Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure parity between pay awards for (a) practice nurses, (b) other primary care staff and (c) staff whose pay is determined by national NHS pay review bodies.

As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is up to GP practices how they distribute pay and benefits to their staff. General practice contractual arrangements do not place any specific obligations on GP practices with regard to general practice nurse (GPN) terms and conditions. Employers have the flexibility to set terms and conditions, for example to aid recruitment and retention, and we anticipate good employers would set wage rates that reflect the skills and experience of their staff.

The Government looks to the independent pay review bodies for a pay recommendation for NHS staff, including both contractor and salaried general practitioners (GPs). They consider a range of evidence from organisations including the Government, the NHS and trade unions to reach their recommendations.

As different NHS and primary care staff groups do not all sit under the remit of one pay review body, the Government can receive different pay award recommendations for different groups. The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) have recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay for 2025-26. To implement this through the GP contract, as the DDRB’s recommendation was higher than the assumed pay growth of 2.8%, we have provided a 1.2% top-up to the pay elements of the contract on a consolidated basis.

We have provided an increase to core funding for practices to allow this 4% pay uplift to be passed on to salaried and contractor GPs. The additional funding will also allow for pay uplifts for other salaried general practice staff, including nurses.

We expect General Practice Contractors to implement pay rises to other practice staff in line with the uplift in funding they have received.