This article is the subject of a complaint on behalf of Capita Plc

Labour is demanding an inquiry into how trainee GPs did not receive their salaries from a private firm that is meant to pay them on behalf of the NHS.



Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, has urged Jeremy Hunt to act after the Guardian disclosed that the delays had led to some family doctors being unable to pay their mortgage and having to seek help from a charity.

The British Medical Association (BMA) believes hundreds of doctors in England have been left out of pocket as a result of the errors by Capita.

Labour wants the Department of Health (DH) to step in to cover monthly salary payments due to trainee GPs which they did not receive from Capita in order to prevent hardship.

“I’m sure you would agree that trainee GPs seeking charitable support to feed their families and being unable to cover their mortgages is an entirely unacceptable situation which requires urgent rectification,” Ashworth wrote.

Capita won a four-year contract from NHS England, worth a reputed £1bn, to provide a range of support services between 2015 and 2019 to GPs in three areas of England – the Thames Valley, Yorkshire and the Humber, and part of Wessex – including paying trainee GPs’ salaries.

“Whilst this deeply unfortunate situation continues, will you instruct your department to pay these trainees directly so that they are not forced to seek help from charities?” Ashworth asked. “Moreover, will you agree to undertake a thorough investigation into how these sustained failings were allowed to take place under the watch of your department?”

The BMA has sent a strongly-worded complaint to the NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, about alleged failings by Capita in making payments to trainees and other tasks it is contracted to carry out.

However, the firm denies that it is responsible for the fact that GPs have been forced to wait to receive salary payments and insists it has not failed to reimburse any GP salaries in the three areas.

Capita said delays had arisen because other bodies – specifically Health Education England, NHS England and GP practices themselves – had not provided it with information. It was chasing details of trainee GPs in parts of Wessex and for some practices in Thames Valley and the Humber, Capita said, and that salaries would be reimbursed immediately it was received.

Capita said: “Where we have been given all the information in these two and a half areas, we have reimbursed these practices. We can’t reimburse any money when we don’t have any information on who we need to reimburse that money to. To suggest there is a backlog of our own making is completely inaccurate.”

The former health minister Norman Lamb backed Labour’s call for an inquiry into the missed payments. “This is clearly an absolutely unacceptable situation. Leaving hard-working doctors unpaid at the end of the month is a humiliating blunder. The government should be ashamed that this has been allowed to happen on their watch,” said the Liberal Democrat MP.

“Hunt must agree to undertake a thorough assessment of how this was allowed to happen, and what other errors have occurred since Capita took on this contract. Ultimately if the government cannot give hard-working NHS staff a guarantee that this will not happen again, they clearly need to reassess their decision to commission out this service. I will be writing to Jeremy Hunt to request that he undertakes this review.”

Capita is meant to administer training grants for trainee GPs in the three areas through Primary Care Services England, as part of the contract it was awarded in 2015 to carry out a range of functions by NHS England.

The Royal College of GPs described the delays as a “hammer blow” to trainees. Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, the college’s chair, said: “We are dismayed and deeply concerned about this disgraceful situation. Many trainees already face financial hardship during their years of studying at medical school and many of them have families, mortgages, and huge financial responsibilities.”

NHS England, which awarded Capita the contract, said it was doing everything it could to ensure trainee GPs received salary payments regularly and that those awaiting funds obtained them soon.

An NHS England spokesperson said: “We are holding Capita’s feet to the fire on needed improvements and, in the meantime, the lead employer for Health Education England or the GP practice are responsible for paying their GP trainee salaries and are subsequently reimbursed for this. Backlogs are being prioritised by Capita.”

The DH declined to comment, including on whether it would hold an inquiry.