The average salary of a full-time (or full-time equivalent) general practice nurse (GPN) working in the UK is £35,057, a new and exclusive Nursing in Practice report has revealed.
Nursing in Practice’s new General practice nurse pay: A salary survey of the profession 2025 report – produced with our sister title Management in Practice – has launched today, providing exclusive data and analysis on the state of general practice nursing pay.
It draws on survey results of more than 550 general practice nursing staff and also includes practical tips for nurses on how to approach pay negotiations with their practices.
Our data reveals average pay for roles ranging from support workers and healthcare assistants (£21,000) to advanced nurse practitioners (£49,203).
The report also highlights average earnings calculated according to level of experience, as categorised by Agenda for Change (AfC) job Bands.
For those working at Band 5 (across all nursing job roles) the average salary is £28,686, according to our findings. For those in Band 6 positions, the average salary is £34,849.
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The findings show that general practice nurse pay lags behind the earnings of their hospital counterparts who have the benefit of being on AfC contracts, the report said.
For example, under AfC pay scales for 2024/25, those working at Band 5 are on a minimum of £29,970 rising to £36,843. Rates for Band 6 are £37,338 to £44,962 and for Band 7, £46,148 to £52,809.
The report also reveals that just 11% of general practice nursing staff receive a monetary bonus in addition to their salary. Of those that do receive a bonus, for most it is performance related, with the top three factors linked to bonus awards being: QOF performance (24%); completion of vaccination targets (13%) and completion of NHS Heath Check targets (11%).
Other key findings in our report include:
- Nurses who are prescribers or are working towards this qualification earn higher salaries on average (£44,239 and £37,250 respectively) compared with non-prescribers, who earn on average £33,947.
- While more than half (52%) of our respondents said they were not thinking of leaving their job within 12 months, a significant 28% said they were thinking of quitting.
- Among those wanting to leave their job within the next year, pay was given as one of the top reasons. A total of 67% said ‘GPN pay in general is not keeping in line with cost of inflation’ and 60% said ‘pay at my practice doesn’t reflect my responsibilities and workload.
The findings on GPN pay ‘and the fact they are lagging behind hospital nurses’ earnings are a major barrier for practices in their efforts to recruit greater number of the profession’, the report has warned.
It added that a separate survey of 640 practices carried out by Management in Practice, which informed a General Practice Workforce white paper published earlier this year, showed that 23% currently report vacancies in practice nurse roles.
This also highlighted that practice managers and GP partners said they are finding registered nurses ‘particularly difficult to recruit’, largely because of core funding constraints that mean practices cannot keep up with pay and conditions given in other settings, especially in secondary care.
Pay is also impacting retention, the report found, with one advanced nurse practitioner working in general practice saying that a combination of ‘burnout, fatigue and no pay rise’ had driven their decision to leave the sector.
Another nurse informing our report added: ‘I’d love to stay where I am, but I just don’t feel my role is appreciated or understood and the pay is dreadful compared to the stress and levels of responsibility.’
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RCN national officer (employment relations) Jeni Watts and RCN professional lead for primary care Kim Ball, said that while general practice nursing staff are ‘central’ to the success of the wider NHS, they are ‘repeatedly being left behind in matters of pay’.
‘Differences in how pay, terms and conditions are applied have led to inconsistencies in what general practice nursing staff receive,’ they said.
‘Paying staff fairly for the work they do helps create trust. It’s a sign the employer respects and values its workforce.’
‘Without national bargaining structures, many general practice nursing staff are left to negotiate for themselves, which adds to the disparity. Even when the government provided funding intended for practices to uplift staff pay, we know many are still not receiving the pay increase this promised.’
Meanwhile, the report also explores how pay for general practice nurses may be affected by the expansion of the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), which will include GPNs (both experienced and new) and consultant nurses for 2025/26.
‘The maximum amounts that PCNs can claim to fund hires under the scheme are based on Agenda for Change pay scales, which practice-based pay largely lags behind when it comes to nursing roles,’ the report said. ‘In theory, this could create competition between the two organisations, making it even harder for practices to hire and keep nursing staff.’
Kay Keane, chair of the Institute for General Practice Management, admits this is a risk but says there are caveats in place, such as GPNs not being allowed to be hired under ARRS if they have held a post in their current PCN or any other member practices in the last 12 months.
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She further explained: ‘In reality, funding pressures on PCNs is similar to that on practices. PCNs are expected to set pay that is fair, competitive and that aligns with the role and experience, but they can technically pay less or more than AfC rates as long as it’s within the total reimbursable envelope.’
Nursing in Practice teamed up with our sister title Management in Practice to produce this report, so employers and practice managers are also fully in the know about the current state of play, and to provide both professions with helpful, constructive tips and guidance on negotiating pay.
To find out more about the state of GPN pay and how to negotiate your pay, read the full report here
