NHS, teachers, police: the 2025-26 UK public sector pay awards, decoded

August 2026 update — With all major UK public-sector Pay Review Body decisions for 2025-26 now confirmed and paid, this is the definitive picture of who got what — and how much of it survived inflation.

Between May and July 2025, the UK government accepted the Pay Review Body (PRB) recommendations for the largest public-sector workforces in England. Awards were backdated to April or September depending on group. Here is what actually landed in payslips.

The 2025-26 awards at a glance

• NHS Agenda for Change staff (England): 3.6% — announced 22 May 2025, backdated to 1 April 2025.
• NHS resident doctors: 5.4% average (4% consolidated plus £750 flat sum) — accepted May 2025.
• Teachers (England): 4% for 2025-26.
• Police officers: 4.5% from 1 September 2025.

CPIH inflation over the same period ran at roughly 3.2%, meaning every one of these groups received a real-terms increase — the first time all four have done so in a single year since 2020.

NHS Agenda for Change: 3.6% and what it means for nurses

The 3.6% AfC uplift covers around 1.4 million NHS staff in England, including all nurses, health visitors, midwives, ambulance clinicians, and healthcare support workers. It was backdated to April 2025 and paid in arrears through the summer of 2025.

For a Band 5 nurse at the top of scale, the uplift moved base pay from roughly £36,483 to £37,796. For a Band 7 senior nurse at the top of scale, base pay moved to £54,710. Our UK nurse salary guide by region for 2026 has the full regional and specialty breakdown.

Police: 4.5% — the biggest headline number of the four

The 4.5% police award from September 2025 was the largest of the main uniformed-service awards. It applies to police officer ranks in England and Wales. Combined with the Metropolitan Police allowance and London weighting, the award moves top-of-scale constable pay meaningfully above the £50,000 threshold in London.

See our UK police officer salary guide by region for 2026 for the current pay-scale table by force area.

Paramedics: covered by the AfC 3.6%

Paramedics in the NHS are covered by the Agenda for Change deal — the same 3.6% uplift applied. Senior paramedics on Band 6 and Band 7 saw the largest cash gains; newly qualified paramedics on Band 5 saw the smallest. Our UK paramedic salary guide by region for 2026 shows how the ranges shift across ambulance trusts.

Resident doctors: the biggest deal, but the most contested

The resident doctors' award of a 4% consolidated uplift plus a £750 flat sum produced an average headline gain of 5.4% — the largest of the four. It followed extended industrial action in 2024 and early 2025, and was pitched by the Department of Health as a settlement rather than a routine PRB award.

Real-terms takeaway

With CPIH at roughly 3.2% over the same period, every award beat inflation:

• NHS AfC: +0.4% real-terms
• Teachers: +0.8% real-terms
• Police: +1.3% real-terms
• Resident doctors: +2.2% real-terms

That is a genuine change of direction. Between 2010 and 2023, most public-sector real-terms pay was flat or negative in every year but two.

Methodology and sources

Award figures are drawn from the UK government's NHS Pay Award 2025 to 2026: Agenda for Change staff announcement (Department of Health and Social Care, 27 May 2025) and the corresponding announcements for the School Teachers' Review Body, Police Remuneration Review Body and the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body in the same year. CPIH data is drawn from the ONS Consumer Price Inflation series to July 2026.