Funding to cover the 6% pay rise for salaried practice staff is due to be paid to practices in November, and is to be backdated to April.
The Royal College of Nursing is demanding that all GP practice employers pay the increase to their staff in full and backdate the increase to April, now funding has been confirmed.
Patricia Marquis, RCN Director for England, said: ‘Now that a further announcement has been made, the RCN is investigating exactly how this will impact the pay, benefits and terms and conditions of our members working in GP practices.
‘You deserve to receive fair pay, and it's important we understand the full details of this provision and its funding to support you to access every additional penny you should receive. More information will be available on the RCN website shortly to support you.’
The RCN has pledged to support any nurse member to ‘advocate for the pay rise you’re entitled to,’ if they are told they will not receive the 6% pay award.
The RCN has developed a series of letter templates to help practice nurses raise issues relating to the pay award with their GP employers, available at https://www.rcn.org.uk/Get-Help/GP-nurse-letter.
In September, the BMA’s GP Committee in England (GPCE) accepted the offer from NHS England to increase the staff expenses element of GP contract funding by an additional 3.9%, increasing the global sum per weighted patient from £102.28 to £104.73.
This means that the average practice will receive approximately £25,000 in addition to the 2.1% uplift provided under terms of the final year of five-year contract agreed in 2019 – long before the recent and dramatic increases in energy costs and overall inflation.
NHSE has confirmed to GPCE that this funding is calculated to cover the costs of both staff pay and National Insurance contributions, Employer’s Superannuation payments into their employees’ pensions, and other staff benefits.
GPCE believes ‘the decision to further uplift this year’s general medical services global sum, providing an additional contribution towards practice staff costs, is helpful: we know investment in staff is a key priority for GPs. It is also the first time in recent memory that a proposed staff pay uplift has been directly linked to Pay Body recommendations, which GPCE believe signals a recognition of both the cost pressures on practices, and also the key value of rewarding all members of the practice team for their hard work in maintaining high-quality patient care as patient demand and workload continue to rise.’
However, the delay between the announcement of the 6% uplift in July, and the arrival of funding next month, has caused frustration for practice staff, including general practice nurses, and GPs alike. And while some practices – where cashflow permitted it – have already passed the pay increase on, before the extra funding was received, others will struggle to pass it on at all, because of other rising cost pressures.
