GP TechLead

The recent increase in employer National Insurance (NI) contributions in the Autumn budget is creating serious challenges for GP partnerships in the UK. To understand why, it helps to look at how GP practices work and how they manage their money. What Are GP Partnerships? Most GP practices in the UK are run as partnerships rather than companies. This means the doctors who own the practice share both the profits and the responsibilities. These GP partners are in charge of paying for the staff, running the practice, and handling costs like employer NI contributions. Unlike employees, the partners take on personal financial risk to keep the practice running. What Is Changing with NI Contributions? The government has raised employer NI contributions from 13.8% to 15% . At the same time, the income threshold for paying NI has been lowered, which means more salaries are affected. This means GP practices will have to pay more for every staff member they employ, including receptionists, nurse...

GP Practices have had a few financial obstacles put in its way this year. Firstly there was the 3% pay rise for staff which I have covered before. But more recently, there was an increase in National Insurance (NI) contributions and in the budget last week, an increase to the minimum wage to £9.50 an hour. Financial experts feel the NI changes alone will mean an average loss of £15,000 a year  to the average GP surgery. I feel NI is a very confusing tax to understand compared to income tax, so I thought I'd try to break it down as easily as I can.