GP practices will not be fully paid for the backdated uplift to the global sum until November, NHS England has said.
In an update to GPs circulated yesterday, it asked practices to pass on the recommended 6% uplift to salaried GPs and staff ‘as soon as possible’.
Pulse understands that the arrears part of the backdated payment had been due to to be made in October but is being delayed due to technical issues.
The BMA’s GP Committee for England warned the issue could spell severe trouble for GP practice cash flow and urged practices to ask their ICB for bridging loans if necessary.
The October payment should still be made with the uplift incorporated.
NHS England’s GP bulletin said: ‘The uplift is backdated to April 2023, with April to September arrears payments being made in November – and practices should now pass this on to all salaried general practice staff as soon as possible.’
GPC chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said: ‘This is deeply regretful. The uplift was announced by DDRB on 19 July, and the SFE was always set to be published on 2 October.
‘Many practices may have committed to passing on paylifts that they expected to receive in this month’s pay run, and may now find themselves in a cashflow predicament.
‘We note that NHSE have advised that the uplift should be passed on “as soon as possible.”
‘We will be reaching out to NHSE to recommend aligning their messaging with their pay run, and would encourage practices in need to approach their ICBs regarding a bridging loan should this be necessary, as monies may have been committed in good faith creating inadvertent practice financial pressures.’
The global sum has been increased for 2022/23 by £2.45, from £102.28 to £104.73, as reported earlier this week.
This accounted for a 3.9% uplift to staffing expenses, which is on top of a 2.1% uplift earlier in the year – together this totalled a global sum increase of £233.14m.
Although securing the uplift via the global sum is a blunt tool which means it will impact practices differently depending on staffing, it does ensure it is recurring for future years.
Personally I wouldn’t hold your breathe for November and I very much doubt it will be what it’s claimed to be!
Dear All,
Wake up chaps and chapesses. Yet another negotiated pay cut by GPC for GPs?
It doesn’t matter when it arrives its not enough, in fact its another pay cut for contract holders.
Do the math. I understand that the uplift was based on an average of 44% of GP income going on staff costs. That, if true, is nonsense. The average staff cost across the NHS is about 75%.
Remember for any nominal pay uplift the employee receives the employer (the GP contract holders) has to fund an additional 20.6% employers pension contributions and 13.8% national insurance contributions. So for every £1 you increase the salary of your employees, you actually have to spend £1:34p. Too few people understand that.
That’s on your wages bill. But the uplift is applied to the global sum per patient income, which is not to same.
So real world figures; for my practice the nominal 6% rise for all employed staff would be circa £58K. Add on pensions and NI contributions of an extra £19K the total actual bottom line cost to us to find from profits is £67K.
Our global sum uplift based on our Carr Hill weighted list size is £28K.
So to fund a 6% pay uplift for all our employed staff means we will be £39K out of pocket (£67K – £28K).
I think all contract holders need to be doing these sums.
Regards
Paul C
I agree, Paul. I just did the calculations for our practice. With a weight list of 3.4k, the annual increase in the global sum amounts to £8,316.00, and a 6% increase in staff costs brings it to £12,000.00. Due to the BMA and NHSE pay negotiation debacle, we must find an extra £3,684.00 for the staff pay increase. This issue is fundamental to General Practice Finance, and I have serious doubts about the understanding of GP finance by some members who participated in the discussion. I wonder about negotiators affected by the Dunning-Kruger effect.