Basic pay £1,000 up on last year

Nurses earned an estimated average basic pay of £27,200 in the first quarter of this financial year, a rise of 4.2% on £26,100 for the same period last year, government figures show.

After supplementing their income with overtime and once location-based bonuses have been included, nurses earn £31,500 per year on average, data from the NHS Information Centre shows.

The information for January and March 2008 was collated with the first ever use of the electronic staff record.