Employing staff through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) does not transfer the legal risk of that employment to the primary care network (PCN). Whichever practice or organisation holds the contract of employment carries full responsibility for redundancy, sickness, disciplinary and grievance processes, maternity leave, pension obligations, and TUPE liability, even where the PCN, not the practice, controls how that staff member is deployed day to day.
This gap between who controls the role and who carries the legal liability for it is the single biggest source of ARRS-related disputes we see. It has become more pressing, not less, since the 2026/27 Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) formally opened up direct practice-level employment of ARRS staff alongside the traditional PCN, federation, or lead-practice models. More practices are now considering bringing ARRS roles in-house, and more are discovering the legal exposure that comes with it. This post sets out where the main traps sit and how to structure your way around them.
Why ARRS Employment Is Structurally Different
A PCN is a contractual construct, not a separate legal entity, so it cannot itself hold an employment contract. Every ARRS role therefore has to be employed by someone else on the PCN’s behalf: a nominated lead practice, a joint employer arrangement between member practices, a GP Federation or other third party under a sub-contract, or, since 2026/27, a Core Network Practice employing directly under the updated DES terms. Whichever model is used, the underlying tension is the same: the staff member typically works across multiple practices or is deployed at the direction of the PCN, while UK employment law was built around a single employer with a single, identifiable set of obligations to a single employee.
That mismatch is what creates the traps. Responsibilities that would sit automatically with one employer in a normal working relationship (recruitment, day-to-day management, HR processes, cover arrangements, redundancy, and restructuring) have to be deliberately allocated between the PCN and its member practices. If that allocation is not written down clearly, the default legal position, that the employer carries the liability, applies regardless of what was informally understood or intended.
The Main Legal Traps
1. Redundancy and funding-dependent roles
ARRS reimbursement is not guaranteed indefinitely, and roles are sometimes structured on fixed-term contracts described as “subject to available funding” rather than on a permanent basis, a practice the Royal College of Nursing has specifically flagged as creating unstable employment for staff in ARRS roles. From the employer’s side, the risk runs the other way: if a PCN decides to reduce or reallocate a role, the practice that holds the employment contract still has to run a fair redundancy or restructuring process. A change in PCN funding priorities is not, by itself, a shortcut around normal redundancy law.
2. TUPE on transfer between employers
Where ARRS roles move between employers, for example from a GP Federation to a Core Network Practice under the new 2026/27 direct employment route, or where deployment is restructured in a way that amounts to a service provision change, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 are likely to apply. TUPE automatically transfers the affected employees, on their existing terms, to the new employer, along with accrued liabilities. Dismissing an employee for a reason connected to the transfer itself is automatically unfair. Practices restructuring ARRS employment arrangements, including bringing previously federation-employed staff in-house, need to assess TUPE at the planning stage, not after the change has already happened.
3. Fragmented governance across multiple practices
Where an ARRS employee works across several practices in a PCN, questions about who line-manages, who signs off leave, who conducts appraisals, and who handles a performance or conduct issue can become genuinely unclear without a written agreement. This is not a hypothetical risk. In our experience, disciplinary and grievance matters involving shared ARRS staff are where governance gaps surface fastest, precisely because more than one practice has an interest in the outcome but only one holds the actual employment contract.
4. PCN fragmentation and exit
If a practice employs ARRS staff on behalf of the PCN and another member practice later leaves the network, or the PCN’s structure changes, the employing practice can be left holding redundancy and salary liabilities created by a decision it did not make and may not have agreed to fund. Without a clear written agreement allocating that risk in advance, the default position is that the employing practice bears it alone.
5. Absence cover that ARRS does not fund
ARRS reimbursement does not automatically cover the cost of providing cover for an absent member of staff. Unless practices have agreed in advance who provides and pays for cover during sickness or leave, the default position is that there is none, which can leave a practice short-staffed with no funded route to plug the gap.
What the 2026/27 Changes Mean in Practice
For 2026/27, NHS England confirmed that ARRS roles may be employed by the PCN, by a Core Network Practice, or through another provider with commissioner approval, giving practices a clearer legal footing for direct employment than existed previously. Reimbursement ceilings have also risen substantially, with the maximum reimbursement for an ARRS GP (salary plus on-costs) increasing to £152,900 outside London and £155,698 including London weighting, up from around £105,000 in 2025/26, and the previous restriction limiting ARRS GP roles to those within two years of their Certificate of Completion of Training has been removed entirely. PCNs can now also recruit non-direct patient care roles, such as PCN managers, data analysts, and digital transformation leads, from ARRS funding, subject to commissioner agreement.
These changes make direct practice employment more financially attractive, but they do not remove the underlying legal complexity. If anything, as more practices bring ARRS roles in-house, more practices are taking on employer liability for the first time without necessarily having the HR and payroll infrastructure in place to manage it.
Documents That Should Be in Place
| Document | What it should cover |
|---|---|
| PCN Agreement / Workforce Sharing Agreement | Who employs each role, who manages deployment, cover arrangements, and how costs are recharged between practices |
| Individual employment contracts | Tailored to reflect cross-practice deployment; a standard single-employer template is rarely sufficient |
| Financial recharge agreement | How ARRS reimbursement, on-costs, pension contributions and sickness cover are allocated and reconciled |
| Redundancy indemnity provisions | What happens, and who pays, if the PCN reduces a role or a member practice exits |
| TUPE risk assessment | Carried out before any change to hosting arrangements, not after |
These arrangements sit alongside the wider governance framework that applies to your PCN as a whole. Our post on PCN compliance and governance covers the obligations clinical directors need to be aware of, and our post on primary care networks explained sets out the underlying legal structure of a PCN and the Network Contract DES that ARRS sits within.
What This Means for Your Practice
Bringing ARRS staff in-house or restructuring how your PCN employs its workforce can strengthen continuity and control, but only if the legal responsibilities are properly allocated in writing before the change happens, not worked out after a dispute arises. We advise GP practices and PCNs across London and the South East on ARRS employment structures, workforce sharing agreements, and TUPE risk. If your practice is reviewing its ARRS arrangements, speak to our employment team or call us on +44 207 566 1188. You can also reach us by email at info@gurvelegal.com.
