Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to exempt GPs who provide more than 90% of their services to the NHS from the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions.

The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance Contributions, i.e. central government, public corporations and local government. General Practitioners are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes.

The Government has taken tough decisions to fix the foundations so that increased funding for the NHS in England could be announced at the Budget. Resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care is set to increase by £22.6 billion in 2025-26 compared to 2023-24 outturn, providing a real-terms growth rate of 4% for the NHS, the largest since before 2010 excluding Covid-19 years.

Every year, the Government consults with the general practice sector about what services they provide, and about what money they are entitled to in return under their contract. As in previous years, this will be dealt with as part of that process.

The Government has announced a proposed £889m uplift for general practice in 2025-26, the largest uplift to GP funding since 2019-20. The Department of Health and Social Care have started consulting with the General Practitioners Committee in England of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the 2025-26 GP contract, and will consider a range of proposed policy changes. These will be announced in the usual way following the close of the consultation later this year.