Integrated care organisation · Antrim, Northern Ireland
Learning Disability Nurse at Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Working as a learning disability nurse at Northern Health and Social Care Trust in Antrim, Northern Ireland means a caseload that can cross the ward, the outpatient clinic and the patient’s home inside a single organisation, because acute and community services sit under one employer. Band 5 starts at £31,049 on the Northern Ireland 2025/26 scale. No workforce or staff survey figures for this organisation are in the open dataset yet, so this page sets out the caseload, the national pay ladder and where the local courses are, and states nothing it cannot source.
The job at Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Learning disability nurses work to improve or maintain a person's physical and mental health, reduce barriers to independent living, and support people to lead fulfilling lives, acting as educators, advocates and care coordinators. They work alongside GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, teachers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists. Learning disability nurses practise in residential and nursing homes, people's own homes, schools, specialist units such as prisons, GP practices and hospitals. People with learning disabilities and their families, across the lifespan and across health, social care and education settings.
At an integrated care organisation such as Northern Health and Social Care Trust, that work means a caseload that can cross the ward, the outpatient clinic and the patient’s home inside a single organisation, because acute and community services sit under one employer. Rotations can follow the pathway rather than the building, so you can see the same patient group in hospital and at home without applying for a different job. Across the profession as a whole, learning disability nurses work in settings including residential and nursing homes, people's own homes, schools, specialist units, including prisons and GP practices — an organisation of this type will run some of those services and not others, which is why two posts with the same job title in the same city can be very different jobs.
Pay is not an employer decision. Agenda for Change is negotiated nationally and set separately in each of the four nations, so Northern Health and Social Care Trust pays band 5 exactly what every other NHS employer in Northern Ireland pays it: £31,049 at the bottom of the band on the 2025/26 scale. What genuinely differs between two employers is the caseload, how rotations are structured, how much protected time you get for supervision and continuing professional development, how much band 6 progression is built into the establishment, and how far you travel between sites. Those are the questions worth asking at interview.
This page states no figure specific to Northern Health and Social Care Trust because none is published in the open data. When the workforce and staff survey feeds include this organisation, the establishment size, the response rate and the theme scores will appear above.
- Employer
- Northern Health and Social Care Trust
- Organisation type
- Integrated care organisation
- Based in
- Antrim
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Regulator
- NMC registration required
- Usual starting band
- Band 5
What you would be paid, band by band
Northern Ireland Agenda for Change rates, 2025/26 — the same at every NHS employer in the nation.
| Band | Starting | Point 2 | Point 3 | Top of band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 4 | £27,485 | £30,162 | £30,162 | |
| Band 5 Entry level | £31,049 | £33,487 | £37,796 | £37,796 |
| Band 6 | £38,682 | £40,823 | £46,580 | £46,580 |
| Band 7 | £47,810 | £50,273 | £54,710 | £54,710 |
| Band 8a | £55,690 | £58,487 | £62,682 | £62,682 |
Learning Disability Nurse pay in detail · The whole Northern Ireland scale · Band 5 learning disability nurses
Where to train for this job near Antrim
No university in Northern Ireland is recorded in the dataset as running an approved course for learning disability nurses, so students placed here are likely to travel in from further afield. There are 3 approved courses in the UK as a whole.
Learning Disability Nurses at other organisations in Northern Ireland
Same registration, same bands, different caseload — the organisation type is the variable, and the size of the establishment tells you how many colleagues and how many rotation slots sit behind the job title.
| Organisation | Type | Based in | Full-time equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast Health and Social Care Trust | Integrated care organisation | Belfast | |
| Northern Health and Social Care Trust This page | Integrated care organisation | Antrim | |
| South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust | Integrated care organisation | Belfast | |
| Southern Health and Social Care Trust | Integrated care organisation | Craigavon | |
| Western Health and Social Care Trust | Integrated care organisation | Londonderry |
A blank establishment figure means the organisation did not return one for this profession, not that it employs nobody. Only organisations whose type runs this service are listed.
Other nursing roles at Northern Health and Social Care Trust
- Adult Nurse — Band 5 entry
- Children's Nurse — Band 5 entry
- Mental Health Nurse — Band 5 entry
- Nursing Associate — Band 4 entry
Next steps
- Northern Health and Social Care Trust — The organisation in full
- How to become a learning disability nurse — Every route in
- All learning disability nurses courses — Every approved UK course
- Learning Disability Nurse jobs in Northern Ireland — The local job market
- Learning Disability Nurse pay — Band by band
- All NHS employers — Grouped by nation and region
Where this page’s data comes from
The figures on this page are national or regional. No workforce, staff survey or inspection data for this organisation is in the open dataset yet.
- NMC register data reports, pre-registration standards and registration codesNursing and Midwifery Council · NMC website terms and conditions (no open licence; clause 6.3 permits reproducing rules/standards/guidance only) · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026
- Royal College of Nursing membership and professional body informationRoyal College of Nursing · No open licence stated; RCN copyright · checked 3 September 2026
- NHS Health Careers role profiles, pay guide and course finderNHS England (Health Careers) · No open licence stated; NHS England (Health Careers) copyright, all rights reserved · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- Skills England apprenticeship standards (Registered Nurse Degree, Nursing Associate)Skills England (Department for Education); formerly Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHS Learning Support Fund guidanceDepartment of Health and Social Care (administered by NHS Business Services Authority) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHSBSA Learning Support Fund course-eligibility FAQNHS Business Services Authority · Generic 'all rights reserved' footer on this subdomain; NHSBSA's own OGL policy is not explicitly restated here · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- directory.spineservices.nhs.ukCited page
- northerntrust.hscni.netCited page
- ons.gov.ukCited page
- legislation.gov.ukCited page
- southampton.ac.ukCited page