Contractor GPs working in ‘single-handed' practices earned on average £124,185 before tax in 2007/08 – an average of £20,815 more than those in practices with six or more GPs, says a report out today from The NHS Information Centre.

The report shows that in general GPs' average income before tax decreased as the number of GPs in their practices increased. On average, contractor GPs working single-handedly earned the most and this was £20,815 more than contractor GPs working in a practice with six or more GPs who earned an average of £103,370 before tax.

The report presents final results of the GP Earnings and Expenses 2007/08 Enquiry and has been agreed by the Technical Steering Committee which includes representatives from the four UK health departments, NHS Employers and the British Medical Association.

The provisional results were published in September 2009 and showed average GP income before tax was slightly lower in 2007/08 than 2006/07. Because it reflects earnings reported on tax returns, the report includes private as well as NHS work and covers both full and part-time GPs.

The report also shows contractor GPs in rural areas of the UK earn on average £113,570 before tax - around £9,000 more than average contractor GPs in urban areas. This can partly be explained by the fact that 55.8 per cent of GPs whose practice is categorised as rural work in dispensing practices while only 6.4 per cent of GPs whose practice is categorised as urban work in dispensing practices.

Rural GPs working in a dispensing practice have an average income before tax of £128,727, compared to £118,028 for urban GPs in a dispensing practice; while rural GPs in non-dispensing practices earn £94,424 on average, compared to £103,516 for urban GPs in non-dispensing practices.

The report is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gpearnex0708

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Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work.
2. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
3. Journalists may be interested to read the press notice published in September 2009 to accompany the provisional findings of the report. This can be accessed at www.ic.nhs.uk/pressoffice.
4. The data source for the survey is HM Revenue and Customers' (HMRC) tax self assessment database, which covers earnings and expenses from all self-employed professional earnings sources.
5. The results in the report are estimates based on samples, and therefore each figure has a margin of error. For example we cannot be sure that there is a real difference between earnings in Wales and Northern Ireland, or between most SHAs.
6. The report contains information on contractor GPs – ie GP partners – who form the majority of the workforce. The results for contractor GPs have been adjusted to exclude employer's superannuation contributions. The report also contains results for salaried GPs, which have been adjusted to include employee's superannuation contributions, thereby putting results for contractor and salaried GPs on the same basis. A contractor GP, previously referred to as a principal GP, is a practitioner who has entered into a contract with a Primary Care Organisation (PCO) to provide primary care services. This may be as a single-hander, or as part of a partnership. A contractor GP may employ salaried GPs. A salaried GP is employed by the contractor GP(s) of a practice; they may also be employed by the Primary Care Organisation (PCO). The cost of employing a salaried GP could form part of the employee expenses of contractor GPs. If the salaried GP is employed directly by a PCO then the ‘employer' GP's tax return will not have incurred the expense.
7. The details regarding practice size relate to the number of GPs in the practice. The number and type of practice staff and their organisation may vary.
8. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact

• Sarah Dahlgren on 0113 254 7272, sarah.dahlgren@ic.nhs.uk or
• Kristina Fox on 0113 254 7120, Kristina.fox@ic.nhs.uk