if it isnt on wards you would prefer. I would take the opportunity and if it doesnt work out theres always band 5 roles out there x

Not in my trust either.