GP Indemnity Support Scheme

NHS England support for GP indemnity costs

NHS England has announced a scheme to help GPs cover the cost of their professional protection for the next two years. The money is being paid directly to practices and the first payment has already been made. Read below for details on NHS England's scheme.

GP Indemnity Support Scheme

As a result of the 2016 GP Indemnity Review, NHS England has agreed to provide financial support to general practice for two years, to assist GP practices with the rising inflationary costs of clinical negligence.

In year one of the scheme (2017/18), NHS England has paid £30 million towards the overall cost of GP practice indemnity. This is calculated to be 51.6p per unweighted patient.

This sum has recently been paid directly to GP practices through their annual GP contract payments. The amount is based on their unweighted list size at 1 December 2016; as this payment is in respect of inflationary rises in the financial year 2016/17. The payment has been made direct to GP practices rather than to individual GPs because NHS England (or CCGs with delegated commissioning authority) has a legal relationship with the GP practices, and is therefore able to make a payment to them.

It will be the responsibility of the GP contractors who have received this funding to determine how to appropriately share the payment between all GPs at the practice, including locums. Additionally, it is expected that practices will ensure that the payment is applied to the cost of indemnity premiums, whether they are paid for directly by the practice or by the individual GPs.

In year two of the scheme, NHS England will again assess the inflationary rise in indemnity cost for 2017/18. Once this amount has been determined, it will again be paid according to unweighted population list sizes on 1 December 2017; and will be paid around the turn of the financial year, between March and April 2018.