Pay scales in the Royal Navy depended on the 'substantive rate' - in other words, the job the sailor did - as well as the sailor's rank. Additional pay could be gained through additional training in non-substantive rates like gunnery, through long service, or through qualifying for additional payments. There were also two separate pay scales, for men who joined the service before or after October 1925. Daily pay scales were given for each rate and rank. Pay for some non-commissioned rates is given in the following table, with pay for men joining before October 1925 in brackets:

Equivalent Rate	Seaman Branch	Signallers	Telegraphists	Marines	Stokers
Boy	9d(1s 3d for a Boy 1st Class)	1s 3d	1s 3d	1s 3d	n/a
Ordinary Rate	1s 6d (2s 9d)	2s (2s 9d)	2s (2s 9d)	2s (2s 9d)	2s (3s 3d)
Able Rate	2s 6d (3s 6d)	3s 3d (4s 3d)	3s 3d (4s 3d)	n/a	3s (4s)
Leading Rate	3s 10d (4s 9d)	4s 10d (5s 9d)	4s 10d (5s 9d)	4s 7d (5s 6d)	4s 10d (5s 9d)
Petty Officer	5s 6d (6s 6d)	6s 6d (7s 6d)	6s 6d (7s 6d)	6s (7s)	6s 6d (7s 6d)
Chief Petty Officer	7s (8s)	8s (9s)	8s (9s)	8s (9s)	8s (9s)

The simplest way to earn extra money was through spending time in a rate. Three years in a rate higher than Ordinary Rate earned an extra three pence per day. Additional money was earned by long service with good behaviour. Long service was marked by chevrons or stripes, worn on the left arm. One stripe was given for three years service, with another coming at 8 years and a third at 13 years. Each stripe brought another three pence per day. More money could be earned by forgoing the daily rum ration and registering as teetotal, though this was relatively rare. Extra money was also paid to married men or men with children, as long as the men were over 25.

Another way to bring in more money was to volunteer for more dangerous or difficult service or learning an additional trade. Submariners earned more money than those serving on surface ships, thanks to the excess of danger. Depending on rate, submariners earned between 9d to 3s 9d more than their surface colleagues. Those serving as gunners on merchant ships earned 6d more per day, as this required significant changes from naval routine. Learning more skills was another good way to make money. Seamen and marines could qualify for gunnery rates, while only the seamen could become torpedomen or ASDIC operators. A 3rd Class gunnery rating or Seaman Torpedoman brought in 3d more per day, while a 2nd Class rating or Leading Torpedoman earned another 6d per day, and a 1st Class rating or Torpedo Gunner's Mate was paid an extra 1s 6d. ASDIC operators, who did a more difficult job, were paid commensurately more, earning 3d more than a comparable gunnery or torpedo rating. Other skills were less well paid - the ship's barber earned an extra 2d per day (though he was allowed to supplement this by charging for haircuts), while a bugler earned just a penny more.

Officers were typically paid better. A midshipman was paid 5s per day, while a newly promoted lieutenant was paid 13s 6d. A commander brought in £1/16s/2d, while a captain was paid £2/14s/4d. Pay for offices rose quicker with time as well, with three years extra service bringing in roughly another 3s. The incentives for serving in more dangerous roles remained. A Fleet Air Arm pilot earned another 6s per day, for example. Specialist officers, like engineer officers or medical officers, also earned more, albeit only at the lower officer ranks. An engineering lieutenant was paid just under three shillings more than an unqualified lieutenant.

Pay was the responsibility of the Paymaster Branch. Capital ships and cruisers carried their own paymaster officers, while destroyers, submarines and escorts had paymaster officers shared amongst their respective flotillas. The paymaster officers and their subordinates were responsible for tracking how much was owed to each man aboard, and paying it out to them. The men were paid on a fortnightly basis, whether the ship was in port or at sea.

As a note on British pre-decimal currency, there were 12 pence (d) in a shilling (s) and 20 shillings (s) pound (£), with one 1941-era pound being worth about £50 ($65) today.

Can I add to this.

How did they get paid? did they carry their entire wage around with them? Or just get small portion of it and the rest in an account.

Considering how frequently they moved, they wouldn't want the worry of carrying their savings with them as well.

When they died did they stop getting paid on the day of their death?