Business Services Organisation
Frequently Asked Questions: Medical and Dental Staff
2025/2026 Pay Award Implementation
Section 1 – 2025/2026 Pay Rates
- What is the pay award and am I due to receive it?
The Department of Health have released the 2025/2026 pay arrangements for Medical and Dental staff advising of a 4% pay uplift for eligible staff.
Increases to national salary scales from 1 April 2025 for:
- Medical and dental basic salary scales have been uplifted by 4%.
- This includes consultants; SAS doctors and dentists; resident doctors and resident dentists; salaried dentists, including those working in Community Dental Services and Public Dental Service; contractor general medical practitioners; salaried GP pay ranges; and the pay element of dental contracts.
- Plus a consolidated uplift of £750 for resident doctors and resident dentists as per the DDRB recommendation.
- Values of Clinical Excellence awards are unchanged.
Salaried Dental and Community Dental Care Staff
- Salaried dental and community dental staff; basic salary has been increased by 4%.
Salaried GPs
- The minimum and maximum of the pay range for salaried GPs employed on the salaried GP contract have been increased by 4% to £77,140 – £116,406.
GP Educators
- GP educators basic salary has been uplifted by 4%.
The pay award applies only to Hospital Medical and Dental staff and Doctors in Public Health, Community Dental Services, salaried Dental staff and salaried General Practitioners on National Terms and Conditions.
- When is the pay award effective from?
The DoH have advised HSC Employers that the Pay Award is effective from the 01 April 2025.
- What are the new pay rates?
The 2025/2026 pay award circular can be accessed via the below the link:
HSC (TC8) 05 2025 – Pay and Conditions of Service for Hospital Medical and Dental Staff.PDF
- When will I see a change to my salary?
The majority of staff will have the uplift applied to their pay in February 2026.
- Will the pay award affect the amount of deductions (i.e. tax, national insurance) from my salary?
Any increase to gross pay will increase the amount deducted in tax, national insurance, pension contributions and statutory deductions such as student loans.
- Does the pay award have any effect on allowances, additional hours and APAs?
Allowances, additional hours and APA payment amounts will be recalculated using the new pay rates and backdated to 01 April 2025.
Allowances include, but are not limited to, on-call and availability supplement.
- Will I receive arrears?
For staff enrolled in the HSC Pension Scheme, a review will take place of the percentage of pension contributions you pay. If the increase to your salary results in you paying more pension contributions, this will also be backdated to 01 April 2025 and any money owed recouped from your arrears.
- I have been on family leave (i.e. maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental), will there be any change to my pay?
For staff whose family leave commenced prior to 01 April 2025, arrears will be paid on all qualifying entitlement received since 01 April 2025.
For staff whose family leave commenced on or after 01 April 2025, arrears will be paid on all payments received to date and any future payments will be increased in line with the pay award uplift. This applies to all staff on various leave types which include maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental.
- How is any sick pay I have received impacted by the pay award?
If you have been on sick leave since 01 April 2025 and received occupational sick pay, your pay will be recalculated based on the new rates. If you are owed arrears, these will be paid In February 2026 and will appear as ‘OSP payment’ on your payslip. If you were on nil pay whilst off sick, you will not be due any payment for that period.
- I have an overpayment plan in place because I have been overpaid, will this affect the arrears I receive?
If you are a current employee who has a repayment plan* in place you will receive the arrears due unless an arrangement has been agreed with your Trust to recover against your arrears
*Please note that this information applies only to repayments that are being deducted directly from an active employee’s salary via repayment plans managed by the Payroll Service.
If you have been notified by payroll of an overpayment and there is no repayment plan in place, or you have currently been invoiced for an overpayment, any arrears owing will be offset against the overpayment
If you have moved employer from one HSC Organisation to another, and have an existing repayment arrangement for a debt that was invoiced to you by BSO Accounts Receivable as a leaver from that HSC Organisation, then any outstanding arrears owed to you may still be used to reduce the remaining balance.
- What happens if I have moved employer since 01 April 2025?
The increase to pay rates will be applied to all eligible staff directly employed by the HSC from 01 April 2025. If you have subsequently left your post, your previous HSC employer will pay any arrears owed to you for the period that you worked for them. PSC will use the last bank details held on their system.
If you have previously been overpaid by your previous HSC employer arrears from the pay award will be deducted from any outstanding monies in line with the overpayment letter you will have originally received.
If you have any queries regarding this information, you need to speak with your previous HSC employer
- Will the pay award affect benefits I receive?
The increased pay rates may have an impact on benefits paid to you from 01 April 2025 and any benefits claimed going forward. If you are in receipt of benefits and concerned about the potential impact of the pay award, please contact your local advice centre (e.g. Advice NI).
Full arrears will be paid in February 2026. There is no option for pay arrears to be spread over a period of time.
- Will the pay award have an impact on travel claimed?
No, there is no change to the rates payable for travel claimed.
- Will I receive a P60 once the 2025/26 Pay Award is paid to me in February?
Your P60 for the financial year April 2025 to March 2026 will be issued to you before 31 May 2026. As the 2025/26 pay award is being paid in financial year April 2025 to March 2026 it will show in this year’s P60.
Section 2: HSC Pension Scheme
The following questions are applicable to those that are members of the HSC Pension Scheme. Further information on pensions can be found on the HSC Pensions website (https://hscpensions.hscni.net/) or by clicking here.
- What are the contribution rates for my pension?
Both HSC employers and staff enrolled in the HSC Pension Scheme contribute to their pension. Up until the 31 March 2024 employers paid a flat rate of 22.5% from the 01 April 2024 the employer’s contribution rate has risen to 23.2%.
An employee’s contribution rate is dependent on their total pensionable earnings – the higher your pensionable pay the higher your contribution rate may be.
The table below set out the contribution tiers in place from 01 April 2025 as a result of the pay award.
| Tier | Pensionable earnings (based on actual salary) | Contribution rate (before tax relief) (gross) |
| 1 | Up to £13,259 | 5.2% |
| 2 | £13,260 to £27,797 | 6.7% |
| 3 | £27,798 to £33,868 | 8.5% |
| 4 | £33,869 to £50,845 | 10.0% |
| 5 | £50,846 to £65,190 | 10.9% |
| 6 | £65,191 and above | 12.7% |
- How are total pensionable earnings calculated?
In order to establish your total Pensionable Earnings for the period 01 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 the following calculation is used:
New Actual Basic Pay (from 01/04/2025)
+ Prior Year’s pensionable Enhancements
– Salary Sacrifices
= Pensionable Earnings
- What elements of pay form part of pensionable earnings?
Not all payment types are pensionable therefore not all elements of pay form part of your pensionable earnings. Please refer to HSC Pension Service website for further information.
Section 5: Pensionable Pay and Contributions – HSC Pension Service (hscni.net)
- Does my salary sacrifice affect pensionable earnings?
Yes, a salary sacrifice is deducted from your salary thus reducing your total pensionable earnings. Active salary sacrifice (i.e. childcare vouchers, cycle-to-work scheme, and lease car) from 01 April 2025 will be taken into consideration when calculating your total pensionable earnings.
- Is there any impact on the amount of pension contributions I pay?
As a result of the pay award, the percentage you pay on your contributions may change following a change to your pensionable earnings. An assessment will be undertaken by PSC on each individual employee to determine the correct contribution rate. Any refunds or additional contributions will be paid or deducted as part of the arrears paid to you
It is anticipated most staff will continue to pay the same rate for the year 2025/26.
- If I have moved to a higher pension contribution tier, is money owed to my pension recouped from my pay award arrears?
Yes, if the increase to your pensionable earnings results in you moving to a higher pension contribution tier you will owe money on your pension which will be deducted from your arrears.
- Can the increase to my pay be less than the increase to the pension contributions I will pay?
Yes, on some occasions employees will receive a pay award where the percentage increase to their salary is less than the percentage increase in pension contribution.
- What happens if the amount of arrears owed to me is less than the pension contributions I owe?
Most staff affected by the pension band review will not owe monies in excess of arrears owed to them. However, there may be a small number of staff will not have sufficient arrears from the pay award to cover their underpaid pension contributions.
Recovery of this will be in line with the regional overpayment policy and will be specific for each individual employee affected.
If you find you are affected in this way by more than 10% of your normal net pay, an automatic salary advance will be paid to you to offset this. This means you will receive monies to cover what is owed by you in the month of February 2026. Any arrears will be used to reduce your overpayment, and the remainder will be recovered in line with the regionally agreed Overpayments Policy.
For those who owe less than 10% of your net pay, the amount owed will be recouped from your February salary.
You will not have to ask or apply for this. Individual arrangements will be communicated to you separately.
Should you be happy to pay the deficit without putting in place a repayment plan, you can make arrangements to do this by contacting PSC directly and the repayment plan will be cancelled.
- How will I know if my arrears from the pay award are less than the pension contributions I owe?
If it is determined that you will not receive arrears due to the recalculation of pension contributions Payroll Service Centre will endeavour to write to you in advance of you receiving your February pay.
24. Will the pay award affect my pension annual allowance and could it result in additional tax liabilities for me?
Your pension growth and its impact on your annual allowance is affected by many factors including the increase in pay you will receive from the pay award. You should seek independent financial advice if you are concerned about additional tax liabilities.
The pay award will be applied from 01 April 2025 and therefore it is possible to use unused previous years’ annual allowances.
25. When will my payslip be available to me?
Your payslip is available on HRPTS within 2 days of pay day, and printed payslips will also be posted in advance of payday.