Profession · 2026/27
F1 Junior Doctor Salary 2026/27
F1 is the first year of medical foundation training. Basic pay £38,831 (England, BMA 2016 contract nodal point 1, in force for 2026/27); typical take-home including banding/unsocial-hours is 20-40% higher than basic.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £41,635
- Typical range
- £38,831–£44,439
- Take-home at median
- £33,497
England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn about 11% above the UK full-time median (£37,430), placing you in the top 43% of UK earners.
What influences junior doctor (f1) pay
Basic F1 pay (BMA 2016 contract nodal 1, England) is £38,831 per year. However, most F1s work rotas with nights/weekends generating an additional 15-30% from night supplements (37%), weekend allowance (7.5-15%), and London weighting where applicable.
Scotland and Wales F1 pay is set separately under their respective national settlements - Scottish F1 basic typically sits at or slightly above the England nodal point. Northern Ireland has its own contract.
NHS pension at F1 contribution tier is around 9.8% (bands are inflation-adjusted annually). Net pay arrangement, full Income Tax relief. Junior doctor pensions are still DB (1/54th accrual, CARE) and among the strongest parts of the total-comp package.
Career progression
- F1 (Foundation Year 1): £38,831 basic England.
- F2 (Foundation Year 2): £44,439 basic England.
- CT1/ST1 (Core/Specialty Training year 1): £52,656.
- CT2/ST2 onwards: rises through 8+ spine points across specialty training.
- Consultant (post-CCT): £109,725 entry, progressing to £145,478 in England.
Frequently asked questions
- What does an F1 actually take home 2026/27?
- Basic £38,831 with 9.8% NHS pension gives about £26,500-£27,000 before unsocial-hours uplift. Including typical rota uplift of 20-40%, many F1s see total gross £44-51k and take home £31-35k.
- Do doctors lose money on the pension annual allowance?
- High-earning senior doctors (consultants with significant additional income) occasionally breach the £60,000 annual pension allowance due to the pension-input-amount calculation for DB schemes. For F1s this is not a concern.