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GPs’ incomes down £6,000 from their peak five years ago

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Income before tax for UK contract holding GPs fell slightly in 2010/11 to £104,100 – bringing the total decrease since its peak in 2005/06 to almost £6,000.

New figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre today show average income for contractor GPs, who form the majority (around 80 per cent) of the GP workforce, fell 1.5 per cent in 2010/11 from £105,700 the previous year.

However, their income for 2010/11 was still up on 2004/05 – the year new contracting arrangements for GPs were introduced – when their income was £100,170.

GP Earnings and Expenses 2010/11 considers the earnings and expenses of full and part-time GPs and covers both their NHS and private income.

It shows the average gross earnings for contractor GPs rose to £266,500 – a 1.5 per cent increase on 2009/10.

However, the rise in their gross earnings was more than offset by their expenses, which rose 3.5 per cent from 2009/10 to £162,400 in 2010/11.

The report shows:

  • Around half of contractor GPs (48.9 per cent) had income before tax of less than £100,000.
  • The number of top-earning contractor GPs –with income before tax of more than £200,000 – fell to 720 (2.2 per cent of the total) from 900 (2.6 per cent) the previous year.
  • The average income before tax of contractor GPs in England was higher than those in the other UK countries - £107,700 compared to £89,300 in Scotland, £92,300 in Wales and £88,000 in Northern Ireland.

For salaried GPs, the UK average income before tax in 2010/11 was £57,600, compared to £58,000 in 2009/10.

The report has been agreed by the Technical Steering Committee which includes representatives from the four UK health departments, NHS Employers and the British Medical Association. It also provides information by type of contract, practice size, area and rurality.

HSCIC’s chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Our report shows that income has fallen for contractor GPs since it reached its peak in 2005/06.

“From our figures, we can see that the fall in actual income before tax for the latest year is influenced by the increase in expenses that practices are facing. While contractor GPs’ gross earnings are continuing to move upwards, this small rise is offset by the bigger increase they face in the cost of running their practices.”

Average Income before Tax for UK Contractor GPs 2004/05 to 2010/11

The full report is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gpearnex1011

Also published today is a report showing Investment in General Practice 2007/08 to 2011/12 showing total spend on general practice in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The report is at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/investgpreport0712

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. HSCIC was previously known as the NHS Information Centre. It is England’s authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of 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, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The HSCIC 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 Customs' (HMRC) tax self assessment database, which covers earnings and expenses from all self-employed professional earnings sources for contractor GPs and self employed and employed professional earnings sources for salaried GPs.
  3.  The results in the report are estimates based on samples, and therefore each figure has a small margin of error. Differences between groups and sub-groups of GPs, or between 2009/10 and the previous years may reflect sampling error as well as real changes. ‘Average’ refers to the arithmetic mean throughout.
  4. The report contains information on contractor GPs – i.e. GP partners – who form the majority of the workforce. The results for contractor GPs have been adjusted to exclude employer's superannuation contributions. The report also contains results for salaried GPs, which have been adjusted to include employee's superannuation contributions, thereby putting results for contractor and salaried GPs on the same basis.
  5. GP employment definitions: A contractor GP, previously referred to as a principal GP, is a practitioner who has entered into a contract with a Primary Care Organisation (PCO) to provide primary care services. This may be as a single-hander, or as part of a partnership. A contractor GP may employ salaried GPs. A salaried GP is employed by the contractor GP(s) of a practice; they may also be employed by the Primary Care Organisation (PCO). The cost of employing a salaried GP could form part of the employee expenses of contractor GPs. If the salaried GP is employed directly by a PCO then the ‘employer' GP's tax return will not have included the expense.
  6. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or email mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk

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HSCIC Health and Social Care Information Centre