Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions on the ability of GP surgeries to prepare for winter pressures.

We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course.

We recently announced a proposed funding uplift for general practice for 2025/26 of £889 million, representing a 7.2% cash growth, estimated at approximately 4.8% real terms growth. This is the largest uplift to general practice (GP) funding since the beginning of the five-year framework and means we are reversing the recent trend with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to GPs.

We committed to restoring the front door of the NHS by shifting the focus of the NHS out of hospitals into the community. We know when patients are not able to get a GP appointment, they end up in accident and emergency, which is worse for the patient, and more expensive for the taxpayer. That is why it is key that we increase the capacity of appointments for GPs. We have already committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs from this October through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme which will increase the number of appointments delivered in general practice.

Primary care providers, including GPs, are valued independent contractors that provide almost £20 billion worth of services in the NHS. Every year we consult with each contracted sector about the services it provides, and the money providers are entitled to in return. As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process. We have recently begun discussions on the annual GP contract.