It’s been recommended that practice staff, GP partners and salaried GPs in England should receive a 6% pay rise this year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday that the Government will ‘accept in full’ the recommendation of a 6% pay uplift for GPs and their staff in England made by the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Review Body (DDRB).
On top of the 6% pay rise, GP trainees and other doctors in training will receive an additional £1,000 ‘non consolidated’ payment.
Last year, the Government accepted the DDRB’s recommendation of a 6% uplift for NHS staff, including salaried GPs and trainees but not partners.
It is the first time in five years that the DDRB has made a recommendation for GP partners.
The DDRB report said partners ‘strongly expressed’ the ‘significant’ cost increases they have faced over the last two years, which they said ‘has not been matched’ by NHS funding increases.
According to the Government, the ‘pay element’ of the GP contract will be uplifted by 6% on a consolidated basis – which is made up of a 4% increase on top of a 2% interim uplift in April.
The BMA’s GP Committee England (GPCE) chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said it was ‘a step in the right direction’ but, even with the uplift, practice funding was ‘not even close to what it was even five years ago’.
The announcement comes after junior doctors in England were offered a 22.3% pay rise over two years.
Meanwhile, the BMA ballot of GPs in England for collective industrial action closed on Monday, and the results are now being counted.
The devolved governments are yet to say whether they will accept the pay recommendations.
The BMA in Northern Ireland has said it is ‘deeply concerning’ that its Department of Health has indicated it ‘will not be able to afford the pay uplift without cuts to services’.
BMA Scotland has said it would enter a detailed process with the Scottish Government and BMA Wales said it hoped the DDRB recommendations would be ‘honoured’ by the Welsh Government.
In her statement, Ms Reeves said that when the last spending review was conducted, it was ‘assumed that pay awards would be 2% this year’.
She blamed the previous Conservative Government for failing to provide guidance to the pay review bodies on the affordability of pay uplifts.
The chancellor continued: ‘I will not repeat their mistakes. Where the previous Government provided no transparency to the public and no certainty for public services, we will be open about the decisions needed and the steps that we are taking.
‘That begins with accepting in full the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies.’
Ms Reeves also confirmed the Government would meet the NHS Pay Review Body recommendation of a 5.5% uplift for staff on Agenda for Change contracts.
Meanwhile, the RCN has said it will take action to ensure practice nurses receive the 6% pay uplift promised to general practice staff.
A version of this story was first published on our sister title Pulse.
