NHS salary

[Tireddddddd]

Hi all,

I am considering dropping my hours at work to be able to spend more time with my DD (15 months). I’ve been back from mat leave for 4 months and I’m already not coping with how much I’m missing out on at home.

I am currently a midpoint band 6 in the NHS, I work 34.5 hours, which equates to 3 12.5 hour shifts. Two days and a weekend night, every week.

I would ideally like to two shifts a week (day/night I don’t mind). Before I submit a request to reduce my hours, does anyone know who I can contact (HR/payroll?) to ask for a projection of salary?
I’m worried if I drop my hours and my pay isn’t enough I’ll be putting my family in a sticky situation financially.

Thank you for reading 😊

You may find your payroll team won’t provide that. I’m not NHS but local gov, and apparently our payroll team can only estimate net pay by plugging in the proposed hours change to the payroll system (and then cancelling the change from actioning). After too many episodes of “What if it was 30 hours?”… “Oh, great, what if it was 25 hours?”… “Ah, okay, now how about 27.5 hours?”, they’ll no longer do net pay estimates and instead suggest an employee finds a net pay tool / calculator online.

https://listentotaxman.com/ is quite good.

No one can predict this as they don’t know what your trust offers for Sat/Sun/night shifts etc. your best bet is to work out your hourly basic salary then work out your premium pay for Sat/Sun/night shifts and work out out what you would get paid. When you know your monthly estimated salary, pop it into: https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

I'm NHS (but not ward-based so don't do night shifts) and used a free pro rata salary calculator when making a similar decision - you can put in your tax code and pension/ student loan repayments so it's pretty accurate. The one I use is www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk, same as the poster above. 😊

This might help

I work in the NHS and am returning from mat leave in a few months part time.
I just put it in to ChatGPT stating point I am on my banding and adding London weightings, it looked like a good rough outline.

Hey, I completely get where you’re coming from. That feeling of missing out on time with your little one hits really hard, especially after just coming back from mat leave. It’s not an easy balance at all, and honestly it’s really valid that you’re thinking about adjusting your hours to be more present at home.
You’re absolutely right to check the financial side before making any decision though. In terms of who to contact, payroll or HR in your trust should be able to give you a projection, but from what I’ve seen they can sometimes be a bit slow or give very basic estimates.
I actually came across a really helpful NHS part-time take-home pay calculator that might give you a clearer picture straight away:
https://nhspaycalculatorss.co.uk/nhs-take-home-pay-calculator-part-time/
You can plug in your current band, hours, and see what dropping to two shifts might realistically look like after deductions. It’s quite reassuring to play around with different scenarios before formally requesting anything.
You could also try speaking to your line manager informally first—sometimes they’ve seen similar requests and can give a rough idea of how others managed financially after reducing hours.
Whatever you decide, you’re clearly trying to do the best for your family, and that counts for a lot. Hope you find a balance that feels right for you 🤍