The Government has confirmed a 7.4% increase to the global sum for this financial year in an update to the GMS Statement of Financial Entitlements (SFE) Directions 2024 published last week.
The amended SFE states that from 1 September, the payment per weighted patient will rise to £112.50 for 2024/25 , a hike of £7.77 compared with last year, and be backdated to 1 April.
The increase for practices in England is intended to cover a 6% pay increase for practice staff, GP partners and salaried GPs, which was recommended by the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Review Body (DDRB) and accepted in full by the Government earlier this summer.
However, the SFE also sets out a 6% increase to a number of other staff-related payments from NHS England, the first rise for a number of years.
These include reimbursements for cover for GPs on maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave; cover for a GP on sickness leave; payments to GPs on prolonged study leave; and for locum cover for GPs on study leave.
The reimbursements from NHS England have been changed as follows:
- Cover for a GP on maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave
For the first two weeks – payments for cover from a locum or salaried GP rise from £1,143.06 max per week to £1,211.64 max per week
For each week afterwards – payments rise from £1,751.52 max per week to £1,856.61 max per week
- Cover for a GP on sick leave – payments for locums or salaried GPs rise from £1,751.52 max a week to £1,856.61 max a week.
- Locum cover for an absent suspended doctor – rises from £1,131.74 max a week to £1,199.64 max a week
- Educational allowance for a GP on prolonged study leave (at least 10 weeks but no more than 12 months) – rises from £133.68 a week to £141.70 a week
- Locum cover for a GP on prolonged study leave – rises from £1,131.74 max a week to £1,199.64 a week.
Last month, NHS England told GP partners it ‘firmly expects’ them to use the increase in funding passed to practices to award the full 6% pay rise to all practice staff.
However, the BMA’s GP Committee England (GPCE) has warned that the uplift is ‘not enough to address the erosion’ of general practice funding and that giving a 6% pay rise across the board won’t be affordable for some practices implementing.
Meanwhile, details about how pay rises for GP practices in the devolved nations will be funded still hasn’t been announced.
The DDRB recommended a 6% pay increase for GPs and staff in all of the four nations, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
