Almost half of PCNs increased ARRS pay by 5.5%

Almost half of PCNs have given their additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) staff a pay rise of at least 5.5% since April this year, according to a survey by Pulse PCN.

The question, which had 129 responses, found that 29% had granted a 6% uplift in pay for their ARRS staff. An additional 16% said they had passed on a 5.5% increase, while 13% said they had given a pay rise but this was below 5.5%.

Over a third (38%) said they had not given a pay rise yet and were awaiting guidance from NHS England on ARRS staff pay increases, and 3% said they do not plan to offer any pay increases this year.

NHS England confirmed in October that changes to the reimbursable amounts for ARRS staff were in line with the 5.5% Agenda for Change pay increases that were set out in July. However, networks were told they needed to find the money for these uplifts within their existing 2024/25 budgets if they were to grant pay rises to staff.

In a separate question answered by all respondents, including GPs and practice managers, it was shown that the main reason for not giving the full increase for all staffing groups was due to cost pressures.

Around a quarter (24%) of the 702 respondents to this question said that cost pressures meant they were only able to give the full recommended pay rise to some staffing groups, with a further 15% saying this meant they could not give the full amount to any staffing group.

Only 2% of respondents said staff were already paid above the Agenda for Change pay rates so the uplift was unnecessary, and 4% said they could afford to pay the full award for some groups but chose to evenly distribute the rise at a lower level than the recommended uplift.

Dr Sarit Gosh, clinical director at Enfield Unity PCN in North West London, said they ‘are likely’ to award a 5.5% pay rise, but they are ‘working through the numbers’.

‘As a large PCN, this takes a bit more time,’ he added.

However, accountants last week warned that PCNs should keep reserves in light of the Budget which increased the rate of employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

At the time, Andy Pow, board member of the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants (AISMA), said: ‘PCNs would be wise to be cautious with their ARRS spending and ensure they have some reserves in place in the event that the full cost increase of employing staff is not met by improved budgets in 2025/26.’

Also last week, Dr Laura Mount, clinical director at Central and West Warrington PCN, told Pulse PCN her network was due to announce their pay increases for the year but ‘based on the Budget we have had to pause this and revisit what we can give’.

On Monday, the Prime Minister said funding arrangements in relation to the impact of Budget changes on general practice would be set out ‘by the end of the year’.

This survey was run with our sister titles Pulse and Management in Practice and was open between 19 September and 18 October 2024, collating responses using the SurveyMonkey tool. After removing duplicate entries from the same practice, a total of 702 GP partners and practice managers from England responded to these questions. For the PCN questions, we removed duplicate PCN responses and removed ‘don’t knows’. This left 129 responses, The survey was advertised to our readers via our website and email newsletter, with a prize draw for a £200 John Lewis voucher as an incentive to complete the survey. The survey was unweighted, and we do not claim this to be scientific – only a snapshot of the GP and practice manager population.