Making ARRS funding actually work for your PCN in 2025/26

The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme has changed shape again for 2025/26, and this time the changes are genuinely significant. The separate GP pot has been merged into the main scheme, practice nurses are now reimbursable, and the combined budget stands at almost £1.7 billion, an uplift of £174 million on the previous year (NHS England, GP contract changes 2025/26).

The restrictions that frustrated PCNs in earlier years have largely gone. There are no longer caps on the numbers or mix of most roles, and the reimbursable amount for a GP employed under the scheme has risen by £9,305 to £82,418 plus on-costs. For pharmacy roles, PCNs can claim up to £66,972 per clinical pharmacist and £43,352 per pharmacy technician.

Flexibility is not the same as capacity

On paper, a PCN can now build almost any team it wants. In practice, three problems keep the money from becoming capacity. Recruitment is the first: the roles are funded but the people are scarce, and a funded vacancy delivers nothing. Supervision is the second: every additional role needs clinical oversight, induction and ongoing support, which lands on the same GPs the scheme is meant to relieve. Utilisation is the third: a role parachuted into a practice without a designed workflow tends to generate work about the work.

None of this is an argument against ARRS. It is an argument for treating the scheme as a capacity design exercise rather than a hiring exercise.

Start with the workload, not the role

The PCNs that get the most from ARRS start from the other end. They map the workload that is actually drowning their practices, then work out which mix of roles and services removes it. Medicines reconciliation, structured medication reviews and repeat prescribing sit naturally with pharmacist and pharmacy technician roles. Document handling and coding may be better served by a managed service than a single employed role, because the volume fluctuates and the governance comes built in.

It is also worth remembering what reimbursement does not cover: management time, supervision, training, cover for absence and the risk of a bad hire all stay with the PCN.

How NovaHS fits alongside ARRS

NovaHS services are designed to slot into exactly this picture. NovaMed provides pharmacy technician support and medicines optimisation that PCNs can commission using ARRS funding, delivered with supervision, indemnity and governance already in place, so a funded role becomes working capacity from week one rather than a recruitment project. NovaDoc and NovaClinic take on the document and clinical workload that no single additional role can absorb.

NovaHS is CQC-registered and GP-led, supporting practices across 32 ICB areas in England. If your PCN has funding it is struggling to turn into delivery, that is a conversation worth having before another quarter of the allocation goes unspent.

Frequently asked questions

Can ARRS funding be used for a managed service rather than an employed role?

Yes. PCNs can use reimbursement for engaged as well as directly employed staff, subject to the scheme rules, which is how services such as NovaMed are commissioned at no net cost to the practice.

What changed most for 2025/26?

The GP pot merged into a single combined fund of almost £1.7 billion, practice nurses became reimbursable, GP reimbursement rose to £82,418, and most restrictions on role numbers and mix were removed.

Does using ARRS through a provider remove our supervision burden?

Largely, yes. With a managed service the provider carries recruitment, clinical supervision, cover and quality assurance. The PCN holds the relationship and the outcomes, not the line management.