Exclusive The GP committee for England is working on being allowed to submit evidence to the Government’s pay review body, against the BMA’s policy of disengagement.
The 2024/25 GP contract round is the first time in five years that the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) would be asked to give a recommendation on GP partner pay.
This is because partners have been locked into the five-year contract deal that aimed for a 2% year-on-year partner pay rise since 2019.
The GPC is determined that it must take the opportunity to submit evidence on how that contract deal has ‘not kept pace’ with the economy since then and the current struggles in general practice.
However, 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’.
The BMA Council is due to meet on 27 December and will discuss whether to allow the GPC to proceed with making a submission.
And GPC England chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer told Pulse she is ‘confident’ she will find a way to make it happen.
Emphatically, she said: ‘I’m confident I will find a way to submit evidence to the DDRB for GPs across England for 2024/25, so help me God.’
GPC member for North Yorkshire and Bradford Dr Brian McGregor said GPs ‘absolutely have to’ present evidence for 2024/25.
He said: ‘The BMA has a policy currently of not engaging with DDRB, but for GPs, we have been locked in a five-year contract and not been able to present evidence.
‘Even if we don’t agree with the process, we absolutely need to take the opportunity to present evidence of how the five year contract did not keep pace with the economy and how many in general practice are struggling, we also need to put forward the workload and workforce figures.
‘To do this we need the support of BMA Council, who meet soon to discuss this. Failing to do so, will likely lead to another real-terms pay cut.’
The news comes as the Government last month agreed to an overhaul of the workings of the DDRB as part of an offer made to the BMA to end consultant strikes.
The Government committed to a review that 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.
Under the Government’s offer, the BMA will be given a say in the selection of review body members. The Government has also agreed to no longer include information on economic performance in its remit letters, as well as removing references to the Government’s inflation targets from the DDRB’s terms of reference.
At the beginning of the year, the BMA released a critical report detailing ‘a litany of instances of meddling and interference’ by the Government into the doctors’ pay review body. The report pointed out that the NHS staffing crisis cannot be resolved without wholesale reform of the DDRB.
DDRB changes proposed by Government
The process for appointing DDRB members
It is agreed that the members of the DDRB must be people of eminence and authority with a broad range of appropriate experience. The parties will work together to determine how relevant unions can feed in views on the role profile and potential candidates during the recruitment process in future recruitment rounds to ensure their suitability, in particular through a representative participating at the sifting stage. The Government will also increase the compensation available to members of the DDRB ensuring it continues to attract the appropriate calibre of appointee. The Government is open to codifying the background of DDRB members.
Remit letters and terms of reference
Remit letters will not include information about inflation and wider economic performance, which will instead be addressed through Government evidence. The terms of reference will be refreshed, guiding the PRBs in making their recommendations to consider a range of additional factors, affecting attraction, recruitment and retention, including the specific labour market for consultants and encompassing local and regional factors and international comparators, with the aim of ensuring delivery of high-quality healthcare to patients. The Government agrees to refer to “wider economic factors” rather than the inflation target in the terms of reference.
The timetable for the pay round process
The parties will agree a timetable which would see awards announced earlier than in recent years and which the Government would use its best endeavours to meet. As part of this, the Government will look to implement the outcome of each year’s DDRB process as soon as practically possible, with the aim of the pay award being known at the start of the financial year from the 2025/26 pay round.
The data submitted in Government’s evidence to the DDRB
The parties will identify ways to reduce the duplication of data provided to the DDRB, and ensuring this data offers the best possible picture of the prevailing economic conditions and prices, as well as wages in the wider economy, and the impact of pensions on recruitment and retention.
Source: BMA
