'They will struggle': Shropshire GP fears job cuts after Budget National Insurance hike

Chancellor Rachel Reeves' move to increase national insurance employer contributions is due to hit family GP surgeries which are independent businesses that provide medical services to the NHS under contract.

Shropshire GP Dr Jess Harvey told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that practices will “really struggle”.

“During these contract negotiations for our new contract, unless we’re getting given suitable remuneration to cover this national insurance inflation, then we’re going to really struggle,” she said.

“There are going to be practices to start to make redundancies. There are practices that were already considering redundancies because it’s so hard to manage financially, and if we don’t get enough money to continue to run these practices, then we’re not going to be able to provide the service that people want.”

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan, health and social care spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “We are urging the Chancellor to change course and exempt GPs from a tax hike.

“This new Government must not make the same mistakes as the Conservatives, fixing the GP crisis is crucial for saving the NHS.

“If people can be checked quicker, fewer will end up in hospital for treatment. That’s better for patients, better for the NHS and better for taxpayers.”

Doctors' organisations have called for “urgent assurances” from the Health Secretary that practices will be exempted from the hike in announced in the Budget.

Organisations representing care homes and hospices have also voiced concerns about the sector’s ability to plug the funding gap.

The Royal College of GPs chairwoman Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: “We are writing to the Health Secretary today asking for urgent assurances that GP practices will be given the same protection as the rest of the NHS and public sector and receive the necessary funding to cover these additional costs.

“We have very serious concerns about the impact of the increase in national insurance employer contributions on GP practices right across the country, many of whom are already struggling to keep their doors open and make ends meet due to historic chronic underfunding.

“For some, this extra financial burden will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, forcing them to make tough decisions on redundancies or even closing their practice, and ultimately it is our patients who will bear the brunt.”

Downing Street pointed to the “annual GP contract process”.

A No 10 spokeswoman said contracted workers, including GPs, were not eligible for an exemption from the NICs hike, which she said was consistent with the approach of previous governments.

“There is a general process whereby departments, the Department of Health for example, confirm their funding for general practices,” she said.