Over 1,500 newly-qualified GPs have been hired via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) since it opened up to doctors in October last year, according to new data released today.
NHS Digital has for the first time released figures for GPs (headcount and full-time equivalent) hired via the scheme, after delays to publication and conflicting reports.
In total, 1,503 individual GPs were hired by PCNs under ARRS between 1 October and 31 March, which goes beyond the Government’s goal to recruit 1,000 GPs with the £82m funding pot, as part of a drive to tackle unemployment.
However, the full-time equivalent count as of February this year was lower, at 851 GPs. The recorded and approved claims for March 2025 stood at only 129, but NHS Digital warned that this is a ‘significant undercount’ due to the short time period between the end of March and the data extraction.
The publicly available data, first reported by our sister title Pulse PCN, was calculated using the number of claims submitted by PCNs for GP salary reimbursement, which they have to do for their ARRS employees every month.
‘All figures are based on claims submitted to the portal and approved by ICBs by 31 March 2025,’ NHS Digital clarified.
It also noted that by 31 March, claims for a further 93 GPs employed in the 2024/25 financial year had been submitted by PCNs and were waiting approval – but these GPs are not yet included in the dataset.
Headcount figures were calculated by ‘counting the number of unique GPs for whom at least one claim has been made during the period’, and they were identified by their GMC number.
It is likely the figures will increase in future iterations of the data as PCNs make retrospective claims for reimbursement.
The 2025/26 contract confirmed that funding for GPs in the ARRS would continue for another year and would no longer be ringfenced as separate from the rest of the ARRS funding.
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This is some good news for a change in GP recruitment but the full-time equivalent number is 851
And interestingly there are 900 fewer FTE Adhoc Locums in the most recent figures.
There is still some way to go to reach the targets projected 10 years ago of required GP numbers. Still 7000 short of that number, and only making ARRS open to GPs up to 2 years post CCT is not ideal.
A tiny step forward but what is going to happen in April 2026?
Is this funding going to be continued in any fashion or are these GP’s suddenly going to be trying to find new employment?