Final Seniority Figures for GMS GPs in England 2019-20

This paper is based on information supplied by NHS Pensions Agency for GMS Contractor GPs in England for 2019/20.

This report has been produced in consultation with the Technical Steering Committee (TSC), which is chaired by NHS England, has representation from the four UK Health Departments, NHS England and the British Medical Association (BMA).

As part of the 2020 GMS contract agreement, the Welsh Government confirmed that seniority payment scales would be frozen, subject to no further uplifts, and will effectively expire over time as the scheme is not open to new entrants. Consequently, like last year, no seniority results for Wales are in this report.

The Final Seniority Figure (FSF) is an earnings benchmark used to determine the level of seniority payment individual GPs are entitled to each year. The seniority payment awarded to an individual GP is dependent on their years of reckonable service in the NHS and their qualifying income fraction.

Annex B shows the current seniority payment scales, where payments increase as the number of years of reckonable service increase. The payment system operates using the following superannuable income fractions:

•    A GP earning more than 2/3 of the national average superannuable income (excluding any seniority component) in any year receives 100% of the available seniority payment (relevant to the number of years they have been in service).
•    A GP earning between 1/3 and 2/3 of the national average superannuable income (excluding any seniority component) receives 60% of the available seniority payment.
•    A GP earning less than 1/3 of the national average superannuable income (excluding any seniority component) receives none of the available seniority payment.

Clearly, in any one financial year, it is not possible to know what the average superannuable income is until the full year has ended and all payments have been made. Therefore, to allow timely seniority payments to be made, an Interim Seniority Figure (ISF) is negotiated and adopted for use during the year that is subject to review and potential revision once the final figures are available.

As with previously published Final Seniority Figures, and the ISF, the calculations are based on GMS Contractor GPs only.

The average NHS income of all GMS Contractor GPs in England is needed to calculate the FSF for 2019/20, and the best available source for data to produce this is the NHS Pensions Agency which uses information declared via the GP superannuation certificate.

Anecdotal evidence has suggested that not all payments managers are consistently applying this definition, and that instead total NHS income (including the seniority income component) is used in the calculation of entitlement. However, the analysis presented in this paper assumes that all payment managers consistently applied the rules set out in the Statement of Financial Entitlements (SFE)[1].