NHS Employers

NHS Employers describes itself as the employers' organisation for the NHS in England, and it is part of The NHS Alliance. It represents employers' views in health policy, leads national relationships with NHS trade unions on pay, terms and conditions and pensions on behalf of the NHS and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and supports employers with advice and networks.

It is not a recruiter or a regulator. You cannot apply to NHS Employers for a job, and it does not register nurses or doctors. You meet it because so many of the documents that shape your job come from it.

NHS Employers publishes the annual Agenda for Change pay scales, including the high cost area supplement for London, and the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook that sets hours, leave, sick pay and unsocial hours payments for most non-medical staff. For 2026/27 it published pay scales effective from 1 April 2026. It also publishes guidance on the NHS Pension Scheme contribution rates. Our NHS pay band explorer uses these scales.

NHS Employers sets out the type and level of checks employers must carry out before recruiting staff into NHS positions:

1. identity checks
2. criminal record checks, such as the DBS check
3. work health assessments, also called occupational health clearance
4. professional registration and qualification checks, including English
5. right to work checks
6. employment history and reference checks

Knowing these helps you prepare documents before your offer, which shortens the time to your start date.

NHS Employers says the standards cover all NHS appointments and also apply to people doing unpaid work in the NHS, such as volunteers, trainees and students. They are also built into national framework agreements for agencies, so agency staff are checked to the same standard.

The Code of Practice for international recruitment, last revised on 27 March 2025, is the Department of Health and Social Care's code for England, and NHS Employers maintains the Ethical Recruiters List that goes with it. NHS Employers says the list should be used by all health and social care organisations recruiting internationally, and organisations can be removed if found to breach the Code. The Code restricts active recruitment from countries on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list unless a government-to-government agreement is in place, and bans charging candidates fees for finding them work.

• Thinking NHS Employers covers the whole UK. It describes itself as the employers' organisation for the NHS in England.
• Treating it as a complaints route. Concerns about your employer go to the employer first, and concerns about an agency can be raised against the Code.
• Using old pay scales. Check the year on any table.

See our nurse salary comparison and NHS doctor salary guide.