Leaving a GP partnership is governed first and foremost by the terms of your partnership deed, not by employment law, and getting the process wrong can put your NHS pension timing, your capital account, and even the practice’s GMS contract at risk. If a deed is in place, it should set out your notice period and the leaving process in detail. If no deed exists, you are operating as a partnership at will under the Partnership Act 1890, and leaving becomes considerably more complicated.
Whether you are retiring after decades in practice or moving on to a different opportunity, the practical and legal steps are broadly the same, and they need to be worked through in the right order.
Start With the Partnership Deed
A properly drafted deed will distinguish between a “good leaver,” a partner retiring by giving the required notice, and a “bad leaver,” a partner being expelled or removed under specific provisions. It should set out the notice period required, typically between three and twelve months depending on the deed, and the process for calculating what you are owed.
Key clauses to check before you give notice include:
- The exact notice period and whether it must be in writing to all other partners or to a specific senior partner.
- Any minimum gap required between your departure and another partner’s planned departure, included in some deeds to avoid destabilising the practice.
- Whether you are required to indemnify the partnership against liabilities arising before your departure.
- How the leaving accounts will be prepared, and whether an independent valuation is required.
- Any restrictive covenants limiting where you can practise after leaving, and for how long.
Where the deed is silent or ambiguous on a point, or where you want to agree different terms for your specific departure, for example an extended handover period, it is common to negotiate and sign a separate deed of retirement alongside the existing partnership deed.
What Happens to the GMS Contract When You Leave
A GMS contract is held by the partnership “as from time to time constituted.” Under the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015, the contract continues in force despite a change in the partners, provided the remaining and incoming partners remain eligible contractors and satisfy the conditions in the regulations. In practice, this means your departure alone will not usually threaten the practice’s core NHS contract, provided the remaining partnership is properly constituted and continues to meet the eligibility rules.
The position is different if the partnership is dissolving entirely, or if the change in status means the practice will continue as a single-handed GP rather than a partnership. In that scenario, the regulations require written notice to NHS England (via the integrated care board), signed by every partner, at least 28 days before the change takes effect. The notice must specify the practitioner with whom the contract is to continue. This is a formal regulatory step, not a courtesy notification, and missing it can create real uncertainty over who is contracted to deliver services.
The Leaving Accounts and Your Capital Account
Most deeds require the practice to prepare leaving accounts to establish what you are owed on departure, covering your share of undrawn profits, your capital account, and, if the practice owns its premises, your share of the property. This last point is often the most financially significant and the most contentious, particularly where the practice premises have appreciated substantially in value since you joined. We cover this in detail separately in our article on retaining your property share after GP retirement, which is worth reading alongside this one if the practice owns its building.
Where the deed requires an independent valuation, agree the valuer and the valuation date early. Disputes over leaving accounts are one of the most common sources of GP partnership litigation, usually because the departing partner and the remaining partners have different expectations about timing, methodology, or what counts as a partnership asset.
NHS Pension Timing: The 24-Hour Rule
If you intend to draw your NHS pension on leaving, timing matters. Your normal pension age depends on which section of the NHS Pension Scheme you are in: 60 in the 1995 Section (55 with special class status), 65 in the 2008 Section, and your State Pension age, or 65 if later, in the 2015 Scheme. From 6 April 2026, State Pension age begins rising in stages from 66 to 67, which pushes the 2015 Scheme’s normal pension age out further for anyone affected by that change.
If you plan to take “24-hour retirement,” drawing your pension while continuing to work in some capacity, you must have a genuine break of at least 24 hours from every NHS pensionable post before resuming NHS pensionable work, including locum sessions. GPs who are partners must formally resign from any GMS, PMS, or APMS contract they hold, and salaried GPs must resign their NHS employment contract, before that break can start. The previous restriction limiting members to no more than 16 hours of work in the first month after returning was removed with effect from 1 April 2023 in England, which gives returning GPs considerably more flexibility than in previous years. If you intend to return to the practice in any capacity after retiring, it is sensible to agree the terms of that return, whether as a salaried GP, a locum, or a consultant, in writing before you retire rather than after.
Restrictive Covenants
Many partnership deeds include restrictive covenants preventing a departing partner from practising within a set distance of the practice, or from soliciting patients or staff, for a defined period after leaving. These covenants are enforceable in principle, but only to the extent they go no further than reasonably necessary to protect the practice’s legitimate business interests. A covenant with an excessive geographic radius or an unreasonably long duration risks being struck out entirely if challenged, but you should not assume this without advice specific to your circumstances and the exact wording of your deed.
| Step | What to check or do |
|---|---|
| Review the deed | Confirm notice period, good leaver provisions, and any minimum gap rules |
| Give written notice | Follow the exact method and recipients required by the deed |
| Notify NHS England/ICB | Required where the change affects contractor status, generally at least 28 days’ notice |
| Agree leaving accounts | Establish capital account, undrawn profit, and property share, with an independent valuation if required |
| Check restrictive covenants | Understand any limits on where or how soon you can practise elsewhere |
| Plan NHS pension timing | Confirm your normal pension age and, if relevant, the 24-hour break requirements |
| Formalise the departure | Sign a deed of retirement recording the agreed terms |
If There Is No Partnership Deed
Where a practice has no binding deed, or where a new partner joined without formally adhering to an existing deed, the practice is operating as a partnership at will under the Partnership Act 1890. The Act contains no mechanism for a single partner to retire without triggering dissolution of the whole partnership, since section 26 allows any partner to dissolve the partnership at will simply by giving notice to the others, and the death or bankruptcy of a partner dissolves the partnership automatically under section 33 unless the partners have agreed otherwise. In this situation, a carefully drafted deed of retirement becomes essential, both to formalise your exit and to prevent an unintended dissolution of the entire practice. Our partnership agreements team drafts deeds of retirement and reviews existing partnership deeds regularly, and where leaving accounts or a departure become contentious, our dispute resolution team can advise. If your practice does not currently have an up-to-date partnership deed, our article on GP partnership agreements and what every partner should know sets out why this matters and what a well-drafted deed should cover.
If your partnership deed also includes, or is silent on, a fixed retirement age, it is worth reading our companion article on whether a mandatory retirement age for GP partners is enforceable, since the two issues often arise together when a longstanding partner is approaching the end of their career.
What This Means for Your Practice
Leaving a GP partnership well managed protects your finances, your pension, and your professional relationships. Leaving it poorly managed can lead to disputes over money, uncertainty over the practice’s NHS contract, and a damaged relationship with colleagues you may continue to work alongside in other contexts. The right approach depends heavily on the specific wording of your deed, so it is worth taking advice before you give notice rather than after a dispute has already started.
If this affects you and you would like to talk it through, get in touch with our healthcare team or call us on +44 207 566 1188. You can also reach us by email at info@gurvelegal.com.
