HSE pay scales in Ireland

Every role side by side

26 roles covered so far, ordered by starting salary, each from its entry grade to its highest. Every grade and scale within them has its own row further down. The ceiling column includes any long service increments, and the years column is how long it takes to get there.

Every grade in the HSE consolidated salary scales

All 94 grades on the 2026 scales, each on its own row, ordered by starting salary. The ceiling includes any long service increment. Type to find yours.

No grade matches that. Try a shorter word, such as "senior" or "manager".

How pay works in this sector

Every grade here comes from the same source, the Health Sector Consolidated Salary Scales, which is read alongside Department of Health Circular 2/2026. The scales are national: the same point pays the same in a HSE hospital and in a Section 38 voluntary hospital, with no Dublin weighting.

Two things about that document shape these pages. Long service increments are marked only by being printed in bold, with nothing else to distinguish them from ordinary points, so we identify them from the font rather than by counting. And the health sector rule is that the first is paid after three years on the maximum, the second after three more, and the third after three more again.

Note also that these are basic salary scales. Overtime, on call and premium payments sit outside them entirely, which matters most for doctors and for anyone working nights or weekends. A staff nurse working a rotating roster can take home meaningfully more than the scale suggests, and the scale is the wrong number to use when comparing the job to one with no unsocial hours.

The administrative side is numbered rather than named, running from Grade III up to Grade VIII, and it is the part of the health service people most often go looking for. The circular prints those grades in Roman numerals while job adverts and payslips print ordinary numbers, so Grade IV and Grade 4 are the same grade and the same money. Every point of all six is on the HSE administrative grades page.

One comparison worth having in mind: the health service and the local authority numbered ladders track each other so closely that the equivalent grades usually sit within a few euro. They are set by different circulars and are not interchangeable, but if you are weighing a move between the two, pay is unlikely to be the deciding factor.

Questions people ask most

Pick a grade

Every grade in this sector, including any kept out of the table above because their pay is not a salary.