Yesterday evening the BDA announced that financial support for mixed practices would be based on their proportion of NHS to private income, with any claims for private assistance being based on the proportions used for business rates reimbursements. The full announcement can be found here.
This is a welcome announcement for practices, however there are still questions to be answered. What form will the support take? The most obvious form of support is furlough leave, however this doesn’t seem to be compatible with maximising the number of nurses and clinicians for redeployment across the wider NHS effort. Could the support be in the form of additional contributions (akin to rates contributions), calculated on the basis of the private proportion of a practice’s staff costs? This could not be operated through the furlough scheme and would need additional funding to come from the NHS, as opposed to HMRC. What about self-employed associates? They should expect their usual NHS contract allocation to be paid by the practice, but in respect of private income, will they be able to claim under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme? Presumably not, if the £50,000 earnings cap remains. If they earn less than £50,000, will there be an apportionment between NHS and private on a similar basis to practices?
If the furlough scheme is applied, if mixed/private staff are re-deployed to assist the NHS, will this affect Job Retention Scheme claims in the future? What if staff refuse to be re-deployed (for example on health & safety grounds)?
The BDA website includes further updates and developments on this issue, read more here.
We will keep you updated as we learn more.