Loading...
Loading...
Salary range: £27,178 – £37,056 · 2026/27
Midpoint salary
£32,117
Monthly take-home
£2,221
Annual take-home
£26,658
vs England
+£1/mo
| Point | Gross | Tax | NI | Take-Home | Monthly | vs England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom | £27,178 | £2,882 | £1,169 | £23,127 | £1,927 | +£3/mo |
| Midpoint | £32,117 | £3,896 | £1,564 | £26,658 | £2,221 | +£1/mo |
| Top | £37,056 | £4,933 | £1,959 | £30,164 | £2,514 | -£3/mo |
See your exact take-home pay
Add pension, student loan, and your exact salary point.
Full Take-Home Pay Calculator →Firefighter Scotland in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service earns from £27,178 to £37,056. The lower end of the range falls in Scotland's Basic rate band (20%), where Scotland is cheaper than England. As pay rises toward the top of the scale, the Intermediate rate (21%) applies — costing roughly £1/month more than an English firefighter on equivalent gross. Retained (part-time) firefighters are paid differently, on a retaining fee plus incident attendance basis, which is not covered by these figures. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service operates the Firefighters' Pension Scheme; contributions are mandatory and excluded from the take-home figures shown.
No. Employer and employee pension contributions are not deducted in the figures above. Most Scottish public sector workers contribute 5–9% of salary to their defined-benefit scheme. To see your actual take-home after pension, enter your salary and contribution rate in the Take-Home Pay Calculator.
At the bottom of the Firefighter Scotland pay range, Scotland's 19% Starter rate is slightly cheaper than England's 20% Basic rate, meaning Scottish workers take home marginally more. However, as pay rises through the scale, Scotland's Intermediate (21%) and Higher (42%) rates kick in, and the advantage reverses.
The most effective options are: (1) Salary sacrifice into additional pension contributions — each £1 sacrificed saves tax at your marginal rate (21% or 42%), not just the 20% basic rate. (2) Salary sacrifice for an electric vehicle through a workplace EV scheme — the benefit-in-kind charge on EVs is only 3%, making this highly tax-efficient at Scottish Higher rates. (3) If your income approaches £43,663 (the Higher-rate threshold), pension contributions to stay below it save tax at 42% on the marginal portion. The full Take-Home Pay Calculator models all of these scenarios.
Salary data from published Scottish Fire & Rescue pay scales for 2026/27. Tax calculated using Scottish income tax rates and UK-wide NI. No pension or student loan deductions applied.