GP practices’ pay bills to increase again as minimum wage to rise from April
The National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage will go up from April, the Government has announced ahead of tomorrow’s Autumn Budget statement.
This will see a full-time worker on the National Living Wage getting an increase in pay of £900 a year, while someone on the National Minimum Wage will see a £1,500 increase.
However GP accountants told Pulse that the rise needed to be accompanied by funding increases for GP practices to cover the increased costs.
The Treasury announced that:
- From 1 April 2026, the NLW will rise by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over. This will increase the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW by £900, benefiting around 2.4m low-paid workers.
- The NMW rate for 18–20-year-olds will also increase by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour, narrowing the gap with the NLW. This will mean an annual earnings increase of £1,500 for a full-time worker, and marks further progress towards the government’s goal of phasing out 18-20 wage bands and establishing a single adult rate.
- The NMW for 16–17-year-olds and those on apprenticeships will increase by 6% to £8 per hour.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘We know that the cost of living is still the number one issue for working people and that the economy isn’t working well enough for those on the lowest incomes.
‘Too many people are still struggling to make ends meet. And that has to change. That’s why today I’m announcing that we will raise the National Living Wage and also the National Minimum Wage, so that those on low incomes are properly rewarded for their hard work.’
This year, the National Living Wage was raised to £12.21 per hour for those aged 21 or above, and from £8.60 to £10 for those aged 18-20, as announced in last year’s Autumn Budget.
Katie Collin, partner at specialist medical accountancy firm Ramsay Brown, said: ‘It doesn’t feel like too long ago that practices were trying to cope with the last Budget’s national minimum and living wage increases. These changes, along with employer national insurance contribution hikes, added a massive chunk to practices’ staff costs, leaving GP partners with uncertainty over how they would make ends meet. Now it seems they’ll have to do it all over again.
‘The trouble is that practices get very little information as to whether there will be a funding uplift to help them cover these extra costs, what that adjustment will look like and how it can be passed along to staff. The information may trickle through as the months go by, but this leaves GPs with weeks, if not months, of instability. I expect that practices will have to deal with the same lack of clarity this time round, too.’
