Nursing Associate job market
Nursing Associate jobs in Wales
11 NHS organisations in Wales of the kinds that employ nursing associates, band 4 starting at £28,819 under the Wales 2026/27 pay circular. Who hires, what a first post involves here, what it actually pays, and where the vacancies are advertised.
What a first post here looks like
Newly qualified nursing associates in Wales are appointed at band 4, and that band means the same thing in every organisation in the region: £28,819 at the bottom, £31,626 at the top, under the Wales pay circular for 2026/27. No employer here can outbid another for you on basic pay, which changes what you are really choosing between. Wales publishes its own circular, so the same band is worth £28,819 here against £28,392 in England.
The post itself is usually not rotational. You are appointed to a named service — a particular ward or service, often the one where your training placements were based — and your caseload builds inside it. That makes the first job in Wales more consequential than it would be in a rotational profession, because it starts to define your specialism straight away. It also makes supervision the thing to interrogate at interview: a single-handed post in a small organisation can be excellent or isolating, and the difference is entirely whether there is a named supervisor and a peer network attached to it.
Wales has 11 NHS organisations that plausibly employ nursing associates but no approved course of its own in the dataset. In practice that means the region recruits from graduates trained elsewhere, and placement contacts count for less at application than they do in a region with a local school — which can make it an easier market to enter from outside. One further NHS organisation in the region is of a type that rarely holds posts in this profession, so it is left out of the list below.
Who employs nursing associates in Wales
NHS organisations in the region whose services plausibly hold posts in this profession. Each row links through to the organisation — to what it means for a nursing associate where a page for that pairing was built, and to the organisation’s own page otherwise, which carries the workforce it publishes and how to reach its recruitment.
| Organisation | Type | Base | Recruitment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aneurin Bevan University Health Board | Health board | Newport | Website |
| Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board | Health board | Bangor | Website |
| Cardiff and Vale University Health Board | Health board | Cardiff | Website |
| Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board | Health board | Pontypridd | Website |
| Digital Health and Care Wales | Specialist trust | Cardiff | Website |
| Health Education and Improvement Wales | Specialist trust | Cardiff | Website |
| Hywel Dda University Health Board | Health board | Carmarthen | Website |
| Powys Teaching Health Board | Health board | Brecon | Website |
| Public Health Wales NHS Trust | Specialist trust | Cardiff | Website |
| Swansea Bay University Health Board | Health board | Neath | Website |
| Velindre University NHS Trust | Specialist trust | Cardiff | Website |
This is a directory of employers, not a vacancy list. An organisation appearing here has services of a kind that employ nursing associates; it does not mean a post is open today. Organisations are placed in the region their headquarters sits in, so a trust near a boundary may recruit across it.
What it pays in Wales
The bands a career in this profession passes through, on the Wales Agenda for Change scale for 2026/27. Every NHS post in Wales is paid on this scale.
| Band | Starting | Point 2 | Point 3 | Top of band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 4 Entry level | £28,819 | £31,626 | £31,626 | |
| Band 5 | £32,557 | £35,114 | £39,631 | £39,631 |
| Band 6 | £40,559 | £42,805 | £48,841 | £48,841 |
| Band 7 | £50,129 | £52,712 | £57,365 | £57,365 |
| Band 8a | £58,379 | £61,317 | £65,723 | £65,723 |
Where the actual vacancies are
No live adverts are published here. The NHS Jobs adverts API is authenticated and states no terms of reuse, and the commercial aggregators attach conditions an open-data site cannot meet honestly. These are the boards employers in Wales actually post to.
NHS Jobs
Search “Nursing associate”, filter to band 4 and set the location to Wales. Save the search and turn the email alert on — good first posts fill fast.
HealthJobsUK / Trac
The applicant-tracking system many trusts and health boards run their own recruitment on. It does not mirror the national boards, so search it separately.
Royal College of Nursing
The professional body for nursing associates. Specialist, charity and independent-sector posts often appear here and nowhere else, alongside first-post and preceptorship guidance.
- Region
- Wales
- Nation
- Wales
- ONS code
- W92000004
- Usual entry band
- Band 4
- Pay year
- 2026/27
Nursing Associate jobs elsewhere
- North West — 30 employers
- London — 29 employers
- South East — 28 employers · 1 course
- West Midlands — 23 employers
- Scotland — 21 employers
- Yorkshire and The Humber — 21 employers
- East of England — 19 employers · 1 course
- South West — 17 employers
- East Midlands — 15 employers
- North East — 9 employers
- Northern Ireland — 5 employers
Related
- Nursing Associate jobs across the UK — The national picture
- What a nursing associate does — The profession hub
- Nursing Associate pay — Band by band
- Nursing Associate courses — Every approved course
- NHS employer directory — Every trust and health board
- The nursing job market — All 5 career paths
Where this page’s data comes from
Vacancy sources are listed because this page describes their licence position. No live advert content is republished here.
- 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
- nhs.walesCited page