At the Annual General Meeting on 16th September 2025 LMC Nominees supported the proposal put forward by Oxfordshire LMC and seconded by, Avon LMC to increase the annual contribution from 3p to 5p per patient for the financial period 2026 to 2027.
This increase will be reflected in the requests for contributions from 1st April 2026 and we wanted to offer further understanding of this increase as outlined by Dr Roger Scott at the AGM.
The increase reflects a way to meet annual expenditure, whilst recognising the ongoing financial burden on LMCs and the opportunity to use GPDF reserves. This is detailed as follows.
Expected Expenditure
- GPDF key expenditures are in representation.
- Deed of Grant is just under £1.7m.
- Conference costs are £573k.
- Support including LMC Support Network, Rebuild GP Campaign, and grants total £416k.
- Additional GPC Funding, outside the Deed sits at £310k.
- Director costs total £129k, and Secretariat costs are £159k.
- Our budgeted expenditure is just under 7p per patient, more if we factor in the inflationary pressures on the Deed and Conference expenses.
- We have a number of requests for additional funding before the board, and further request in the pipeline. We expect the next 12 to 24 months will be expensive.
Meeting The Needs
- While we have sufficient reserves to meet our expenditure demands we need to start the process of balancing the books. As the reserves are spent down, the income from investment also falls, so the deficit will accelerate if we do not act.
- We have continued to spend down the reserves as previously discussed and agreed. The deficit for the twelve months to April 2025 was just over £600k.
- GPDF is spending down the reserves in a controlled manner, being mindful of the mandate from UK Conference to spend “unprecedented amounts.”
With this in mind, the levy increase for 2026 reflects the ongoing spending down of reserves in a controlled way, while looking to a sustainable future where income supports expenditure needs, and limiting increased financial demands on LMCs.
– Dr Roger Scott, GPDF Chair