Latest NHS Information Centre Figures Highlight The Changes In Family Doctors' Pay, UK

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 22 Mar 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The NHS Information Centre has today (19 March 2008) published figures that look at the changes in family doctors' pay over time as well as how pay varies according to factors such as age of GP and the number of partners in a practice.

The 2005/06 GP Earnings and Expenses Enquiry presents an analysis of tax returns for contracted GPs - the large majority of GPs in the UK.

The report's findings have been agreed by the Technical Steering Committee which includes representatives from the four UK health departments, NHS Employers and the British Medical Association.

Findings include:

-- As reported in October 2007, contracted GPs in the UK earned on average £110,004 in 2005/06.

-- As also reported in October 2007, GPs working under a general medical services contract (the majority of contracted GPs) earned on average £106,312. In 1985/86, the most comparable group of GPs earned on average £25,254 (or, taking inflation into account, £51,512 in today's terms). Of course, contractual arrangements and work done have also changed over this period.

-- Average earnings rise with increasing age of contracted GPs up to the 50-59 age group when they earned an average £117,820 in 2005/06.

-- Contracted GPs in rural practices earned on average £116,967, while contracted GPs in urban practices had average earnings of £108,455.

-- Contracted GPs working alone in single-handed practices had the highest average earnings at £132,010, and contracted GPs working with six or more partners had the lowest average earnings at £105,769.

Because the report reflects earnings reported on tax returns, it includes private as well as NHS work and covers both full and part-time GPs.

Preliminary findings from the report were published last October, and those findings remain unchanged and once again exclude employers' superannuation contributions. The full report is at: 'http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gpearnex0506final'.

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work.

The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. The data source for the survey is HM Revenue and Customers' (HMRC) tax self assessment database, which covers earnings and expenses from all self-employed professional earnings sources. For earlier years, data have been sourced from reports held by the BMA

3. In 2005/06, there were approximately 33,875 contractor GPs in the UK. The results for salaried GPs are based on a sample of 2,743 GPs who submitted a tax return and whose return showed more employed than self-employed income.

4. When interpreting time series it is important to note that the nature of GP contracts and their work has changed over time. Earnings information represents just one element of change over time. Since 2003/04, the analysis has included GPs in Northern Ireland.

www.ic.nhs.uk