2025! What a year😁
Picture 1: Linked up with my siblings in the UK after 3+ years
Picture 2: Passed my PLAB 2, now a licensed doctor in 2 countries
Picture 3: Cleared my MSRA
Picture 4: Asked the LOML to marry me❤️
Imagine financing a car you can’t afford when you could run about in a 2015 Vauxhall Corsa for £30 a month 🤣
That’s not a joke. That’s my actual insurance renewal. £30 a month. 🤯
Yes it’s slow. Yes it’s got no tech. But it gets me from A to B, the same as your rip-off finance deal does 😉
Difference is my spare cash goes into the stock market every month, not into a monthly payment for a badge.
Boshhhhhhh 👊🏻
🚨🚨 Egypt’s Ziko: “The referee is unfair, God is sufficient for me and the best disposer of affairs. He's wasting the effort of an entire nation”.
“The cup is being given to Argentina. They win the World Cup”.
🚨🇩🇪 BREAKING: Jürgen Klopp as new Germany head coach, here we go! 💥
Klopp has accepted to take over; long term contract details, project and RB Group exit still under discussion, but he will be the new head coach.
RB considered Glasner as replacement but he signs at #NFFC.
Klopp is back.
I checked what doctors in the UK actually get paid.
The numbers looked impressive on paper.
Until I broke it down properly and then compared it to Nigeria, the conclusion might surprise you.
THE UK SALARY LADDER (April 2025, NHS official figures, all gross before tax)
A Foundation Year 1 doctor — that is the equivalent of a housemanship doctor in Nigeria earns £34,115 per year.
That is roughly ₦61 million naira per year at the current exchange rate, or about ₦5.1 million per month. Sounds good, right?
A Foundation Year 2 doctor earns £41,541 per year. Around ₦74.8 million naira annually, or about ₦6.2 million per month.
Specialty trainees — the equivalent of residents here earn between £44,170 and £67,610 depending on their stage and specialty.
That is between ₦79.5 million and ₦121.7 million naira per year.
Specialty doctors, which is a career grade above training, earn between £61,542 and £99,216 per year. That puts them at roughly ₦110.8 million to ₦178.6 million naira annually.
Salaried GPs — the primary care doctors, roughly equivalent to medical officers in Nigeria earn between £76,038 and £114,743 per year. That is ₦136.9 million to ₦206.5 million naira per year.
Consultants — the senior hospital specialists, earn between £109,725 and £145,478 per year. That is ��197.5 million to ₦261.9 million naira per year.
Dentists on the NHS primary care pay spine earn between £52,532 and £112,360 per year.
That is ₦94.6 million to ₦202.2 million naira per year.
Worth noting: at the entry band of the dental pay scale, a dentist earns more than an FY1 and FY2 doctor. By the GP level, the GP earns more than the dentist.
NOW LET US TALK ABOUT WHAT THOSE NUMBERS ACTUALLY BECOME
Everything I just listed is gross pay. Before anything leaves your pocket.
Let me walk you through what happens to a salaried GP earning £76,038 per year.
This is the lowest point of the GP scale — the one just entering the grade.
Monthly gross: approximately £6,337.
First, income tax.
The UK personal allowance is £12,570 — that portion is tax-free. Everything between £12,570 and £50,270 is taxed at 20%. Everything above £50,270 is taxed at 40%.
So on a £76,038 salary, income tax alone takes approximately £1,487 every single month.
Then National Insurance.
That is an additional 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% above that.
On this salary, National Insurance removes approximately £294 every month.
Then NHS pension contributions. Doctors in the UK are enrolled in the NHS pension scheme.
At this income level, you are contributing roughly 13.5% of your gross salary into that pension every month.
That is another £855 gone before you see a single pound.
Monthly take-home after tax, National Insurance, and pension: approximately £3,700.
Now let us talk about living.
A decent two-bedroom flat outside London, because most NHS doctors are not working in London costs approximately £1,400 per month in rent.
Council tax adds another £181. Utilities: gas, electricity, water, broadband, comes to roughly £200 per month.
Groceries for a small family: approximately £440 per month. Transport: £150.
Phone and other subscriptions: £55.
Miscellaneous — clothing, personal care, social life: another £200.
That is approximately £2,626 gone in monthly expenses.
What is left after rent, bills, food, and transport?
Roughly £1,074 per month in true disposable income.
And that is before student loan repayments if you took on debt for medical school. And before considering that you may have children. And before considering that a family of four costs significantly more than the baseline I just used.
A GP earning £76,038 per year in the UK — which converts to about ₦137 million naira per year on paper, is left with something in the range of £1,000 disposable income per month after everything that real life demands.
In London, the disposable figure drops further.