A new recommended pay range for salaried GPs in England

As part of the recommendations that it makes annually, the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Body (DDRB) publishes recommended pay ranges for salaried doctors. Unlike other recommendations that it makes, the Government does not have the ability to directly implement recommended salaried GP pay – it relies on GP Partners to do so.

Practices are contractually bound by the GMS/PMS contract to offer salaried GPs terms no less favourable, and the BMA salaried GP model contract include the requirement to uplift the employee’s salary by the DDRB uplift each year. Practices who fail to do so could be in breach of their GMS/PMS contract and could face having it revoked.

The Government announced its response to the DDRB’s recommendation’s for doctors’ pay in England on 13 July 2023. This announcement means that sessional GPs in England should receive a 6% uplift on a consolidated basis.

While the sessional GPs committee notes the DDRB’s recommendation to the salaried GP pay range, we are disappointed that the Government did not go as far as to award a £9,000 uplift to the minimum and maximum amounts of the range as requested by the BMA before any further uplift was provided. This amount was requested by the Sessional GPs committee because analysis indicated that the DDRB pay range does not reflect the reality of salaried GP’s pay, and instead arbitrarily suppresses remuneration of these doctors. The DDRB pay range, in effect, puts these GPs on the back-foot in negotiations, and misleads GP Partners regarding the market rate for sessional doctors.

Under the current primary care model, sessional GP pay is determined by market rates, and influenced by the DDRB pay range. However, market rates are difficult to ascertain, owing to pay varying significantly across regions, variance in individual employment arrangements, and the lack of centralised data on the pay of these GPs.

As a first step toward filling this information gap, and to demonstrate that the DDRB pay range is not fit-for-purpose, the BMA has published a recommended pay range for salaried GPs in England built on actual rates of pay. This is included alongside DDRB recommended pay range in the table below.

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Pay range

This encompasses a recommended £9,000 uplift to the previous years BMA recommended range following the collection and analysis of surveys and other forms of data, as well as the DDRB recommended 6% uplift. If your salary does not fall within the BMA’s range, we recommend that you approach your employer to discuss a salary review. The BMA can help you with this process via our member support team, who can provide guidance throughout the process.

Members are reminded that they should receive the uplift to their salaries back dated to April this year and to get in touch with the BMA if their employer refuses to provide the uplift.

† There is no upper limit for sessional GPs – salary should reflect your level of responsibility, experience and qualifications.