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2026 pay and TCS advisory notices

Pay and terms and conditions advisory notices during 2026 for staff employed under the NHS terms and conditions of service.

1 April 2026

This notice advises of the publication of version 61 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook on 1 April 2026. The list of amendments are detailed below:

Is the section new or amended?	Section / annex of the NHS TCS Handbook	Key amendments
Amended	Annex 2: Pay bands and pay points	Pay scales for the financial year 2026/27 have been updated to reflect the pay award, effective from 1 April 2026.
Amended	Annex 3: Pay bands and pay points on the second pay spine in England	Pay scales have uploaded to reflect previous pay scales for financial year 2025/26.
Amended	Annex 9: High cost area supplements (HCAS)	The minimum and maximum rates have been uplifted and the updates rates can be found in Table 1. This change is effective from 1 April 2026.

This notice advises of the publication of version 61 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook on 1 April 2026. The list of amendments is detailed below:

Is the section new or amended?	Section / annex of the NHS TCS Handbook	Key amendments
Amended	Section 15: Leave and pay for new parents	Section 15.119 has been added to reflect the Bereaved partners leave statutory provisions coming into force on 6 April 2026. This will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.
Amended	Section 18: Subsistence allowances (Now Section 18: Work related allowances and reimbursement of expenses)	Section 18 has been renamed and updated as part of the Terms and Conditions of Service handbook review. language, terminology and additional clarity has been updated to reflect the modern workforce.
Amended	Section 19: Other terms and conditions	Section 19 has been updated as part of the Terms and Conditions of Service handbook review, language and terminology has been updated to reflect the modern workforce.
NEW	Annex 31: NHS Job Evaluation Scheme Enabling Agreement	Annex 31 has been added to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service handbook following the outcome of 2023 non-pay deal recommendations to provide clarity and support the application of the Job Evaluation Scheme.

This notice advises of the publication of version 60 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook on 5 January 2026. The list of amendments are detailed below:

Is the section new or amended?	Section / annex of the NHS TCS Handbook	Key amendments
Amended	Section 17: Reimbursement of travel costs	Section 17 has been added to reflect the change in mileage rates following the November 2025 review. Table 7 details the new mileage reimbursement rates which will be applied from 1 January 2026.
Amended	Section 40: National bodies and procedures	Section 40 has been updated to reflect the name change of The Federation of Clinical Scientists (FCS) to the Association for Laboratory Medicine.
Amended	Annex 12: Motoring costs	Table 17 has been updated following the November 2025 mileage reimbursement review to reflect changes in motoring costs. The new amounts in table 17 will be applied from 1 January 2026.
Amended	Annex 20: Development of Professional roles	Annex 20 has been updated following the outcome of 2023 non-pay deal recommendations to provide clarity that the provisions can apply to nursing roles.

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