The BMA’s GP Committee is ‘pushing’ for extra funding from the Government to cover the costs of increased National Insurance contributions for practices, following changes announced in the Autumn Budget yesterday.
After speaking with primary care minister Stephen Kinnock yesterday, GPC England chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said the Government ‘knows there must be full recompense’ for the extra costs.
Health ministers are currently ‘locked in discussions with Treasury’ over this issue, according to Dr Bramall-Stainer.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed to Pulse that further detail on National Insurance contributions for GPs will be confirmed in due course, and that it will work closely with the Treasury to ensure appropriate compensation for the public sector.
It comes after chancellor Rachel Reeves announced yesterday that the rate of employer National Insurance will increase by 1.2 percentage points – to 15% – from 6 April next year, and experts warned that GP practices will be one of the few areas of the NHS worse off as a result.
The Treasury confirmed that it has set aside funding to protect the spending power of the public sector – including the NHS – from the direct impacts of the employer NICs changes, and Budget documents stated that there will be ‘allowance for impact on public sector organisations’, which in 2025/26 amounts to over £4.7bn.
However, the Treasury has not yet confirmed whether this will include GP practices.
GP leaders in Nottinghamshire said they understood the GPCE is ‘pushing’ for extra NICs costs to be ‘covered’ by the Treasury so they do ‘not become an increase to overheads which would make many unviable’.
In a post on X today, GPC chair Dr Bramall-Stainer said that she ‘spent time on the phone’ to Mr Kinnock yesterday afternoon and that BMA Council chair Phil Banfield ‘did the same’ with health secretary Wes Streeting.
She argued that NHS GP practices do ‘count as public sector’, citing the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which defines them as ‘public sector authorities’.
She also said the Budget documents seem to suggest that NHS GP organisations will be included as part of the Treasury’s ‘allowance’, but that GPs ‘need clarity and certainty’ as soon as possible, rather than ‘promises or conjecture’.
She added: ‘We explained quite how concerned GP partners and practices will be about rising employment costs from April.
‘Government knows there must be full recompense, so this doesn’t add to the financial burden already crippling practices.
‘GPCE and the England Conference of LMCs meet next month. Good timing for DHSC.
‘We will pick up the £22bn headline in discussions, as well as the insufficient capital around estates and premises’ commitments.
‘I’m sure many share GP cynicism that £bns into Trust waiting list initiatives won’t translate into yielding the results the Government hopes for.’
The Liberal Democrats have also called on the Government to protect GP practices from the hike in NICs.
Health spokesperson for the party Helen Morgan said: ‘After years of mismanagement by the former Conservative government, this budget was an opportunity to rescue GP surgeries from years of neglect.
‘We are urging the Chancellor to change course, and exempt GPs from a tax hike. This new government must not make the same mistakes as the Conservatives, fixing the GP crisis is crucial for saving the NHS.’
In response, a spokesperson for DHSC said: ‘The Chancellor has announced a £22.6 billion funding boost for the NHS to get it back on its feet, alongside an additional £100 million to fund around 200 upgrades to GP surgeries across England.
‘We will also hire an extra 1,000 GPs into the NHS by the end of this year, having already announced a contract uplift for GPs and practice staff, and we will ensure practices have the resources they need to offer patients the highest quality care.’
Pulse has contacted the Treasury for comment.
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I know one should avoid generalism and trueisms but there is so much in secondary care especially once payment by results disappeared that is inefficient/duplicates/unnecessarily complicated/ends up spinning around the system despite more than what many would deem to be a fair share of NHS resources-without being held to account in some reform this money will not yield the results the tax payer in the politicians hope for -suspect they may be doing it to buy some time but do worry they will not get the value they would get out of moving secondary care services into a better funded primary care service
All the money to hospitals as always. None announced for general practice, apart from the real threat of having extra NI to pay.
Bring on retirement I say. Only 1 month to go!
The whole thing show how expendible we are, how little they understand how GP and works,and how much imporatnce they put on our roll.Now salaried and very part time lovin it.