Army Lance Corporal Salary 2026/27: OR-3 Take-Home
Lance Corporal is the first rank above Private, OR-3 on the NATO scale. Pay in 2026/27 runs from £35,310 to £41,164 across three increment levels and four trade supplements. The scale carries the 3.6% award accepted in full on 9 June 2026, and the figures already include X-Factor.
Typical pay & take-home
- OR3-02, supplement 1
- £36,892
- Typical range
- £35,310–£41,164
- Take-home at median
- £30,082 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn 5% below the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you in the bottom 45% of UK earners.
See exact take-home for £36,892 →
The AFPRB scales after the 3.6% award, with the four trade supplements for Other Ranks and take-home on a non-contributory pension: Armed forces pay scales 2026/27, every rank →
What influences army lance corporal (or-3) pay
OR-3 shares its published pay points with the upper increments of OR-2, so the AFPRB table lists them together as "OR2-08 / OR3-01" and so on. A Lance Corporal on the first increment is paid the same as a Private on the eighth. Promotion to OR-3 matters because it opens the higher increments, not because the rank alone carries a step.
Only three increment levels exist at OR-3, against ten at OR-2, so progression here is quicker to exhaust. The next real jump is promotion to Corporal, where the range starts at £40,989.
Trade supplement spreads the same increment by up to £2,611 a year at the top. It is assigned to the trade by the MOD, not earned.
X-Factor is already included in every figure. The Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 is non-contributory, so no member contribution comes off pay.
Career progression
- Private (OR-2): £27,282 to £41,164.
- Lance Corporal (OR-3): £35,310 to £41,164.
- Corporal (OR-4): £40,989 to £48,497.
- Sergeant (OR-6): £46,022 to £56,611.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a Lance Corporal take home 2026/27?
- On the £35,310 bottom of the range, take-home is about £28,943 a year or £2,412 a month, after Income Tax and National Insurance and with no pension deduction. At the £41,164 top it is about £33,158.
- Does promotion from Private to Lance Corporal come with a pay rise?
- Not automatically. The two ranks share published pay points - a Lance Corporal on increment 1 is on the same figure as a Private on increment 8. What promotion does is open the higher increments and put the next rank, Corporal at £40,989, within reach.