Profession · 2026/27
F1 Junior Doctor Salary 2026/27
F1 is the first year of medical foundation training. Basic pay £36,616 (England 2024/25); typical take-home including banding/unsocial-hours is 20-40% higher than basic.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £41,000
- Typical range
- £36,000–£46,000
- Take-home at median
- £33,040
England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn about 10% above the UK full-time median (£37,430), placing you in the top 44% of UK earners.
What influences junior doctor (f1) pay
Basic F1 pay (2024 contract uplift for England) is £36,616 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 — Scottish F1 basic 2024/25 is £39,000+, reflecting a more generous settlement. Northern Ireland has its own contract.
NHS pension at F1 contribution tier is 9.8% (2024/25 — bands are inflation-adjusted annually). Net pay arrangement, full IT 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): £36,616 basic England.
- F2 (Foundation Year 2): £42,008 basic England.
- CT1/ST1 (Core/Specialty Training year 1): £44,439.
- CT2/ST2 onwards: rises through 8+ spine points across specialty training.
- Consultant (post-CCT): £105,504 entry, progressing to £139,882 in England.
Frequently asked questions
- What does an F1 actually take home 2026/27?
- Basic £36,616 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.