GPs who earn in excess of £150,000 from the NHS have until 12 November to declare their earnings for the past 12 months.
New Government regulations mean that all GPs and any staff who receive more than the threshold, need to declare their earnings which must be submitted as self-declarations.
The new legislation, comes into effect from 1 October, having been announced in 2019 as part of the terms of the new five-year GP contract.
Any GPs who earn more than £150,000 per year in pensionable income – including partners, salaried GPs and locums – will have their names and earnings band listed for public scrutiny.
The first self-assessments will cover the period from 2019 to 2020. The figures were originally intended to be submitted earlier this year but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline was put back to 12 November 2021. Thereafter annual submissions must be made by 30th April.
To keep pace with inflation, the Government has also confirmed that the earnings threshold will rise annually – to £153,000 for 2020/21, £156,000 for 2021/22, £159,000 for 2022/23 and £163,000 for 2023/24.
In a recent GP Committee bulletin, the BMA was critical of the declarations.
Its statement, read: “In the 2019 contract negotiations, the Government and NHSE/I insisted on the inclusion of new pay transparency arrangements for higher earners as part of the overall agreement but it was also agreed that this should not solely relate to general practice but would be progressed for all those working in the NHS.
“While the Government has published regulations for general practice, to ensure GPs and their staff will have to declare their earnings over certain limits, there are currently no similar proposals for pharmacists, optometrists, dentists, consultants or other doctors in the NHS, anywhere else in the UK.
“As such, the Government and NHSE/I have chosen to single out general practice and have breached the 2019/20 agreement. We have not agreed to the change – health ministers have imposed this on the profession.
“We strongly believe these imposed changes risk dedicated hard-working doctors being subjected to abuse and that they will worsen the current workforce crisis if GPs seek to reduce their working commitments.”
For help and advice with self-assessments and submitting declarations, please get in touch