NHS Band 3 pay 2022/23
Band 3 salaries in England for 2022/23 ran from £21,730 at entry to £23,177 at the top step. Backdated to 2022-04-01.
Band 3 pay scale, 2022/23
| Step | Years from entry | Annual | Hourly (37.5h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | From day one | £21,730 | £11.11 |
| Top | After 2 years | £23,177 | £11.85 |
| Full range | £21,730 to £23,177 | £11.11 to £11.85 | |
England, 2022/23, effective 2022-04-01. Source: Pay scales for 2022/23 [Archived] — NHS Employers.
All Agenda for Change pay scales for 2022/23 were backdated to 1 April 2022. Salaries are subject to UK income tax, Class 1 National Insurance and NHS pension contributions. Use the take-home calculator for a personalised estimate.
The 2022/23 NHS pay deal in context
The 2022/23 pay round delivered a flat £1,400 consolidated uplift to Bands 1 through 8c, with 4% for Band 8d and 3.5% for Band 9. The flat element was worth more in percentage terms to lower-paid staff (around 9% for Band 2 entry) and less to higher earners.
The NHS Pay Review Body recommended a £1,400 flat uplift for Bands 1 to 8c rather than a percentage, reasoning that lower-paid staff faced the worst cost-of-living pressures. The UK Government accepted the recommendation, with Bands 8d and 9 getting smaller percentage uplifts of 4% and 3.5% respectively. Scotland followed a similar flat-payment model with slightly higher headline figures. The implementation was complicated by the wide range of pay points being moved differently.
Pay scales were reshuffled because the flat £1,400 uplift produced different percentage increases at different points. Band 2 entry moved up roughly 9% (from £18,546 to £20,270), while Band 8c top moved up under 2%. Band 8d and 9 used percentage uplifts (4% and 3.5%), introducing a discontinuity in how staff were treated based purely on which side of an arbitrary line they fell on.
Year-on-year change for Band 3
Compared with 2021/22, Band 3 entry pay rose by £1,400 (6.9%) . Top-of-band pay rose by £1,400 (6.4%). The following year, 2023/24, Band 3 entry pay moved to £22,816.
- Previous year entry
- £20,330
- This year entry
- £21,730
2021/22
+ 6.9% vs previous year
Union response to the 2022/23 deal
The 2022/23 settlement was rejected by the major NHS unions but went ahead anyway because the formal Pay Review Body process does not require union agreement. The rejection laid the groundwork for the strike action that followed in late 2022 and early 2023, as unions argued that the flat uplift fell far behind double-digit inflation and represented a meaningful real-terms pay cut at every band.
Common questions about Band 3 pay in 2022/23
- How much did Band 3 pay increase in 2022/23?
- Band 3 entry pay in England rose from £20,330 to £21,730 (6.9%). Top-of-band pay rose from £21,777 to £23,177 (6.4%).
- When was the 2022/23 Band 3 pay rise paid?
- The new Band 3 rates were backdated to 2022-04-01. In most NHS Trusts the uplift first showed in the payslip a few months later, with arrears for the backdated period paid alongside the first new monthly rate.
- What is the hourly rate for Band 3 in 2022/23?
- Based on a 37.5-hour standard NHS week, Band 3 entry pay of £21,730 works out at £11.11 per hour. Top-of-band pay of £23,177 works out at £11.85 per hour.
- Why was the 2022/23 deal a flat £1,400 rather than a percentage?
- The Pay Review Body recommended a flat uplift on the basis that the cost-of-living pressures of 2022 hit lower-paid staff disproportionately hard. A 4% rise on a Band 2 salary would have been roughly £750, which was widely judged as inadequate compared to the £1,400 flat alternative. The trade-off was that higher-paid staff got proportionately less.
- Why did Band 8d and 9 get a different uplift?
- The PRB recommended that Bands 8d and 9 receive percentage uplifts (4% and 3.5%) rather than the flat £1,400, on the basis that a £1,400 uplift was a smaller percentage for already-high earners. Critics argued the inconsistency between Band 8c and Band 8d was hard to justify.