Around 40% of GP partners say their PCN is considering replacing non-GP Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) staff with GPs, a survey has revealed.
In addition, almost 16% of respondents said they had already done this or had ‘started taking action to do so’, while just under a quarter said they had ‘discussed’ it (see box below).
The survey of 315 GP partners was carried out by our sister title Pulse.
The BMA’s GP Committee England (GPCE) said decisions around ARRS employment should be based on ‘what benefits the community best’, but reminded practices that these decisions must be ‘made fairly and in line with employment law’.
When GPs were first added to the ARRS in October last year, the £82m funding to hire around 1,000 newly-qualified GPs was ringfenced from the rest of the funding for all other roles.
For 2025/26, NHS England committed to the ‘continuation of funding’ for this cohort of GPs, which equated to £186m for the whole of the financial year.
But the removal of the ringfencing of this money means PCNs are able to claim reimbursement for new GPs alongside existing roles, with practice nurses also added to the scheme.
One GP partner in the North West, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that his PCN had previously employed a paramedic to work across two practices, but the member of staff had ‘needed significant training input to be able to work independently’.
He explained that once the paramedic decided to leave, a new salaried doctor had been employed at his practice ‘partially funded by the ARRS funding that was released when the paramedic left.’
The GP partner said his PCN is ‘still not sure’ that ARRS staff other than GPs ‘offer as good value for money’, but currently still employs pharmacists, MSK practitioners and social prescribers via the scheme.
He added: ‘In my opinion there has been a massive amount of money wasted on ineffective ARRS staff by PCNs, which would have been much better given directly to practices to decide where they wanted to spend the money.’
In response to Pulse’s survey findings, GPCE chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said: ‘Rightly so, PCNs now have greater flexibility to use their ARRS funding allocation in ways that best meet the needs of their patients and practices.
‘Decisions about who is employed with this funding should be based on what benefits the community best.
‘Where PCN member practices decide that GP roles are most appropriate in terms of delivering patient care, this decision must of course be made fairly and in line with employment law.’
But she also said the GPCE ‘continues to call for a shift towards a practice-level reimbursement model’ as the ‘closer this funding gets to those delivering care the better’.
The committee chair had previously advised practices to carefully consider employment law if they are planning redundancies to hire more GPs through the ARRS.
In April, NHS data showed that over 1,500 newly-qualified GPs had been hired via the ARRS between October and the end of March 2025.
Responses to the question, is your PCN considering replacing non-GP ARRS staff with GPs?
| Yes, we have done so already | 7.3% |
| Yes, we have started taking action to do so | 8.3% |
| Yes, we have discussed this | 23.5% |
| No | 40.3% |
| Don’t know | 20.6% |
