Welsh GPs will receive a 4% pay uplift for 2025/26, after the Welsh Government accepted recommendations made by the doctors’ pay review body.
The Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) recommended a headline 4% increase to salary scales, pay ranges and the pay elements of contracts from 1 April, which applies to all the nations of the UK.
The Welsh Government accepted the DDRB recommendation for the consolidated uplift for GP partners and salaried GPs.
The recommendation has also been accepted in England, but not yet by Governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Welsh cabinet secretary for health Jeremy Miles said that the recommended uplift for GP partners will be taken alongside ‘overall contract agreement in tripartite negotiations’, which are due to ‘commence shortly’.
Negotiations for the 2025/26 GP contract in Wales are still due to take place. Only in January the GPC accepted a contract offer for the 2024/25 contract, including a £23m ‘practice stabilisation payment’ and an assurance from the Government that new negotiations for the next financial year would begin as early as possible.
Mr Miles said: ‘Our aim will be to secure this investment into primary care services as swiftly as possible, while progressing our ongoing programme of contract reform to ensure improved access to high-quality services for the public.’
GPs in England will also receive a 4% pay rise, with the Government committing to ‘uplifting the pay element of the GP contract’ by 4%.
However, GPs in Scotland and Northern Ireland are still awaiting confirmation on whether they will also receive the pay rise.
In Northern Ireland, the BMA said that the health minister ‘intends to pay’ the uplift ‘in full’, but it may take time to get a final decision on making the award.
BMA NI council chair Dr Alan Stout said that the recommendation ‘does not sufficiently address’ the years of pay erosion and will be ‘deeply disappointing’ for doctors right across Northern Ireland.
He added: ‘For too long doctors have faced significant pay erosion, combined with working in a failing health system where their jobs have become more complex and pressured.
‘This has had a hugely demoralising effect on doctors and has led to doctors choosing to leave the health service or to reduce their contracted hours.
‘It is imperative that pay keeps pace with the rates offered elsewhere, particularly in the Republic of Ireland, so that we can retain doctors in our health system and recruit doctors from elsewhere. Our health service is hanging by a thread and is running on the goodwill of individuals. Each branch of practice will now consult with their committee and members to decide on their next steps.’
The Scottish Government said that it will engage with representative bodies on this ‘at the earliest opportunity’.
A Scottish Government spokesperson told Pulse: ‘We note the recommendations of the Review Body Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) on pay deals.
‘We are committed to delivering fair, equitable and affordable pay deal for NHS Scotland’s medical staff and are currently considering the DDRB findings. We will engage with representative bodies at the earliest opportunity.’
Pulse has contacted the Department of Health in Northern Ireland for comment on the recommendations.
Last year, the DDRB recommended a 6% pay rise for all UK GPs, which included partners for the first time in five years. The recommendation was accepted in full in England, in Scotland, and in Wales following several delays.
However, Northern Irish GPs were denied the uplift last year, after the BMA was told that the NI Government is ‘not in a position to make the full pay award’.
