Almost 2,000 GPs have now been recruited through the ARRS scheme, according to the latest data released by NHS England.
A total of 1,959 (headcount) GPs have been recruited as of 31 May 2025 via the scheme, which was initially intending to hire an extra 1,000 across PCNs in England.
The confirmed full-time equivalent figure for April is 866.6 GPs. The confirmed FTE figure for May is not yet complete due to the delay between claims for payment and data extraction.
There are now 383 (headcount) GPs employed through ARRS in the Midlands, 339 (headcount) in London and 331 (headcount) in the North West.
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 last week that look at a different set of data, the National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS). This suggested that 474 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 31 May 2025 | National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS) | Full-time equivalent GPs hired through ARRS and extended access DES | 474 |
| ARRS claims for GPs to 30 April 2025 | ARRS claims portal | Full-time equivalent GPs hired via ARRS | 866.6 |
| ARRS claims for GPs to 31 May 2025 | ARRS claims portal | Headcount GPs hired via ARRS | 1,959 |
Last week it was revealed that the number of physician associates working in PCNs only fell by one in the month of May, the smallest drop since August 2024.
Almost £20m of ARRS funding was unspent by PCNs in 2024/25, according to an exclusive Pulse PCN investigation published last month. Several ICBs blamed the ARRS GP scheme for their underspend.