4 March 2025
Dear Colleague,
I hope you are well. I bring you news of the revised GP Contract for 2025/26, a Special England LMCs Conference this month, and hope of a brand new GP Contract to be negotiated during this current parliament. Here’s the background, and the shape of the agreed deal.
As you are no doubt aware, GPC England have agreed the principles of a contract deal for 2025/26, conditional on a Government commitment to full renegotiation of the GP Contract during this Parliament; and that commitment being confirmed in writing ahead of the forthcoming LMCs Special Conference on 19 March.
Because of this agreement in principle, as is the convention, the BMA’s GPC England is no longer officially in dispute with the Government while the details of the agreement are worked through, and pending receipt of the above written confirmation by 19 March.
The BMA’s GPC England recommends that practices continue to operate within the safe working model as set out in the BMA’s Safe working guide, noting that the current collective actions for safe working are designed to not breach contracts. You can also refer to our own Londonwide LMCs Safe working pack.
Please read the official BMA announcement, paying particular attention to the section on “Collective Action – staying safe, organised and united”. You can refer to this section if you get any queries about current and future collective action (copied below for convenience):
- GP collective action – staying safe, organised and united
- GPCE continues to recommend that all colleagues work safely, and that where commissioning gaps exist or where commissioned pathways are failing practices and patients, these are raised with LMCs and ICBs (integrated care boards) and should be renegotiated locally. Practices should be appropriately resourced for the work they undertake in providing vital care for patients.
- GPCE’s dispute with Government may be over – contingent upon written assurances around the renegotiation of the national GP practice contract for England in this Parliament, but the focus at a local and system-level continues. Patient care must be protected from gaps in local commissioning arrangements. Practices who are undertaking such work should either be resourced, to ensure patient care is sustainable or consider serving notice on them to ICBs. LMCs are central to this process of achieving a fair collective position for practices supported by our national advice and resources.
- Our safe working guidance has been GPC England policy for a decade and continues to be so. We will continue to update our guidance in line with new contracts as they develop. Contractual asks, such as access to online consultations and requesting non-urgent /routine queries, does not mean GPs must find unlimited capacity that jeopardises safe patient care.
- Should negotiations around a new Contract fail to deliver what the profession needs, then GPCE will need to potentially discuss re-entering dispute and action escalation again, an outcome which is in nobody’s interest. Many of the items on the collective action menu will potentially be superseded by the 2025/26 Contract agreement, and so we will publish updated guidance for members, practices and LMCs to provide the necessary clarity. We also still have the template letters available within our long-standing safe working guidance to help practices manage workload and limit capacity to deliver safe, high-quality care.
I hope this helps, and looking forward to seeing many of you on 19 March at the England LMCs Special Conference chaired by our own Dr Elliott Singer.
I’ll let you know as this develops, but you can also keep track on the BMA website and via GPC England Chair Dr Katie Bramall Stainer on the socials.
It’s Spring – please do have a lovely week, and please feel free to share this among all your practice teams and networks.
Dr Michelle Drage MBBS FRCGP
CEO, Londonwide LMCs