Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of GP contract uplifts on the ability of practices to fund pay rises for (a) practice nurses and (b) other non-doctor staff.

We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in general practice to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025-26, the biggest cash increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP contract in 2025/26 is greater than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole.

The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay. As with last year, we have accepted the DDRB’s pay recommendation and have uplifted the pay elements of the GP contract by 4% on a consolidated basis (an increase of 1.2% on top of the 2.8% interim uplift in April).

Funding for these awards will be backdated to April 2025. We expect General Practice Contractors to implement pay rises to other practice staff in line with the uplift in funding they are receiving. As self-employed contractors to the NHS, it is for GP practices to determine uplifts in pay for their employees.