An NHS junior doctor shared a breakdown of his monthly payslip while revealing how much he takes home each month.
Abhinav Kumar decided to do nosy parkers a solid and satisfy their curiosity by disclosing the sum he earns for saving lives and curing the sick.
Although medical professionals might find this aspect of their career extremely rewarding, sadly, they can't live off of a sense of job satisfaction.
People often presume that doctors in the UK's healthcare sector are raking in the big bucks, even with a junior status - and this prompted Kumar to pull out his payslip so we could see for ourselves.
Advert
He explained that he has not yet got his full license to practice independently after graduating from an Indian university in 2020, but said he had been working for the NHS since 2022.
According to his YouTube account, he is now working as a full-time doctor, while he continues to share online content about the medical world 'on the side for fun'.
Leicester-based Kumar is currently employed as a Foundation Year Two (FY2) doctor, meaning he has completed his first year at an NHS teaching hospital and is fully registered with the General Medical Council (GMC).
So, now we've got his CV out of the way, let's get onto what he revealed in his video which was initially shared in June 2023.
Advert
"The medical profession is all about saving lives and feeling good about it while avoiding the topic of money," Kumar began.
"Especially if you are in a country like UK, where most of your income is from the government salary and the private sector is not that dominant."
He explained that he had raked in a grand total of £34,000 for his first year working as a junior doctor in the NHS, before getting into the nitty-gritty of his monthly payslip.
The content creator pointed out that his wages would look a lot different if he was a consultant of fully-qualified GP, who are on a significant amount more than juniors.
"We work normal 8-5 shift and also work anti-social shifts, which take you away from the time you'd have spent socialising or sleeping," Kumar continued. "All this gives us basic income and then some more.
Advert
"Looking at the pay slip, you can see that it's not as simple as: here is how much you've made per month, here is your taxes, take this as in your bank account and ta-ta, bye-bye.
"It's got a lot more nuance than that. So, let's have a look at the numbers."
Dealing with his income first, he explained he had worked 173.81 hours at the standard rate for an FY2 doctor of £16.3071, meaning he had accumulated £2,834.33 in basic pay.
"Now, in most cases in your job you will not just be working 40 basic hours a week," Kumar went on. "The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) allows for a little more higher number of hours, but 40 is that sweet spot which people have settled down on. We work four-and-a-half hours more per week than the 40 hours, which is 19.55 hours [in a month].
Advert
"And once again that is paid at my standard basic pay, which is £16.3071," he said, while showing that he'd bagged another £318.86 for these 'Additional Roster Hours'.
Kumar explained that he could also earn more by picking up shifts outside of the standard hours, such as during weekends - where he earned another £283.43 that month - or nights, which bumped up his payslip by £616.11.
Referring to his payslip, he said: "You can see that it says 102 hours were worked outside of the standard business day. Those 102 hours demand an extra pay, and of course I have been paid the basic salary for them."
Kumar explained that for that month, he had made a total of £4,052.73 before deductions - and after everyone had taken their slice, Kumar was left with £2,914.86 for his net pay.
Totting this up for the year, Kumar said: "In summary, focusing on all the income I have made, my basic salary is £34,012.
Advert
"My extra hours worked, that attracted an annual salary increase of £3,826.25.
"Me working every one in two to every one in three weekends attracted an extra 10% income, which came up to £3,401.20," the junior doctor said.
"And the nights that I work in a week that comes up to 23.3 hours, that gets me paid an extra £7,393.
"So in total, before taxes - my final salary comes up to £48,632.91."
This number obviously takes a nosedive after the tax man has got his 20 percent, as well as after deductions for pensions, student loan repayments and national insurance are made.
Concluding the video, Kumar explained that all of this comes up to 'roughly £35,000 a year, which he gets to take home after taxes' after he's also factored in his living expenses and saving.
He added: "If I were to just earn my basic salary of £34,000 a year, I would only be taking home around £24,000 a year.
"And right now I'm taking home £35,000 so these extra hours, night shifts and weekends add an extra £10,000, after taxes, to my take home salary."
Olivia Burke