PCNs will continue into 2026, NHS England confirms

NHS England has confirmed that the future of PCNs is secure for the next financial year.

Speaking in a webinar for GPs on Thursday evening (9 January), NHS England said: ‘The future of PCNs is secure for 25/26 with additional funding being implemented through ARRS.’

The commissioner’s group director for primary care Alex Morton, said this ‘should give some assurance’ to practices around ARRS staff.

The statement came after being told that some PCNs have seen ARRS staff resigning because of ‘uncertainty’ about the future of PCNs until the new Network DES contract is published in March.

One GP attending the webinar asked NHS England: ‘Is there any confirmation coming out about the future of PCNs for 2025/26? Many ARRS staff are very worried about their jobs beyond March 2025.’

Another GP added: ‘Good to hear about GPs in ARRS, although some detail would be helpful.

‘But we need to know about the other ARRS roles as we have staff leaving because of the uncertainty about the future of PCNs until the new DES is published or announced.’

The latest monthly primary care workforce figures found that 15 out of the 35 roles had dropped in number between October and November, with care coordinators having fallen by the most (40) and physician associate numbers continuing to drop for the fourth month in a row, from 1,165 in October to 1,154 at the end of November.

The webinar also revealed that some PCNs are struggling to find GPs who will ‘accept a salary within ARRS level funding’, particularly within London.

The Government announced over the summer that GPs would be added to ARRS as an ‘emergency measure’, with funding for 1,000 across England.

And according to the RCGP, only just over 300 newly-qualified GPs had taken up posts under the scheme as of last month.

NHS England reiterated during the webinar that practices are ‘encouraged’ to make ‘full use’ of the funding available to recruit.

Ms Morton said: ‘I wanted particularly to encourage colleagues, now that there is absolute confirmation that recently qualified GPs employed by the ARRS scheme will continue to be supported next year, I wanted to really encourage people to really take the opportunity to make those appointments.’

The health secretary previously clarified that funding to hire GPs via ARRS ‘will continue beyond March’ next year.