Exclusive The BMA will allow GPC England to submit evidence to the Government’s pay review body, despite the trade union’s policy to withdraw from the process.
Pulse revealed exclusively last month that the BMA’s GP committee for England was determined to submit partner pay evidence to DDRB this year – the first time in five years it has been requested.
The BMA withdrew from the DDRB process in 2021, in protest at the body’s lack of independence from the Government and ‘a decade of derisory pay uplifts’.
But Pulse understands that BMA representatives have voted in favour of overturning the policy to allow the GPC to proceed with making a submission.
The Government has asked the DDRB for a recommendation on a GP partner pay uplift for the first time since 2019.
Since then, GP partners have been locked into a five-year contract deal that aimed for a 2% year-on-year partner pay rise, meaning they were excluded from the remit of the DDRB.
The GPC thinks it us crucial to make a submission detailing how the five-year contract deal has ‘not kept pace’ with the economy.
According to initial findings from a BMA survey of practices, GP contractor income in England has dropped by a fifth in the past year.
The Government recently agreed to overhaul the workings of the DDRB, as part of an offer made to the BMA to end consultant strikes.
A review will examine the appointments of members to the DDRB, the timing of the round, remit letters and terms of reference, and the data provided to the body on which it bases its recommendations, with changes to be implemented for the 2025/26 financial year.
Seems like common sense to me but may need to negotiate pay reparation for the last two years of rampant inflation hitting expenses and minimum wage rises
We will only get a one year deal as general election coming but that is wise at present