Regulations
Page Contents
GMS/PMS Contracts Services Agreements (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2020
GP Contract Agreement 2020/2021
GP Contract Agreement 2019/2020
GMS and PMS Regulations Amendments
Primary Medical Services – Directed Enhanced Services
Statement of Financial Entitlements Directions
How To… Understand and Apply the Regulations. An overview of the NHS & NHS Contracts
GMS Contract 2025/2026
A range of guidance is available on the BMA website, where you can also download the BMA’s Practice Charter as an accompaniment to NHS England’s “You & Your GP Practice” document, and template letters to send to your ICB regarding online consultations. Other guidance include:
- Regulatory changes for 2025/26
- Managing patient care safely from 1 October
- FAQs for 1 October 2025 online consultations
- Guidance on demand and capacity
- Setting up online consultations and appointments
- GP Connect Update Record Summary
- Waiting lists in General Practice
- Choosing an online GP consultation platform
- GP online consultations poster
Access all the guidance: GP campaigns
- Standard general medical services contract– August 2025
- Standard general medical services contract variation notice– August 2025
- Standard personal medical services agreement– August 2025
- Standard personal medical services agreement variation notice– August 2025
- Standard alternative provider medical services contract– August 2025
- Standard alternative provider medical services contract variation notice– August 2025
NHS England » Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) guidance for 2025/26
NHS England » Enhanced service specification: weight management programme 2025/26
NHS England » Enhanced service specification – General Practice Requests for Advice and Guidance
NHS England » Update to the GP contract agreements 2025/26: financial implications
GMS Contract 2024/2025
- Standard general medical services contract – August 2024
- Standard general medical services contract variation notice – August 2024
- Standard personal medical services agreement – August 2024
- Standard personal medical services agreement variation notice – August 2024
Quality and outcomes framework guidance for 2024/25
Enhanced service specification – weight management 2024/25
Update to the GP contract agreements 2024/25: financial implications
NHS England GP Contract documents
Global sum allocation formula – a reminder from the BMA how funding for GMS practices is calculated using the Carr-Hill formula, and what is taken into account.
GMS Contract 2023/2024
- General medical services contract
- General medical services contract variation notice
- Personal medical services agreement
- Personal medical services agreement variation notice
NHSE have a suite of documents covering the contract for 23/24 that can be seen at https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/investment/gp-contract/23-24/
For ease of navigation, the following links go direct to the documented sections
- NHSE Letter setting out changes to the GP Contract
- QoF guidance
- PCN DES
- Weight Management Enhanced Service
- General practice pay transparency
The BMA have also published guidance on the changes to the GP Contract 2023/2024 and have run a number of webinars on this topic. The webinar recording is also available on the contract webpage. See https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/contracts/gp-contract/gp-contract-changes-england-202324
Regulation update 2023 – Access
It is worth noting that there is an update to the GMS Regulations this year (2023) around access. The NHSE letter says that it “will make clear that patients should be offered an assessment of need, or signposted to an appropriate service, at first contact with the practice. Practices will therefore no longer be able to request that patients contact the practice at a later time”. The BMA/GPC England say that whilst they agree with the aspiration of this amended regulation, it believes that this requirement is not achievable for many practices with current resource and workforce.
We would strongly recommend that you look at this requirement in more detail on the BMA webpage – GP Access and meeting the reasonable needs of patients. It highlights what the regulations will now say and also how this may affect safe working guidance.
GMS Contract 2022/2023
On 1 October 2022, the following changes to the GMS and PMS Contract Regulations and APMS Directions came into force:
- changes regarding premises requirements where services are provided remotely
- expansion of the provisions regarding the disclosure of information about NHS earnings and confirmation of the disclosure date for self-declaration submissions
- removal of the requirement that 25% of appointments are available for online booking, replaced with a requirement that all directly bookable appointments are able to be booked online, as well as in person or via the telephone.
- the ability for patients to register digitally is now supported.
GMS Contract 2021/2022
GMS/PMS Regulation Amendments (No.2) 1st October 2021 Summary
The following amendments were made to the GP contract from 1 October 2021:
- The introduction of a requirement for the disclosure of information about NHS earnings which will begin for individuals who have NHS earnings of over £150,000 in 2019-2020. Further information is available in the general practice pay transparency guidance.
- Changes to the process of registering with a GP practice for Crown Servants posted overseas and their family members.
- The removal of the requirement for individual patient consent when moving a patient with an electronic repeatable prescription on to electronic repeat dispensing.
- New requirements regarding the digital offer which all practices must provide to patients.
- The introduction of exemption confirmation requests for patients who should not be tested for, or vaccinated against, coronavirus.
- A requirement for the transfer of patient records between GP practices within 28 days of receiving the request.
There is a slide set with more detail on these amendments that can be downloaded here.
GMS/PMS Contracts Services Agreements (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2020
Richard Vautrey of the BMA summarised the amendments as follows: –
GMS and PMS regulations changes from October 2020 (England)
The amendments to GMS and PMS regulations in England to commence from October 2020 have now been published. These mainly brought into force elements of the GP contract agreement from earlier in the year. The amendments include:
- requirement for monthly data submissions to the NHS Digital Workforce Collection
- requirement to participate in the existing GP appointments data collection
- requirement for practices to ensure patient registration data is regularly updated
- removal of patients who move outside of the practice catchment area: the practice is responsible for the patient’s care for up to 30 days (unless and until the patient registers at another practice) but is not responsible for home visits or out of hours services during that period.
- a modification to make sure that patients who have previously been removed from a practice list and been put onto a violent patient scheme cannot be permanently refused readmission to a practice list if they have been correctly discharged from that scheme.
- patient assignment to any practice within the patient’s local ICB, rather than within the practice area.
- patient assignment as part of a list dispersal
- an exemption to the ban on subcontracting a subcontract in order to allow PCNs greater flexibility to deliver the DES
- final cancellation of CQC registration is a ground for termination of a GMS contract
- other minor amendments to wording without significant change to the meaning
GP Contract Agreement 2020/2021
NHSE published the Update to the GP Contract 2020/2021-2023/2024 This is an update to Investment and Evolution. NHSE&I has also published a letter detailing the financial implications of this update.
GP Contract Agreement 2019/2020
The BMA’s GP committee reached a contract agreement with NHS England spanning five years, which introduced widespread changes aimed at addressing both the workforce and workload pressures experienced by GPs in England, and improving services for patients by beginning to realise ambitions laid out in the NHS Long-Term Plan.
The contract gave practices almost £1bn across five years, while another £1.8bn investment to support the formation of Primary Care Networks, in which practices work together to provide care to patients across a wider geographic area.
GMS and PMS Regulations
Consolidated Regulations 2025 – England
GMS: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1862/contents/made (Issue December 2015)
PMS: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1879/contents/made (Issue December 2015)
GMS and PMS Regulations Amendments
2024 – General Medical Services Contracts (Prescription of Drugs etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2024
Primary Medical Services – Directed Enhanced Services
Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) Directions
Previous Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) Directions – No longer in force.
Statement of Financial Entitlements Directions
General Medical Services Statement of Financial Entitlements Directions – GOV.UK
Premises Costs Directions
The National Health Service (General Medical Services – Premise Costs) Directions 2024
How To… Understand and Apply the Regulations. An overview of the NHS & NHS Contracts
Our ‘How to…’ modules are aimed at decision makers and leaders, partners and all GPs. These are practical sessions which will get to the bottom of exactly what you need to know with the help of our Wessex LMCs team plus some experts in their field of law, finance or leadership.
This module will cover:
- GMS/PMS/APMS
- Registration (TR, patients going abroad etc)
- What you HAVE to do
- Locally agreed contracts
Speakers:
- Dr Edd Rendell, Medical Director
- Michelle Lombardi, Director of Primary Care
Click here to purchase the recording