Less-Than-Full-Time (LTFT) Working

Less-than-full-time (LTFT) training lets you work a reduced percentage of full-time hours. It changes your pay and, in turn, your tax, pension, and student loan repayments. (Resident doctors were known as junior doctors until the title changed in September 2024.)

This guide explains what changes when you go LTFT and what stays the same.

Your Pay

Your basic salary and most supplements are pro-rated to your LTFT percentage. For example, at 60% you receive 60% of the full-time basic pay for your nodal point.

  • Basic pay: Pro-rata to your percentage
  • Additional and unsocial hours: Paid for the hours you actually work
  • Weekend allowance: Based on how often you work weekends, applied to your pro-rata basic pay

The LTFT Allowance

LTFT resident doctors receive a £1,000 per year allowance, paid in full and not pro-rated. Doctors already on the older £1,500 transitional allowance keep that instead.

Your Pension

You stay in the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme, and the accrual rate is unchanged:

  • Accrual rate: 1/54 of your actual pensionable pay each year, so your pension builds on what you actually earn
  • Contribution rate: Based on your actual (pro-rata) pay, which can place you in a lower contribution tier
  • Proportional, not penalised: Your pension grows more slowly in absolute terms, in line with your reduced pay, rather than being reduced unfairly

Tax, National Insurance and Student Loans

  • Income tax: The same bands and £12,570 personal allowance apply, just to a lower income, so more of your pay may sit in the basic-rate band
  • National Insurance: The same thresholds apply to your lower earnings
  • Student loan: Repayments are 9% of income above your plan's threshold, so lower income means lower or no repayments

Worth knowing: Training LTFT extends how long you spend at each stage, so you reach higher pay points later than a full-time colleague.

Planning Ahead

  • Budget around the lower monthly income before you start
  • Check how the change affects any mortgage you are planning
  • Remember that pension and pay both scale with your percentage, so the trade-off is broadly proportional

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