How Much Does a Nurse Earn in the UK?
Being a nurse is a job that requires a lot of empathy and patience. The main task of nurses is to care for patients in the hospital. They help them recover by taking care of their essential needs. Few people understand how mentally and physically demanding this profession can be. Some patients can be very problematic and very unpleasant. However, working as a nurse has its advantages, and in this article, we will try to answer whether earnings are one of them. What is the nurses’ salary in the UK?
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How Much Do Nurses Get Paid?
There is a visible gap in nurses’ salaries in the UK between an experienced and a newly qualified nurse. If you are just beginning your career in this profession, you should not be surprised that your earnings are below the national average. With time, you will be able to count on better and better income.
What is the average nurse salary in the UK? According to indeed.com, the national average wage is £30,380 per year. Of course, the average is higher in big cities than in small towns. As a nurse, you can expect to earn the best in the capital – London. This is related to the Agenda for Change, which we will discuss in a moment. However, this is often accompanied by more duties, as most hospitals in London are under siege throughout the year.
If you enter the nursing profession, your annual earnings will be visibly lower, as newly qualified nurses start at £24,000 per year. However, you do not have to worry, because, with each year of experience, you can expect a higher payout
A senior nurse on Band 6 of Agenda for Change earns between £31,365 and £37,890. The visible difference in earnings shows that experience is valued in this profession
What are the most experienced nurses paid? On Bands 7 to 8C, salaries range from £38,890 to £73,664. The highest of them go to the lead nurses, the modern senior nurses and the nursing consultants.
Agenda for Change
This is a payroll scheme subject to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service. The current terms and conditions apply from April 2022. It sets salaries for most healthcare workers, with the exception of doctors, dentists and people in higher positions. In addition to the standard wages of nurses, there are also extras for people employed in high-cost areas, as mentioned above.
Extras for high-cost areas are:
- Inner London
20% of the basic nurse salary and the maximum is £7,377
- Outer London
15% of the basic nurse salary and the maximum is £5,177
- Suburbs
5% of the basic nurse salary and the maximum is £1,915
Pay rates are divided into special Bands, with the lowest Band 1 and the highest Band 9. It usually takes a year to move from one level to the next. Of course, not every profession can reach the highest Bands, where earnings are even above £100,000 per year. This level of earnings is possible for chief financial officers managers or directors.
Working Hours
Nurses usually work 36 to 40 hours a week. However, it is rare to have only 8-hour shifts in a week. You also have to be prepared for night shifts. This is understandable because your job consists largely of caring for patients who need help at any time of the day.
Depending on the facility, 12-hour shifts are popular, usually from 7 pm to 7 am or vice versa. Here your seniority will be important because often the work is done according to a schedule set by supervisors and it happens that more experienced staff have priority in some situations.
Your working hours will depend greatly on what kind of nurse you want to become. It is therefore worth considering which shift system suits you best before taking up employment. The simplest example would be a school nurse whose working hours coincide with the usual school hours. A nurse working with an infant, on the other hand, has to take into account the changes at different times of the day and often non-standard hour schedules.
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