Estimate your NHS 2015 Scheme pension: career-average build-up at 1/54, contribution tier and optional lump sum.
By Konstantin Iakovlev · Founder, Calks.uk
Last updated: · Verified against HMRC and GOV.UK 2026/27 rates
Rates verified: 28 September 2026
Quick Answer
The NHS 2015 Scheme is career-average: every year you bank 1/54 of your pensionable pay as annual pension, revalued at CPI + 1.5% while you keep working. A Band 6 nurse on £39,959 banks ~£740 of yearly pension each year; over a 30-year career that builds to a projected pension of roughly £27,100/year in today's money from State Pension age, then rises with CPI for life.
Your Agenda for Change / medical basic pay
Projected Annual NHS Pension (today's money)
£27,077.56
£2,256.46/month from State Pension age in today's money, then rising with CPI for life
Banked This Year
£739.98
Your Contribution
9.8%
Cost/Month (gross)
£326.33
After Tax Relief*
£261.07
Optional tax-free lump sum: exchange pension at £12 lump sum per £1 given up — up to £116,046.70 lump sum with a reduced pension of £17,407.00/year. That is the HMRC maximum: 25% of the capital value (20 × the reduced pension plus the lump sum).
*Contributions come out before tax, so the net cost is after income tax relief at rUK rates (England, Wales and NI; Scottish rates differ). Figures are in today's money: the estimate assumes your pay keeps pace with CPI and revaluation of CPI + 1.5% (2015 scheme only — 1995/2008 legacy and McCloud remedy service is on top). Check your Total Reward Statement for exact figures.
Disclaimer
This calculator is for guidance only. It is not financial or tax advice: check anything you rely on against the official source or a qualified adviser. Rates and figures come from HMRC, GOV.UK and The Pensions Regulator and are reviewed for the 2026/27 tax year. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to our servers.
How It Works
Since April 2022 all active NHS staff build pension in the 2015 Scheme, a career-average (CARE) arrangement. Each scheme year you earn a pension credit of 1/54 of that year's pensionable pay. The credit is then revalued every year you remain in service at CPI + 1.5%, deliberately faster than prices, so early-career earnings do not wither away.
Member contributions are tiered by pay, running from 5.2% on the lowest band to 12.5% at the top, with a Band 6 nurse on the £39,959 entry point sitting at 9.8%. They are taken before tax, so the real cost is 20% to 45% lower than the headline rate, depending on where your marginal rate falls. Your employer adds 23.7% of pay on top, one reason the NHS pension is widely considered the best part of the AfC package.
There is no invested pot behind any of this. The amount is set by the formula and backed by the Exchequer, so a bad year in the markets cannot reduce it. One year of membership on £39,959 adds £739.98 of annual pension, and a nurse ten years into a career has already banked roughly £7,400, which carries on revaluing for as long as she stays in NHS employment.
The pension is payable in full from your State Pension age. Taking it earlier reduces it, by roughly 4% to 5% for each year drawn early, while working past Normal Pension Age earns late-retirement uplifts instead. At retirement you can exchange pension for a tax-free lump sum at £12 of lump sum per £1 of pension given up, to an HMRC maximum of 25% of the capital value after commutation (20 times the reduced pension plus the lump sum). That limit works out at about 4.29 times the pension before commutation and cuts the pension by about 36%, and the tax-free cash can never exceed the £268,275 Lump Sum Allowance. In the worked example below, the maximum swap gives up about £9,671 a year of pension for about £116,047 of cash.
Service before 2022 in the 1995 or 2008 sections is calculated separately on final-salary rules and paid on top of the figure here. That includes the McCloud remedy period from 2015 to 2022, for which eligible members choose the better scheme at retirement rather than being fixed to one set of rules.
This calculator projects your 2015-scheme pension in today's money, on the assumption that your pay keeps pace with inflation and revaluation runs at the standard CPI + 1.5%, so legacy service is an addition to what you see rather than part of it. The definitive numbers are on your Total Reward Statement (TRS), which is worth checking annually, and Additional Pension or AVCs are the usual route if you want to stop work before State Pension age.
Example: Band 6 nurse, £39,959, 10 years in + 20 to go
- Each year banks £39,959 ÷ 54 = £739.98 of annual pension
- Already banked: ~£7,400 (10 years), revaluing at CPI + 1.5% while active
- With 20 more years the projection builds to about £27,078/year at State Pension age, in today's money
- Contribution tier at £39,959: 9.8% = £326.33/month gross, £261.07 after basic-rate tax relief
- Optional: take the maximum tax-free lump sum of about £116,047 (£12 per £1 of pension), leaving a pension of £17,407/year
Frequently Asked Questions
- How does the NHS 2015 pension build up each year?
- It is a career-average scheme rather than a pot of invested money. Each scheme year you bank 1/54 of that year's pensionable pay as annual pension, which on £38,000 comes to £703.70. While you stay in NHS employment, everything already banked is revalued each April at CPI + 1.5%, so it grows faster than prices. After a full career the result is a guaranteed, index-linked income for life from State Pension age, alongside generous ill-health and death-in-service cover.
- Is the NHS pension worth the contributions on a tight budget?
- Contributions are deducted before tax, so a 9.8% headline rate nets down to roughly 7.8% of gross pay at basic rate, about £310 a month before relief and £248 after it. What that money buys is index-linked income for life: a year worked at £38,000 would cost £15,000 to £20,000 to replicate as an annuity on the open market. Add the 23.7% paid in by the employer and opting out means handing back a slice of your salary.
- What happens to my service before April 2022?
- It sits in the legacy 1995 or 2008 sections and is worked out on final-salary rules, with different Normal Pension Ages of 60 and 65, then paid in addition to your 2015 CARE pension. For the remedy period between April 2015 and March 2022, the McCloud age-discrimination ruling lets affected members pick whichever of the legacy or 2015 benefits is better for those seven years, decided at retirement. Your Total Reward Statement lists each element separately.
- Can I take my NHS pension before State Pension age?
- Yes, from age 55, rising to 57 from April 2028, though the 2015-scheme pension is actuarially reduced by roughly 4% to 5% for every year drawn early, so going five years ahead of State Pension age costs around 20% to 23% for life. Members soften that by buying Early Retirement Reduction Buy Out (ERRBO) during their career, by building AVCs or a SIPP to bridge the early years, or by using partial retirement, which since October 2023 allows up to 100% of the pension to be drawn while working reduced hours.