Specialist trust · Cardiff, Wales

Physiotherapist at Velindre University NHS Trust

Working as a physiotherapist at Velindre University NHS Trust in Cardiff, Wales means a concentrated specialist caseload, referred in from a wide area because the care needed is beyond what a district general hospital provides. Band 5 starts at £32,557 on the Wales 2026/27 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.

PhysiotherapistBand 5 entryWales
Not published Physiotherapists employed here Organisation-level workforce data is not in the open dataset yet
£32,557 Band 5 starting salary Wales, 2026/27 scale
£35,796 Median pay, all occupations Wales, 2025 — the benchmark, not an NHS figure
Not published Staff survey response rate Not in the open dataset for this organisation

The job at Velindre University NHS Trust

Physiotherapists assess and treat problems with movement and function caused by injury, illness, disability or ageing. They take a history, examine movement, strength and joint range, then agree goals and deliver treatment through exercise prescription, manual therapy, education, pacing advice and structured rehabilitation. Specialties include musculoskeletal outpatients, respiratory care on wards and in intensive care, neurological rehabilitation after stroke or spinal injury, paediatrics, pelvic health and care of older people. Many also work in sport, occupational health and private practice. People of all ages with musculoskeletal pain and injury, neurological conditions, respiratory and cardiac disease, frailty and falls risk, long-term conditions, and those recovering from surgery or critical illness.

At a specialist trust such as Velindre University NHS Trust, that work means a concentrated specialist caseload, referred in from a wide area because the care needed is beyond what a district general hospital provides. Posts here are more often specialist from appointment than rotational, and some specialist centres recruit at band 6 where the work requires prior experience. Across the profession as a whole, physiotherapists work in settings including NHS acute trust, outpatient musculoskeletal clinics, intensive care and respiratory wards, community and home-based rehabilitation and neurological rehabilitation units — 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 Velindre University NHS Trust pays band 5 exactly what every other NHS employer in Wales pays it: £32,557 at the bottom of the band on the 2026/27 scale. For context, median full-time pay across all occupations in Wales was £35,796 in 2025. 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 Velindre University NHS 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
Velindre University NHS Trust
Organisation type
Specialist trust
Based in
Cardiff
Nation
Wales
Regulator
HCPC registration required
Usual starting band
Band 5
Local courses
6 in Wales

What you would be paid, band by band

Wales Agenda for Change rates, 2026/27 — the same at every NHS employer in the nation.

Agenda for Change pay for physiotherapists in Wales
Band Starting Point 2 Point 3 Top of band
Band 5 Entry level £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
£32,557 Band 5 · Newly qualified First post after registration, usually rotational.
£40,559 Band 6 · Specialist Typically two to four years in; a defined clinical specialty.
£50,129 Band 7 · Advanced or team lead Clinical leadership, complex caseload, supervision.
£58,379 Band 8a · Consultant or service lead Service-wide responsibility or consultant practice.

Physiotherapist pay in detail · The whole Wales scale · Band 5 physiotherapists

Where to train for this job near Cardiff

4 universities in Wales run an approved pre-registration course for physiotherapists. Placements are commissioned with the trusts and boards nearest the university, so these are the courses most likely to place students with Velindre University NHS Trust, across undergraduate degree and pre-registration master’s routes.

The national picture

UK-wide figures for the profession, not for this organisation.

Published national figures for physiotherapists
Measure Value Geography As at
HCPC registrants on the 'Physiotherapists' part of the Register (all application routes) 76,920 registrants United Kingdom (HCPC Register; includes registrants trained outside the UK) 1 April 2025
People in employment in the UK in SOC 2020 unit group 2221 (Physiotherapists), Annual Population Survey estimate 73,700 people in employment United Kingdom 31 March 2026
Median gross annual pay, full-time employee jobs (ASHE Table 14.7a, SOC 2020 2221) 43,532 GBP United Kingdom 2025
Mean gross annual pay, full-time employee jobs (ASHE Table 14.7a, SOC 2020 2221) 43,457 GBP United Kingdom 2025

Physiotherapists at other organisations in Wales

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.

Published establishments for physiotherapists at NHS organisations in Wales
Organisation Type Based in Full-time equivalent
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board Health board Newport
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Health board Bangor
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Health board Cardiff
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Health board Pontypridd
Digital Health and Care Wales Specialist trust Cardiff
Health Education and Improvement Wales Specialist trust Cardiff
Hywel Dda University Health Board Health board Carmarthen
Powys Teaching Health Board Health board Brecon
Public Health Wales NHS Trust Specialist trust Cardiff
Swansea Bay University Health Board Health board Neath
Velindre University NHS Trust This page Specialist trust Cardiff

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 allied health professions at Velindre University NHS Trust

Next steps

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.