The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021

Disclosure of information about NHS earnings

1.  After regulation 21 insert—

“Disclosure of information about NHS earnings: contractors and sub-contractors

21A.— (1) An agreement which is with a person falling within section 93(1)(b) to (e) of the Act must include the term specified in paragraph (2).

(2) The term is a term which requires the contractor to comply with the disclosure obligation for each relevant financial year in which—

(a) they are a contractor, and

(b) their NHS earnings exceed the relevant threshold.

(3) For the purposes of this regulation—

(a) the disclosure obligation, in relation to a relevant financial year, is the requirement for an individual (“I”) to submit the following information for publication to the Health and Social Care Information Centre(1) by the disclosure date—

(i) I’s name,

(ii) I’s job title,

(iii) the details of each organisation from which I has derived NHS earnings in that financial year, and

(iv) the amount of I’s NHS earnings for that financial year;

(b) “relevant financial year” means a financial year(2) ending—

(i) on or after 31st March 2020, but

(ii) on or before 31st March 2024;

(c) “relevant threshold” means—

(i) for the financial year ending on 31st March 2020, £150,000;

(ii) for the financial year ending on 31st March 2021, £153,000;

(iii) for the financial year ending on 31st March 2022, £156,000;

(iv) for the financial year ending on 31st March 2023, £159,000;

(v) for the financial year ending on 31st March 2024, £163,000.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3)(a) “the disclosure date” is—

(a) in relation to the financial year ending 31st March 2020, 12th November 2021;

(b) in relation to any subsequent financial year, 30th April in the financial year which begins immediately after the end of the next financial year.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4) “the next financial year”, in relation to a financial year (“FY1”), is the financial year which begins immediately after the end of FY1 (this means, for example, that “the next financial year”, in relation to the financial year ending 31st March 2021, is the financial year ending 31st March 2022).

(6) An agreement must also include a term which prevents the contractor from sub-contracting any of its obligations to provide clinical services under the agreement unless—

(a) where the sub-contractor is an individual, the sub-contract entered into by the contractor requires the individual to comply with the disclosure obligation for each relevant financial year in which the individual’s NHS earnings exceed the relevant threshold;

(b) where the sub-contractor is a partnership, the sub-contract entered into by the contractor requires each sub-contractor partnership member of that partnership to comply with the disclosure obligation for each relevant financial year in which the sub-contractor partnership member’s NHS earnings exceed the relevant financial threshold;

(c) in all cases, the sub-contract prohibits the sub-contractor (“S”) from sub-contracting, where permitted by paragraph 43(4A) of Schedule 2, any of the clinical services S has agreed with the contractor to provide under the sub-contract unless—

(i) where the sub-contractor is an individual (“I”), the sub-contract entered into by S requires I to comply with the disclosure obligation in relation to each financial year in which I’s NHS earnings exceed the relevant threshold;

(ii) where the sub-contractor is a partnership, the sub-contract entered into by S requires each sub-contractor partnership member in that partnership to comply with the disclosure obligation in relation to each relevant financial year in which the sub-contractor partnership member’s NHS earnings exceed the relevant threshold.

(7) An agreement must also include a term requiring the contractor to use reasonable endeavours to ensure that any relevant sub-contract is amended to contain the terms specified in paragraph (9).

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7) “relevant sub-contract” means a sub-contract—

(a) for the provision of any of the clinical services which the contractor is required to provide under the agreement by any other person, and

(b) which is in force at the time when this regulation comes into force.

(9) The terms are—

(a) a term which requires—

(i) the subcontractor (“S”), where S is an individual, or

(ii) each sub-contractor partnership member, where S is a partnership,

to comply with the disclosure obligation for each relevant financial year in which the individual’s, or as the case may be, sub-contractor partnership member’s NHS earnings exceed the relevant threshold, and

(b) a term which prevents S from sub-contracting obligations to provide clinical services under the contract, where permitted by paragraph 43(4A) of Schedule 2, unless—

(i) where the sub-contractor is an individual (“I”), the sub-contract entered into by S requires I to comply with the disclosure obligation in relation to each financial year in which I’s earnings exceed the relevant threshold;

(ii) where the sub-contractor is a partnership, the sub-contract entered into by S requires each sub-contractor partnership member to comply with the disclosure obligation in relation to each relevant financial year in which the sub-contractor partnership member’s NHS earnings exceed the relevant threshold.

(10) Nothing in paragraph (6), (7) or (9) requires any individual to comply with the disclosure obligation for any relevant financial year which—

(a) ends before the individual or partnership (as the case may be) enters into a sub-contract with the contractor or a sub-contractor;

(b) begins after the individual’s or, as the case may be, partnership’s sub-contract with the contractor or sub-contractor has terminated.

(11) In this regulation—

“locum practitioner” has the meaning given in Schedule 15 to the National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 2015(3);

“NHS earnings” has the meaning given in regulation 27B;

“sub-contractor” means a person to whom any rights or duties under the contract in relation to clinical matters are, or have been, sub-contracted under paragraph 44(1) of Schedule 3, and includes an individual who is a locum practitioner;

“sub-contractor partnership member”, in relation to a sub-contractor who is a partnership, means an individual who is a partner in that partnership.

Calculation of NHS earnings for the purposes of regulation 21A

21B.— (1) This regulation sets out how an individual’s NHS earnings are to be calculated for the purposes of regulation 21A.

(2) An individual’s NHS earnings for a relevant financial year are those earnings which constitute relevant income in respect of that financial year.

(3) In this regulation “relevant income”—

(a) in relation to an individual who is an active member of the Scheme and is a medical practitioner (other than a locum practitioner) or a non-GP provider, means income (including any form of remuneration and any salary, wages, fees, director’s remuneration or dividends) which is practitioner income as determined under Schedule 10 to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations, as modified in accordance with paragraph (4), in respect of the financial year in question;

(b) in relation to a person (“P”) who is an active member of the Scheme and a locum practitioner, means—

(i) any income which is locum practitioner income as determined under paragraph 7 of Schedule 10 to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations in respect of the financial year in question, and

(ii) any income (including any form of remuneration and salary, wages, fees, director’s remuneration or dividends) received by P in the financial year in question from any organisation which would have been treated as practitioner income under Schedule 10 to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations, as modified in accordance with paragraph (4), if P had been a medical practitioner but not a locum practitioner;

(c) in relation to any other person (“P”), means income (including any form of remuneration and any salary, wages, fees, director’s remuneration or dividends) received by P in the financial year in question from any organisation which would have been treated as practitioner income under Schedule 10 to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations, as modified in accordance with paragraph (4), if P had been—

(i) an active member of the Scheme, and

(ii) a medical practitioner or non-GP provider.

(4) For the purposes of determining a person’s relevant income under paragraph (3)(a), (b)(ii) or (c), Schedule 10 to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations applies as if the following provisions of that Schedule were omitted—

(a) paragraph 2(1)(b) and the “and” immediately preceding it,

(b) paragraph 3, and

(c) paragraph 7.

(5) In this regulation—

“the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations” means the National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 2015(4) and “active member”, “locum practitioner”, “medical practitioner”, “member” and “non-GP provider” have the meanings given for the purposes of those Regulations;

“relevant financial year” has the meaning given in regulation 27A;

“the Scheme” means the National Health Service Pension Scheme established by the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations.”.

(1)

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (known as NHS Digital) is a body corporate established under section 252(1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The information must be submitted to NHS Digital through its Strategic Data Collection Service, available at https://datacollection.sdcs.digital.nhs.uk .

(2)

“Financial year” is defined in section 275(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006.

(3)

S.I. 2015/94.

(4)

S.I. 2015/94.