The Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) has recommended a 6% increase to salary scales, pay ranges and the pay element of contracts from 1st April 2024. NHSE will therefore uplift the contractor income and other staff expenses elements of national practice contract baseline funding by an additional 4%.
This is in addition to the 2% already added to those two elements of the practice contract funding baseline in April 2024, meaning those national funding elements will have received a total 6% uplift in 2024/25 for ‘contractor income’ and ‘other staff expenses’.
The GP contract is notionally broken down into three elements: GP contractor income, other staff expenses and other expenses. Staffing expenses currently represent 50% of the national GP contract funding, i.e. before it is distributed to practices.
As with last year, NHS England has confirmed that the uplift covers on-costs (national insurance, pension contributions and other staff benefits).
This additional 4% of funding will be distributed via the Global Sum (payment per weighted patient), and this translates into an increase of 7.4% for 2024/25 compared with 2023/24. NHS England has confirmed this uplift will be backdated to April 2024 in the September pay run. The GPC England and the Sessional GP Committee encourages all practices to pass it on to all their salaried practice staff where they can afford to.
Note that salaried GPs who are on the BMA model salaried GP contract have an entitlement to the full annual DDRB pay uplift award, so it must therefore be paid by employing practices. Those who are not should always be offered terms ‘no less favourable’ than the BMA model salaried GP contract, as per the published GMS (general medical services) and PMS (personal medical services) contracts.
Global sum payment per weighted registered patient
2023/24 – £104.73
Original 2024/25 - £107.57
Uplifted 2023/24 - £112.50
Trainers’ grant
GPC England expects that the Trainers’ Grant, which did not form part of the DDRB recommendations this year, will be uplifted by uplifting the GP Educator pay scale by 6% for 2024/25.
GP appraiser fees
GPC England has requested that the fees GP appraisers receive, which were removed from the DDRB remit last year (2023/24), is also uplifted by 6%.
Dispensing fee scale
NHSE expect to uplift the profit element of the dispensing fee scale in response to the DDRB’s 2024/25 recommendation in October 2024.It is a blended calculation based on the relevant proportions of GP contractor income and staffing expenses.
The profit element is only part of the methodology, so the fee scale fell overall in 2023/24 because of an overspend the previous year. Work was undertaken in 2023/24 to try to prevent fee scale swings being so pronounced in future.
Should you have any queries, please email [email protected].