A salaried GP is an employee. A GP partner is not. That single distinction drives almost everything else that differs between the two roles: how you are paid, what happens if the practice runs into difficulty, what rights you have if things go wrong, and how your NHS pension is worked out.
We act for GP practices across London on partnership structuring and recruitment, and the salaried-versus-partner question comes up at almost every stage of a GP’s career. This guide sets out the legal, financial, and practical differences, including a few traps that catch practices and GPs out when the wrong label gets used for the wrong role.
Employee, Partner, or Fixed Share: The Three GP Roles Explained
Most GPs working in general practice fall into one of three categories, and the labels are not always used correctly.
Salaried GP. This is a straightforward employee relationship. A salaried GP has a contract of employment with the practice, is paid a fixed salary through PAYE, and benefits from the full range of UK employment rights. The BMA’s model contract sets out the minimum terms that GMS practices and PCOs have had to offer full-time salaried GPs since April 2004, with PMS practices expected to match this as a baseline. The BMA updated its salaried GP handbook again in April 2026, and it remains the clearest single reference for what a compliant salaried contract should contain.
Equity partner. An equity partner is self-employed, holds full voting rights in the practice, and shares in its profits and losses in proportion to their agreed share. Equity partners are usually expected to contribute capital, sometimes called “buying in”, and are jointly and severally liable for the partnership’s debts and obligations. This is the traditional GP partnership model.
Fixed share partner. Also self-employed, but paid a fixed, guaranteed sum rather than a full profit share, sometimes with a smaller variable element on top. Fixed share partners are often used during a mutual assessment period before a GP moves to full equity. Because HMRC will look past the label to the substance of the arrangement, a fixed share partnership needs to be documented carefully, poorly drafted terms risk being treated as disguised employment.
There is a fourth label worth flagging because it causes genuine confusion: the “salaried partner”. Despite the name, a salaried partner is legally an employee, not a partner. They are not party to the partnership deed, have no profit share and no vote, and the word “partner” in their title is exactly that, a title. Because third parties can bring a claim against anyone who presents themselves as a partner, salaried partners are normally protected by an indemnity from the equity partners, but that indemnity is only as good as the equity partners’ ability to pay it.
What Actually Changes: Money, Risk, and Control
The practical differences between salaried GP and partner status go well beyond the payslip.
| Feature | Salaried GP | Partner (equity or fixed share) |
|---|---|---|
| Employment status | Employee | Self-employed |
| Pay | Fixed salary, PAYE | Drawings against profit share (equity) or fixed sum (fixed share) |
| Capital contribution | None required | Usually required to “buy in” |
| Liability for practice debts | None | Joint and several (equity); as agreed in the deed (fixed share) |
| Voting rights | None | Full (equity) or as set out in the deed (fixed share) |
| Statutory employment rights | Full protection under the Employment Rights Act | None, as a self-employed principal |
The liability point is worth dwelling on. As an equity partner, you can be pursued personally for the whole of a partnership debt, not just your proportionate share, if the other partners cannot pay. A salaried GP carries none of that exposure. This is one of the clearest financial trade-offs a GP weighing up partnership should understand before signing anything.
Employment Rights: Where the Two Roles Really Diverge
Because partners are self-employed, they fall outside the “employee” and “worker” categories that UK employment law is built around. Government guidance on employment status confirms that self-employed individuals do not get the rights employees and workers have, including protection from unfair dismissal, statutory redundancy pay, or statutory sick pay. A partner’s protection comes entirely from what is written into the partnership deed, not from statute.
Salaried GPs, as employees, have the full range of statutory protections: unfair dismissal rights after the qualifying period, redundancy rights, statutory sick pay, and protection against unlawful discrimination. This is precisely why the “salaried partner” label matters so much. If a practice treats someone as an employee in substance but calls them a partner without an employment contract behind it, that person may still be entitled to bring employment claims, regardless of the title on their door.
Pensions: Same Practitioner Section, Different Paperwork
Both salaried GPs and GP partners are practitioner members of the NHS Pension Scheme, alongside locum GPs, this is a different classification from officer members, which covers practice staff and some non-GP roles. Practitioner pensions are calculated on career earnings rather than final salary, so the mechanics matter in practice, not just on paper.
The paperwork differs by role. GP partners submit an annual Type 1 certificate, which must include their profit share plus any locum or solo income. Salaried GPs complete a Type 2 self-assessment of tiered contributions each pension year, covering their salary plus any additional locum or solo income. A GP who switches from salaried to partner status, or the other way round, part-way through a pension year needs to submit both forms, one for each period.
The 2026/27 Contract Context
NHS England’s changes to the GP contract for 2026/27, confirmed in February 2026, introduced a new practice-level GP reimbursement scheme worth £292 million, funded by repurposing the PCN-level Capacity and Access Payment. The scheme allows practices to recruit additional GPs or fund extra sessions from existing GPs to support same-day access for clinically urgent patients. The same contract round also removed the previous restriction on using Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme funding only for recently qualified GPs, widening the pool PCNs can recruit from.
Both changes affect the salaried GP labour market more directly than the partnership route, since they are aimed at practices and PCNs adding GP capacity through employment and sessional arrangements rather than new partners. If you are weighing up a salaried role against a partnership offer this year, it is worth asking a prospective practice how, if at all, they intend to use this funding.
Getting the Paperwork Right
Whichever route a GP takes, the underlying document needs to match the reality of the role.
- Salaried GPs should have a written contract of employment that meets or improves on the BMA model terms, with any performance-related bonus clearly documented.
- Equity and fixed share partners need a partnership deed that sets out profit shares, capital contributions, decision-making rights, and what happens on retirement, incapacity, or dispute. We cover what a robust deed should contain in our guide to GP partnership agreements.
- Anyone given the title “partner” without being party to the deed, and without a profit share or vote, needs an employment contract and a clear, properly drafted indemnity from the equity partners, not just a verbal understanding.
Getting this wrong rarely surfaces immediately. It tends to surface later, at the point of a dispute, an exit, or an HMRC enquiry, when the label attached to a role no longer matches how that role actually worked in practice.
What This Means for Your Practice
If you are a GP practice recruiting into either role, or a GP deciding which path to take, the label matters far less than the paperwork behind it. A well-drafted contract or deed that reflects the real arrangement protects everyone involved. A mismatched one is a liability waiting to be discovered. We act for GP practices and individual GPs on both partnership structuring and salaried recruitment, and for practices working out how to fill roles under the new 2026/27 funding, including through our employment team. See our related guidance on recruiting new GP partners if you are weighing up bringing someone in at partner level instead.
If this affects your practice and you would like to talk it through, get in touch with our healthcare team, call us on +44 207 566 1188, or email info@gurvelegal.com.
