Salaried GP Salary 2026/27: Contract range £78,699-£118,759
DDRB salaried GP pay range for 2026/27 in England rose to £78,699-£118,759 after the DDRB 54th Report 3.5% uplift (up from £76,038-£114,743 in 2025/26). Salaried GPs (employed by GP partners or PCNs) sit between newly qualified at the bottom of the range and senior or extended-hours GPs at the top.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £98,729
- Typical range
- £78,699–£118,759
- Take-home at median
- £67,820 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn about 153% above the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you in the top 5% of UK earners.
What influences salaried gp (general practitioner) pay
The range is set by the DDRB, accepted by DHSC and promulgated in the NHS Employers pay circular - GP partners are contractually bound under GMS/PMS to apply at least the DDRB uplift each year. The GMS Contracts Regulations require a contractor to offer terms no less favourable than the model salaried GP contract; a breach is dealt with through the remedial and breach-notice machinery in Schedule 3, not by automatic revocation. Specific spine point within the range depends on sessions worked (1 session = 4 hours 10 minutes), experience, and any agreed sessional rate above the recommended floor.
NHS Pension Scheme employee contribution at this salary band is 12.5% (the top tier in 2026/27, applying to all pensionable pay above £67,668). The CARE 2015 scheme accrues 1/54th of pensionable earnings per year. Annual Allowance interactions matter: the Annual Allowance only tapers where BOTH threshold income exceeds £200,000 and adjusted income exceeds £260,000 - and adjusted income adds back the pension input amount, so it is not the same measure as adjusted net income. The taper removes £1 of allowance for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, down to a £10,000 floor.
The contract range describes a full-time post, but most salaried GPs work part-time and the range is applied pro rata. That is why NHS England, using HMRC records for 2023/24, put average salaried GP income before tax at £72,200 - below the contract floor - against £158,700 for contractor GPs.
Career progression
- GP Registrar (ST3): £67,325 basic at nodal point 4a, plus the £11,508 GP Registrar Enhancement for general practice placements - about £78,833 full-time. Registrars are on the resident doctor contract, not Agenda for Change bands.
- Newly qualified salaried GP: £78,699 (2026/27 contract floor).
- Salaried GP mid-range: £98,729 (midpoint).
- Salaried GP top of range: £118,759 (2026/27 contract ceiling).
- GP Partner (profit share): £158,700 average income before tax in 2023/24, variable by practice.
Frequently asked questions
- What is take-home for a salaried GP at the contract mid-range (£98,729)?
- On £98,729 gross with 12.5% NHS pension, take-home is about £60,416 a year, or £5,035 a month, after £12,341 pension, £21,987 Income Tax and £3,985 National Insurance. At £98k income the £100k personal-allowance taper has not started so full £12,570 PA preserved.
- Does the £100k personal allowance taper bite at the top of the contract range?
- Yes - the £118,759 top of the contract range sits in the £100,000-£125,140 taper zone. The PA loses £1 for every £2 above £100k, creating a 62% effective marginal rate on income in this band once the 2% National Insurance is counted. Note the 12.5% net pay contribution comes off first, so on £118,759 gross only about £3,914 actually sits inside the taper. The NHS Pension Scheme and its AVC arrangements are net pay arrangements, not salary sacrifice, so they reduce taxable pay but not gross pay. A relief-at-source personal pension contribution is the usual lever: it does not cut gross pay either, but it reduces adjusted net income and so restores personal allowance.
- How does the 2026/27 dividend rate rise affect GPs with private practice?
- Significant impact. A salaried GP who runs a separate private practice via a Limited company faces the 2026/27 dividend tax rise to 10.75% basic and 35.75% higher (up 2pp at Autumn Budget 2025). Combined with the existing 25% Corporation Tax, the effective extraction cost on private practice profit is now around 48% for higher-rate GPs - compared with around 50% via salary. Crossover almost gone.