GP practice partners who earned over £163,000 in 23/24 must declare income by end of April

Practice manager and GP partners whose NHS earnings exceeded £163,000 in 2023/24 are obliged to declare their income by the end of this month as part of measures to increase pay transparency, they have been reminded.

The requirement also covers all other non-GP partners, salaried GPs, locum GPs (including locums engaged via an agency), ‘non-GP providers’, company directors and company secretaries, NHS England has said in updated guidance issued earlier this month.

NHS England made it a contractual requirement for the highest-earning GPs to declare their income in 2022.

In its primary bulletin sent to GP practices last week, the commissioner issued a reminder that ‘individuals who are required to self-declare their 2023/24 NHS earnings must do so by 30 April 2025.’

Its guidance sets out the general practice roles that fall under the requirement to make a pay transparency self-declaration, such as ‘individuals who hold the GP contract as partners (including partners who are not GPs) and contractors who are individual medical practitioners’.

Provided the obligation to self-declare is written in their contracts, also included are:

• partners of clinical sub-contractors and sub-contractors who are an individual (including partners of any onward clinical sub-contractors and any onward clinical sub-contractor who is an individual)
• individuals who work for (are engaged by) either a contractor (regardless of whether the contractor is an individual medical practitioner, a partnership or a limited company) or clinical sub-contractor (including any onward clinical sub-contractors) under either a contract of employment; a contract for services; or as a company officer (directors and any company secretary).
• individuals engaged by a third party to provide clinical services (for example a locum engaged via an employment agency).

GP contractors and practices need to include the requirement in new employee and sub-contractor contracts, and take reasonable steps to update existing ones, although they will not be responsible for ensuring it is adhered to, the guidance explains.

The NHS earnings threshold that triggers a self-declaration for 2023/24 is £163,000 (see also box). For 2022/23 it was £159,000 and for 2021/22 it was £156,000.

NHS England explains the definition of NHS earnings for the different groups, as well as the process for making the self-declaration and how the data collected will be used.

Individuals needing to self-declare can do so on the Forms Platform via the Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS), guidance says.

Those who have previously self-declared their NHS earnings will be able to use their existing login. Individuals contractually required to self-declare their NHS earnings for the first time will first need to register with the SDCS and then create an account to make their self-declaration on the Forms Platform.

Data collected as part of the general practice pay transparency collection may be published by NHS England,’ the guidance added.

The pay transparency requirement was originally delayed due to the pandemic and then again in November and April 2022, when GPs faced the first and second deadlines to submit declarations.