GPs to receive 3.5% pay uplift following DDRB recommendation

The Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) has recommended a 3.5% pay uplift for GPs in 2026/27.

The recommendation applies to contractor and salaried GPs across all four nations in the UK, and to resident doctors across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said the recommendations would lead to ‘a 3.5% increase to the pay elements of the GP contract’ in England.

When the GP contract for England was announced last month, the Government promised a £485m uplift for 2026/27 – representing a 3.6% cash increase or 1.4% real terms growth.

At the time, this included a ‘pay assumption’ of a 2.5% uplift which would be revisited in light of the review body’s recommendation.

Should it recommend a higher award, the Government had said it would need to consider whether and how this could be made affordable from within existing DHSC budgets.

‘It said that accepting such an award would inevitably have an impact on healthcare delivery,’ the DDRB report said.

Mr Streeting’s written statement said: ‘These awards are above forecast inflation over the 2026/27 pay year, meaning that the Government is delivering a real-terms pay rise, on top of those in preceding years, underlining the extent to which we value our Doctors and Dentists. We are in the process of concluding business planning across DHSC and its Arm’s Length Bodies and that will take the DDRB recommendations into account.

‘The existing challenging, productivity and efficiency commitments required by ICBs and providers to deliver breakeven positions are the foundations of the Government’s ability to agree this within the existing settlement. This additional pressure above the Government’s affordability position set out in its evidence to the DDRB will be managed by DHSC and ALBs (including NHS England central budgets) so the DDRB increases will not be paid for by cutting frontline services.’

The Welsh Government said it had accepted ‘in principle’ the DDRB’s recommendation of a 3.5% pay uplift for 2026/27, but that implementation would be a decision for the ‘next government’.

BMA council chair Dr Tom Dolphin said: ‘Today’s announcement will be a crushing blow to doctors in England, leaving many to consider why they should continue to give their all to a system that refuses to value them.

‘It will dash any hope that the Government might be prepared to properly recognise the expertise and contribution of doctors to the health of the nation, and it shows that the promised reforms to the DDRB have not resulted in it showing its independence from government in any way. Both the recommendation and award fail to meet the rising cost of living, let alone make any progress in restoring pay that doctors have lost over the last 17 years.’

Dr Iain Kennedy, chair of BMA Scotland, said the recommendations did not ‘go anywhere near far enough in delivering on the need to reverse long-term pay erosion’.

‘It risks a further drop in morale in the medical profession which has in recent years had to cope with spiralling workloads, chronic short-staffing and an NHS in crisis. Senior doctors are already feeling let down by recent awards which fail to recognise that they have been – and continue to – go above and beyond every single day so they can deliver the best possible care for their patients.’

He added that as the Scottish Government ‘has indicated it will leave any decision on accepting the DDRB recommendations to the new Government after the election in May’, there was ‘an opportunity for whoever takes power to do better than these recommendations’.

Welsh health secretary Jeremy Miles said in a written statement: ‘I also accept in principle the DDRB recommendations of a 3.5% pay uplift in relation to contractor GPs (3.5%) and a 3.75% uplift to the pay element of dental contracts. However, the application of the recommended pay uplifts for contracted GPs and dentists and how those are considered alongside overall contract changes, will be a decision for the next government.’

The BMA Wales GP Committee only reached a deal on the 2025/26 GP contract with its government in December, following extensive negotiations, resulting in £41.9m of investment for the current financial year.

The DDRB said it came to its conclusion taking into consideration of a range of factors, including current rates of inflation. However, it warned that the four UK governments would need to address workforce issues via effective planning that was not currently taking place.

The report said: ‘We recognise that there are specific recruitment and retention issues across the medical and dental workforces which a general pay uplift will not resolve. Workforce planning plays a substantial role in securing long-term workforce recruitment and retention, and we hope that the imminent plan for England considers this.

‘However, national pay structures require flexibility to deal with specific issues, such as shortages in certain specialties, or difficulties in recruiting to rural, remote and coastal areas. Governments have made clear that they wish to address these issues locally rather than through UK-wide approaches. At present, the evidence indicates that this is not being done in a systematic or effective way.’