Data sources

Each pay dataset in this project records its scale year, effective date and primary publisher, for example NHS Employers for Agenda for Change (AfC), the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), the National Joint Council (NJC) Green Book for councils, or the Civil Service pay remit. Leave, sick pay and maternity rules reference sector handbooks or published terms stored as structured JSON alongside the calculators.

Calculator pages show a Where these figures come from or Assumptions panel where relevant. The homepage trust strip shows the latest dataset review date (9/10/2026). Significant content and data changes are listed on the changelog.

We aim to cite official publishers rather than third-party summaries. When a source moves or a pay award lands, we update datasets and rebuild the site. We do not hot-patch live pages outside a build.

Each source in the Where these figures come from panel is labelled Strong, Fair or Limited.

Strong (national framework): we use published national rates or handbook terms directly (for example AfC spine points, NHS high cost area supplement (HCAS) percentages and limits, STPCD ranges, statutory sick pay (SSP) and statutory maternity pay (SMP) rates, 2026/27 tax thresholds).

Fair (check your employer): we use typical framework rules or illustrative allowances, such as teaching and learning responsibility (TLR) payment ranges and generic unsocial hours, that payroll may apply differently.

Limited (confirm locally): academies, trusts, councils and departments may pay spot salaries, market supplements or local spinal column points not in our datasets. Treat those outputs as a starting point only.

Each pay dataset the calculators use is listed below with its publisher, the pay year its figures cover and the date we last checked it against that source.

• NHS staff on Agenda for Change (AfC): NHS Employers: AfC pay scales 2026/27. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 9/10/2026.
• Resident (junior) doctors in England: NHS Employers: pay and conditions circulars for medical and dental staff. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 7/10/2026.
• NHS consultants in England (2003 contract): NHS Employers: pay and conditions circulars for medical and dental staff. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 7/10/2026.
• Salaried GPs in England: NHS Employers: pay and conditions circulars for medical and dental staff. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 4/9/2026. We use the national minimum and maximum of the salary range.
• Teachers in England: Department for Education: School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), and School Teachers’ Review Body reports. 2026/27 figures from 1/9/2026, reviewed 9/10/2026. Until the 2026 document is published, our 2026/27 figures add the accepted 3.5% award to the 2025 document’s pay points. School support staff on these pages use council pay points.
• Further education colleges in England: Association of Colleges. 2025/26 figures, reviewed 8/10/2026. Illustrative college pay spines: each college sets its own pay. The Association of Colleges recommended a 3.5% rise for 2026/27 on 2/10/2026 where colleges can afford it; it is not binding and is not added to these figures.
• Universities: Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA): national pay round 2025/26. 2025/26 figures from 1/8/2025, reviewed 8/10/2026. Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Research Fellow figures are national pay spine points. The 2% uplift from 1/8/2026 is not included yet because no 2026/27 spine table has been published. Professor and Head of School or Dean figures are illustrative.
• Civil Service: Cabinet Office: Civil Service pay remit guidance 2026 to 2027. 2026/27 figures, reviewed 4/9/2026. Illustrative national ranges: each department sets its own grade pay.
• Councils: Local Government Association for the National Joint Council (NJC): local government services pay agreement 2026. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 6/10/2026. Chief officer and London weighting figures are illustrative.
• Police officers in England and Wales: Home Office: Circular 011/2026, Annex F (police pay), and Police Remuneration Review Body reports. 2026/27 figures, reviewed 8/10/2026. Constable and chief officer figures are the published pay points from 1/9/2025. Sergeant to Chief Superintendent figures add the 3.5% award from 1/9/2026 and are estimates until the Home Office publishes the new pay points. Police community support officer (PCSO) bands are illustrative.
• Fire and rescue services: NJC for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services: circular NJC/2/26, pay award 2026. 2026/27 figures from 1/7/2026, reviewed 4/9/2026. Brigade manager figures are illustrative.
• Prisons and probation (HM Prison and Probation Service): Prison Service Pay Review Body: Twenty-Fifth Report on England and Wales 2026. 2026/27 figures, reviewed 4/9/2026. Probation grade figures are illustrative.
• Courts and judiciary: Ministry of Justice: Judicial salaries and fees 2026 to 2027. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 6/10/2026. Judges use the published salary for their post. Court staff figures are illustrative.
• Armed forces: Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body: Fifty-Fifth Report 2026. 2026/27 figures from 1/4/2026, reviewed 30/9/2026.
• Transport bodies: 2026/27 figures, reviewed 4/9/2026. No national pay scale: Transport for London (TfL), Network Rail and other employers set their own pay, so these bands are illustrative.
• Roles and tools without a sector dataset: 2025/26 figures, reviewed 4/9/2026. General illustrative ranges, not tied to any pay agreement.
• Pay review bodies: GOV.UK: Office for the Pay Review Bodies, reports for NHS staff, doctors, teachers, prisons, police and the armed forces.

• GOV.UK: rates and thresholds for employers 2026/27: income tax and National Insurance
• GOV.UK: maternity and paternity calculator: statutory amounts
• Acas: SSP changes 2026: statutory sick pay

Take-home calculators on this site use England, Wales and Northern Ireland income tax bands unless stated otherwise. Scotland has different rates. Student loan and tax code options on take-home tools are illustrative.

NHS HCAS, schools TLR, London weighting, unsocial hours and local supplements are often not in basic spine data. See our HCAS and TLR allowances guide and per-role allowances calculators. HCAS percentages, minimums and maximums follow the NHS Employers 2026/27 figures (from 1/4/2026) in our NHS dataset.

TLR amounts follow STPCD statutory ranges. Civil Service London weighting and NJC local supplements are employer-specific; we use published framework hints where available.

Pay scales live in data/datasets/*.json with _meta blocks for source URL and last reviewed date. Leave, sick pay and maternity rules use separate JSON rule files referenced at build time. Tax thresholds for take-home tools follow the stated UK tax year in the build.

When NHS Employers, STPCD or NJC publish updates, we adjust datasets, re-run node build/build-pages.js, and upload the rebuilt pages. There is no live database on the public site.

If a spine point, leave tier or statutory figure looks wrong, contact us with the page URL, the value you expected and a link to the official source. Confirmed fixes ship in the next site build.