More than 1,700 GPs are now employed through the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), NHS England has revealed.
New workforce figures from 30 April 2025 show that there are 1,738 (headcount) GPs employed through the scheme, which is 235 more than at the end of March.
The confirmed full-time equivalent (FTE) figure for March was 908.8 GPs. The confirmed FTE figure for April is not yet complete due to the delay between claims for payment and data extraction.
There are now 321 (headcount) GPs employed via ARRS in the Midlands, 300 in London and 298 in the North West. The least amount of GPs have been employed in the South West, with 157.
The GP ARRS role was first made available through the scheme in October, and the recent contract confirmed the role would continue into the 2025/26 financial year, with an increase in funding and the removal of the ringfence around the £82m funding that was initially to be used only to recruit 1,000 GPs.
This means that there are no restrictions on the number of each profession a PCN can hire through the scheme, as long as it is within their total ARRS funding allocation.
NHS England separately published monthly primary care network workforce statistics today that look at a different set of data, the National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS). This suggested that 440 FTE GPs were employed across PCNs, both through the ARRS and the extended access DES.
| Data collection | Source | Includes | Number of GPs |
| PCN monthly workforce to 30 April 2025 | National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS) | Full-time equivalent GPs hired through ARRS and extended access DES | 440 |
| ARRS claims for GPs to 31 March 2025 | ARRS claims portal | Full-time equivalent GPs hired via ARRS | 908.8 |
| ARRS claims for GPs to 30 April 2025 | ARRS claims portal | Headcount GPs hired via ARRS | 1,738 |
A recent survey found that PCN staff could be replaced with ARRS GPs.
However, the BMA’s GPCE chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer previously advised practices to carefully consider employment law if they were considering redundancies in order to hire more GPs through the scheme.
The April primary care workforce figures also showed that there continued to be decreases in physician associates employed through ARRS, with four less FTE roles than at the end of March.
The number of FTE pharmacists and FTE trainee nursing associates both dropped by 31, while there were also 28 fewer FTE social prescribers over the period, and 23 fewer physiotherapists.
Pharmacists, care coordinators and social prescribers continue to be the most popular ARRS roles within PCNs.
| ARRS role | April figures | Difference |
| Pharmacists | 5,438 | Down |
| Care Coordinators | 4,926 | Same |
| Social Prescribing Link Workers (Non-Mental Health Practitioners) | 2,739 | Down |
| Pharmacy Technicians | 2,019 | Up |
| Physiotherapists | 1,629 | Down |
| General Practice Assistants | 1,329 | Down |
| Paramedics | 1,189 | Up |
| Physician Associates | 1,120 | Down |
| Health and Wellbeing Coaches | 1,013 | Down |
| Advanced Nurse Practitioners *some PCNs may be reporting Enhanced Nurse Practitioners under this role, as well as Advanced Clinical Practitioner Nurses, as neither is separately captured within NWRS, though both are ARRS roles. | 552 | Up |
| Nursing Associates | 550 | Up |
| Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners (Mental Health Practitioners) | 458 | Same |
| Salaried GPs *Includes salaried GP workforce relating to PCN extended access DES and ARRS | 440 | Up |
| Trainee Nursing Associates | 406 | Down |
| Other - Roles under the 'Other' Direct Patient Care category may contain roles which PCNs can claim ARRS funding for, but are not yet reported on within this publication. | 392 | Down |
| Advanced Pharmacist Practitioners | 378 | Down |
| Digital and Transformation Leads | 283 | Up |
| Advanced Paramedic Practitioners | 237 | Down |
| Therapists (Non-Mental Health Practitioners) | 191 | Down |
| Dietitians | 118 | Down |
| Advanced Physiotherapist Practitioners | 101 | Up |
| Social Prescribing Link Workers (Mental Health Practitioners) | 96 | Down |
| Community Mental Health Nurses (Mental Health Practitioners) | 60 | Up |
| Podiatrists | 47 | Same |
| Health Support Workers | 46 | Up |
| Enhanced practice nurse | 28 | Up |
| Therapists (Mental Health Practitioners) | 14 | Same |
| Advanced Occupational Therapist Practitioners (Non-Mental Health Practitioners)] | 12 | Up |
| Advanced Dietitian Practitioners | 5 | Same |
| Advanced Podiatrist Practitioners | 3 | Same |
| Applied Psychologists – Clinical (Mental Health Practitioners) | 2 | Same |
| Trainee Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners (Mental Health Practitioners) | 2 | Same |
| Social Workers (Mental Health Practitioners) | 1 | Same |
| Peer Support Workers (Mental Health Practitioners) | 1 | Same |
| Trainee Clinical Associates in Psychology (Mental Health Practitioners) | 0 | Same |
| Advanced Occupational Therapist Practitioners (Mental Health Practitioners) | 0 | Same |
| Clinical Associates in Psychology (Mental Health Practitioners) | 0 | Same |
Pulse PCN also reports on the quarterly primary care workforce figures, which alongside the NWRS submissions includes ARRS claims data, to keep a track on the number of ARRS PCN staff in England.
All figures in the table are full-time equivalent.
*While all the above roles from the primary care network workforce statistics are reimbursable under ARRS, NHS England has not confirmed whether the FTE numbers have been claimed for under the scheme. It is experimental data.