Paramedic salary UK 2026/27: £32,073 to £48,117
A paramedic in the UK is paid on a published scale rather than a market rate, so this is a figure you can check instead of estimate. It starts at £32,073 and tops out at £48,117. After income tax and National Insurance that is £2,218 a month at the start and £3,180 at the top, and the share you keep falls from 83% to 79% along the way, because the £12,570 personal allowance is a fixed amount rather than a percentage.
Newly qualified paramedics start at Band 5 and move to Band 6 once they complete their consolidation period, which is usually two years.
Every point on the scale, after tax
| Scale point | Salary | After tax | A month | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 5 entry | £32,073 | £26,612 | £2,218 | 83% |
| Band 5 top | £39,043 | £31,631 | £2,636 | 81% |
| Band 6 entry | £39,959 | £32,290 | £2,691 | 81% |
| Band 6 top | £48,117 | £38,164 | £3,180 | 79% |
England, 2026/27, with no pension contribution and no student loan. Scale from NHS Employers, Agenda for Change pay scales, take-home computed with the income tax calculator.
What the NHS Pension takes off a paramedic's pay
Every figure above is before the NHS Pension contribution, which is not optional in practice and is the largest deduction after tax itself. The rate is set by total pensionable pay and applies to all of it rather than to the slice above a threshold, which is why crossing a tier boundary can cost more than the rise was worth. Across this scale a paramedic contributes 8.3% to 9.8%.
| Scale point | Pension rate | A month, after tax and pension | Pension costs a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 5 entry | 8.3% | £2,040 | £177 |
| Band 5 top | 9.8% | £2,381 | £255 |
| Band 6 entry | 9.8% | £2,430 | £261 |
| Band 6 top | 9.8% | £2,866 | £314 |
Contribution tiers from the NHS Pension Scheme member contributions, England, from 1 April 2026. Each Agenda for Change band has a page of its own with the full tier table and the points inside it where a rise backfires.
What a paramedic is paid extra in and around London
Agenda for Change adds a high cost area supplement to the same scale rather than running a separate London one, so a paramedic in inner london is on the figures above plus a percentage of basic pay with a cash floor and a cash ceiling. At £48,117 the percentage is what applies; at the bottom of the scale the floor often pays more than the percentage would, and near the top the ceiling caps it, which is why the headline rate is only literally true in the middle of each band.
| Zone | Rate | Supplement at Band 6 top | A month after tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inner London | 20% | £8,746 | £3,628 |
| Outer London | 15% | £6,137 | £3,502 |
| Fringe | 5% | £2,270 | £3,315 |
Supplements from Annex 9 of the NHS terms and conditions handbook, from 1 April 2026, before any pension contribution. The London weighting guide shows where each floor and ceiling bites.
How much does a paramedic earn in the UK?
The published scale runs from £32,073 (Band 5 entry) to £48,117 (Band 6 top) for 2026/27. After income tax and National Insurance that is £2,218 a month at the bottom and £3,180 at the top.
Where a paramedic's pay sits against everyone else
On HMRC's distribution of UK taxpayers, £32,073 is about the 55th percentile and £48,117 the 78th. The median UK taxpayer earns £29,700, so this scale starts above the midpoint and ends above it. Put any salary against the same distribution on the salary percentile calculator, or see the other published pay scales.
Reviewed 5 October 2026 by Hadi. These are the published scale figures for 2026/27; your own contract or payslip is the final word on an individual case.