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In brief
- In 2025/26, ARRS combined GP and other role funding into a pot of almost £1.7 billion. This article describes that year, not current reimbursement rates.
- Funding is not capacity: recruitment, supervision and utilisation decide what the money delivers.
- Start from the workload, not the role, and use managed services where volume and governance demand it.
Funding review, 7 October 2026: this article discusses the initial 2025/26 arrangements. Rates changed later that year and again for 2026/27. For new commissioning decisions, use the NHS England 2026/27 Network Contract DES specification. In 2025/26, the GP and other role funding pots were combined, practice nurse roles were added, and the combined budget was almost £1.7 billion.
The initial 2025/26 changes removed restrictions on numbers and the mix of many eligible roles. The GP salary reimbursement ceiling rose by £9,305 to £82,418, plus eligible employer on-costs. Initial national annual equivalent pharmacy-role ceilings were £66,972 per clinical pharmacist and £43,352 per pharmacy technician. These were limits for that version of the scheme, not guaranteed payments or current service prices.
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.
Reimbursement is not a blanket payment for every service cost. PCNs need to assess eligible staffing costs, role ceilings, supervision and delivery responsibilities, and any costs outside the reimbursement rules.
How NovaHS fits alongside ARRS
NovaHS services are designed to slot into exactly this picture. NovaMed provides pharmacy technician support and medicines optimisation. Eligible staffing arrangements may be funded through ARRS, with supplementary funding where the available PCN budget does not cover the agreed cost. Eligibility, responsibilities and onboarding are agreed before delivery. NovaDoc correspondence processing and NovaClinic clinical support 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?
PCNs can claim for eligible third-party staffing arrangements as well as directly employed roles. Eligible support can be paid for through ARRS, subject to the scheme requirements and available PCN budget. If that budget does not cover the agreed cost, it can be supplemented with other funding. Eligibility and the funding arrangement must be confirmed with the PCN and commissioner before commissioning. Separately, NovaHS can offer a net saving compared with delivering the same work in-house. Savings depend on your workload, current staffing costs and agreed service scope. This describes a comparison with in-house delivery, not a free service or guaranteed reimbursement of the whole invoice.
What changed most for 2025/26?
At the start of 2025/26, the GP and other role funding pots were combined, practice nurse roles were added, the GP salary ceiling rose to £82,418 plus eligible employer on-costs, and restrictions on numbers and the mix of many eligible roles were removed. These are historical changes, not the current rates.
Does using ARRS through a provider remove our supervision burden?
A managed provider can take on agreed staffing and delivery responsibilities, but the PCN and its practices remain responsible for meeting the Network Contract DES requirements. Supervision, continuity, escalation and accountability should be set out in the service agreement.
Leads operations and strategy at NovaHS, helping practices and PCNs turn funding and services into working capacity.
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Want to talk it through? Contact NovaHS for a free, no-pressure conversation about what support could look like for your practice, PCN or ICB.