Army Pay Scales 2026/27: Full Rates by Rank + LSA Levels

British Army pay rose by 3.6% for 2026/27, backdated to 1 April 2026. The scales below are the published AFPRB rates for every rank, and the figures include the 14.5% X-factor where it applies.

British Army pay is set under the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB) framework - a single pay system used across all three services, with rank-specific scales administered by Defence Business Services. The 2025/26 pay year delivered a 4.5% award across the remit group from 1 April 2025. The 2026/27 award has now been announced: a 3.6% rise for all ranks, backdated to 1 April 2026 (AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026; GOV.UK announcement, 9 June 2026). This guide explains how Army pay is built using the published 2026/27 scales (AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, effective 1 April 2026), including Other Ranks scales, Officer scales, the 14.5% X-factor, specialist supplements, and how the Army payslip should be read.

What each rank takes home

A Private on Initial Pay of £27,282 takes home about £1,930 a month. A Sergeant at the top of the Trade Supplement 1 OR-6 range, £50,598, takes home about £3,325, and a Captain at the top of OF-2, £64,852, about £4,014. Every figure below is computed from the AFPRB determination and the site's 2026/27 tax and National Insurance constants - none of it is typed by hand.

The Armed Forces Pay Review Body publishes one pay spine for all three Services, so an OR-6 in the Army, the RAF and the Royal Navy is paid the identical figure to the penny. The rank names differ; the rows do not. If you have compared this table against the Army or Royal Navy guide and found the same numbers, that is the determination, not a copying error.

AFPS 15 is non-contributory - there is no member contribution line, so unlike the NHS, teacher and police scales there is nothing coming off before income tax. That makes the published salary and the figure tax is charged on the same number, and it is the single biggest structural difference between forces pay and the other public-sector scales.

The published figures already include the 14.5% X-factor and Trade Supplement 1, which is how the AFPRB prints them, so they will not match a JPA basic-pay line on their own.

How Army pay is structured

Every Army Service person is paid on a defined pay scale linked to three dimensions:

• Rank - the seniority position (Private, Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Warrant Officer Class 2 and Class 1 for Other Ranks; Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel and above for officers).
• Pay Increment - within most ranks there are several increment levels reflecting time in rank, climbing one step on the anniversary date each year.
• Pay Spine - under the New Pay Model, soldiers sit on a Trade Supplement band (Supplement 1 to Supplement 4). Higher-skill trades attract a higher supplement column for the same rank and increment level.

Within these dimensions, a numerical pay level corresponds to an annual gross salary, paid monthly in 12 equal instalments by Defence Business Services payroll. Pay is reviewed annually on 1 April.

Other Ranks pay scale 2026/27

The figures below are the published AFPRB rates effective 1 April 2026, showing the span from the lowest increment on Supplement 1 to the highest increment on Supplement 4. Source: AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, Appendix 1, which states that "All salaries include X-Factor (where applicable)". The figures below are therefore the X-factor-inclusive salary, not basic pay - a distinction that catches people out when they compare a JPA payslip line against a published table.

The exact figure for any individual depends on their increment level and Trade Supplement band, 1 to 4. A new entrant starts at the bottom of the OR-2 range and moves up one increment on each anniversary in rank; specialist trades progress onto the higher Supplement columns instead. All figures: AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, Appendix 1, rates effective 1 April 2026, uplifted by the 3.6% award.

Officer pay scale 2026/27

These are the published AFPRB officer rates effective 1 April 2026. Source: AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, Appendix 1.

A Major's ceiling is OF3-08, £81,960. Table 1.5 runs on to OF3-13 at £90,371, but footnote 100 of that table says "OF3-09 to OF3-13 are only for RAF Engineer Officers, by selection", so those five increments are not open to an Army Major and the range above stops where the Army's does.

For reference, the next rank up - Brigadier (OF-6) - runs £137,874 to £143,406 in 2026/27. Above Brigadier the scales are published too. Senior Officer pay (OF7 and above) moved from the Review Body on Senior Salaries to the AFPRB in July 2025: "In July 2025 our remit letter formally moved consideration of the pay of Senior Officers to the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB). All Service personnel are now covered by a single Review Body" (paragraph 1.3). Table 1.5 of the Fifty-Fifth Report now prints OF7 to CDS rank-based increment by rank-based increment: Major General (OF-7) runs £151,825 to £164,054, Lieutenant General (OF-8) £181,743 to £210,000 and General (OF-9) £227,179 to £254,531 from 1 April 2026.

X-factor - the 14.5% across the board

Every Army Service person is paid an additional X-factor of 14.5% on top of basic pay. The X-factor compensates for the unique working conditions of military service:

• 24/7 availability for operational duty.
• Frequent unaccompanied deployment.
• Limited freedom of speech and association compared to civilian employees.
• Geographic mobility requirements.
• Hazards of military service.

The rate depends on commitment type and on seniority, not on how close you are to a pension point. MOD publishes 14.5% "for Regulars, Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) on Full Commitment and Mobilised Volunteer Reserves", 11.5% for Full Time Regular Restricted Separation, 5% for Part Time Volunteer Reserves, FTRS on Limited Commitment, Reserve personnel on Additional Duties Commitment and the Military Provost Guard Service, and 0% for FTRS on Home Commitment. On seniority: "The full rates of X-Factor are paid to all Other Ranks and Officer ranks up to OF4 (Commander / Lieutenant Colonel / Wing Commander) and it tapers above this" (MOD Discover My Benefits - X-Factor). X-factor applies to basic pay only, not to specialist supplements, allowances or LSA. It appears on the JPA payslip as its own line and is pensionable.

The arithmetic runs the other way from what people expect. The AFPRB publishes salaries with X-factor already in them, so to get back to basic pay you divide by 1.145 rather than multiplying the table figure by 14.5%. Doing it the wrong way round overstates the total by about 2%.

Specialist and trade supplements

Certain trades, qualifications and postings attract additional pay supplements on top of basic pay:

• Parachute Pay - paid to qualified personnel in parachute roles required to maintain jump currency.
• Special Forces - additional pay for serving members of UK Special Forces, reflecting selection and continuation requirements.
• Technical / Engineering trades - higher Trade Supplement banding (Supplement 3 or 4) for skilled trades such as Royal Engineers, REME technicians and communications specialists.
• Diving and EOD - specialist pay for divers and Explosive Ordnance Disposal operators.
• Military Working Animal handlers, linguists and other defined specialisms - paid by examined competence or qualification.

These supplements are shown separately on the payslip and they are not pensionable. AFPS 15 defines pensionable earnings as "Basic pay, but excluding allowances, expenses, bonuses, financial incentives, Loan Service Pay, and any form of Recruitment and Retention Pay" (MOD, AFPS 15: Your Pension Scheme Explained, glossary). Parachute Pay, Special Forces pay and diving and EOD pay are Recruitment and Retention Payments, so every one of them falls outside that definition. Trade Supplement is the exception that proves the point: it is not an add-on but a different column of basic pay, so it is inside pensionable earnings. Source for the rates: AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, Appendices 2 and 3.

Operational Allowance and Longer Separation Allowance

When deployed on operations:

• Operational Allowance - a tax-free daily payment for personnel deployed to designated operational theatres.
• Longer Separation Allowance (LSA) - paid for cumulative qualifying separation across a career, in sixteen Levels. Level 1 covers everything up to 280 days at £9.58 a day from 1 April 2026, and Level 16 (3,161 days and over) pays £43.77.

Operational Allowance is exempt from income tax by statute, under section 297A of ITEPA 2003; LSA is taxable. LSA rates are at Appendix 3 of the AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, and all of them rose 3.6% from 1 April 2026. See Service Personnel Tax Reliefs 2026 for the full breakdown.

Pension - AFPS 15

All new Army joiners since 1 April 2015 are automatically members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 (AFPS 15):

• Type: Defined Benefit (CARE - Career Average Revalued Earnings).
• Employee contribution: zero (non-contributory - exceptional among public-sector schemes).
• Accrual rate: 1/47 of pensionable pay per year.
• Revaluation: the Average Weekly Earnings index while serving. MOD's own booklet: "This growth, known as indexation, is based on the Average Weekly Earnings index." It is an earnings index, not CPI, and assuming CPI is the commonest way a do-it-yourself AFPS 15 estimate goes wrong.
• Early Departure Payment (EDP): a tax-free lump sum and a monthly income stream at the 20/40 point, which needs age 40 and 20 years of Regular service, both.
• Normal Pension Age: 60. "The NPA for AFPS 15 is 60."

Source for all four: MOD, AFPS 15: Your Pension Scheme Explained.

AFPS 15 is one of the most valuable schemes in UK public service. From 1 April 2024 "MOD's Armed Forces SCAPE employer contribution rate increased to 73.5% of pensionable pay" (AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, Appendix 4, footnote 107) - several times the employer rate in most other public-service schemes, and the reason the scheme can be non-contributory. The McCloud remedy applies to legacy AFPS 75 and AFPS 05 service for personnel who joined before April 2015.

See Armed Forces Pension AFPS 2026 for full pension detail.

How the Army payslip reads

Take a Corporal at the bottom of the OR-4 range on Trade Supplement 1, where the published 2026/27 salary is £40,989 - a figure that already includes X-factor.

The decomposition is £40,989 ÷ 1.145 = £35,798.25 of basic pay, leaving £5,190.75 of X-factor. Divided by 12 that gives the monthly figures above.

Below this come:

• AFPS 15 contribution: £0 (non-contributory).
• Income tax at marginal rate.
• Class 1 National Insurance.
• Accommodation and food charges (if living in single living accommodation or service family accommodation).

Year-to-date columns show cumulative gross pay, tax, and National Insurance for the tax year.

To check whether those tax, NI and AFPS 15 lines look right on your own JPA slip, see How do I check my payslip is correct?.

Tax code notes

Most Army personnel hold the standard 1257L tax code unless circumstances change:

• Welsh tax code if Welsh resident (C prefix).
• Scottish tax code if Scottish resident (S prefix). Service personnel can elect to retain the tax code of where they last lived as a civilian, administered separately by HMRC under MOD guidance.
• Emergency tax codes during initial enlistment, recovered via P800 reconciliation after the tax year ends.

If your code looks wrong - for example a BR or 0T code applied to all your pay - it is worth checking, because it can cost hundreds of pounds before HMRC catches up. See our tax code checker.

Pay progression example: Private to Sergeant

A typical pay progression for a soldier on a general (Supplement 1 to 2) trade, using 2026/27 published rates (AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026) as the baseline:

Every figure above already includes the 14.5% X-factor, so it is the total pensionable pay - do not add 14.5% to it. Promotion-driven rises are step changes onto the new rank scale; year-on-year rises within a rank are increment steps timed to the anniversary date. Pay protection rules mean promotion never reduces pay.

Action checklist for Army personnel

For Army Service personnel managing their pay:

1. Confirm your rank, increment level and Trade Supplement band (1 to 4) on the JPA system.
2. Verify your X-factor is applied correctly each pay period.
3. Check that any specialist supplement (parachute, diving, EOD, technical) is being paid and is correctly dated.
4. Track Operational Allowance days for tax-free entitlement.
5. Review your AFPS 15 statement annually; note that the EDP point needs both 20 years' Regular service and age 40.
6. Set up a Personal Tax Account at GOV.UK to confirm your tax code is accurate.
7. Check that the 3.6% 2026/27 award, backdated to 1 April 2026, has flowed through to your pay and any arrears have been paid.

More military pay guides

Start at the UK Armed Forces pay, pensions and payslips hub for the full cluster, or go straight to:

• RAF pay scales 2026/27 - the same AFPRB framework applied to RAF ranks, plus aircrew flying pay.
• Armed Forces Pension AFPS 15 - the non-contributory pension and the Early Departure Payment at 20 years.
• McCloud remedy deep dive - what pre-2015 joiners need to know about the remedy choice.

Disclaimer

PayslipIQ provides automated educational guidance based on the figures you supply. It is not regulated tax or financial advice. Armed Forces pay is set by the AFPRB and administered by Defence Business Services, with rank-specific and trade-specific variations - for substantial pay queries or pension questions, consult the Forces Pension Society, your Unit HR, or a regulated tax adviser experienced with Service personnel. Figures in this guide are the "1 April 2026" column of the AFPRB Fifty-Fifth Report 2026, which already include the 3.6% award backdated to 1 April 2026.