Streeting will take GP views on National Insurance hike ‘seriously’

Health secretary Wes Streeting has committed to taking ‘representations seriously’ from GPs affected by the hike in National Insurance contributions. 

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr Streeting said he is ‘well aware of the pressures’ on GPs and that ‘allocations’ for the year ahead had not yet been made. 

GP leaders have raised significant concerns about the impact of NIC changes on practices, with the BMA and the RCGP demanding the Government reimburse them for the increased costs, as it will for other parts of the NHS. 

The BMA has also urged GP partners to write to their MP demanding a U-turn from the Government on its decision not to reimburse practices.

GP Committee England chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said the Budget ‘may cause the handback of 100s of NHS GP practices’. 

Responding to Mr Streeting’s comments in Parliament in a post on X, she said: ‘I’ve been in touch with ministers and DHSC today. GPs are watching, GPs are listening.’

Last week’s Budget confirmed that the rate of employer NICs will increase by 1.2 percentage points – to 15% – from 6 April next year. 

Funding has been set aside to protect the spending power of the public sector, including the NHS, from the direct impacts of these changes – but following some confusion last week, the Treasury has confirmed that GPs will be excluded from this since they operate as independent businesses. 

Yesterday, Dr Luke Evans, MP for Hinckley and Bosworth and a GP, asked the health secretary for clarity on whether GPs, hospices and care homes will be directly impacted by the changes, saying it ‘really matters to their costs’. 

He asked Mr Streeting: ‘On the Budget, both GPs, hospices and care homes have been found to be either exempt or not exempt from the national insurance contributions. Will he clarify whether hospices, care homes and primary care are exempt or not?’

The health secretary responded: ‘I am grateful for that intervention for two reasons. Firstly, it gives me an opportunity to say to GPs, hospices and other parts of the health and care system that will be affected by employer national insurance contribution changes that I am well aware of the pressures, we haven’t made allocations for the year ahead, and I will take those representations seriously.’

He went on to say that he and the Government ‘stand by’ the choices they have made in the Budget, and that the chancellor has provided funding for an extra 40,000 NHS patients to be treated each week.

The Budget also announced a £22.6bn funding boost for the NHS over two years, as well as £100m of capital funding ‘earmarked’ for 200 GP estates upgrades. 

The Department of Health and Social Care told Pulse that it will confirm funding for GPs as part of the usual contract process later in the year, through consultation with the sector.