Most networks plan their ARRS allocation once, early, and then spend the rest of the year discovering what that decision cost them. The allocation is the largest sum a Primary Care Network controls, and in 2026/27 it has a more expensive competitor inside it than before, because the GP option within the scheme rose substantially and the restriction to recently qualified GPs was removed.
This is a working method for planning the allocation across a year: how to size it, how to decide the split, and how to review it often enough to change course while changing course is still possible. For how the scheme itself is funded and paid, see our ARRS funding guide.
For 2026/27, the indicative ARRS allocation is £27.668 multiplied by the PCN Contractor Weighted Population at 1 January 2026, subject to the DES and approved local variations. Use the commissioner’s allocation statement for the budget: weighted population is not the same as the raw registered list.
Start from the workload, not the roles
The common failure is to start with the role list and ask which roles to fill. That produces a staffing plan, not a delivery plan, and it makes the following year’s conversation harder because nobody can say what any role delivered.
A more useful sequence starts with the work:
- List the workstreams the network is committed to. Medication reviews, monitoring recalls, discharge letters, prescription queries, long-term condition clinics, vaccination and screening recall, whatever the network has taken on.
- Size each one in hours. Volume multiplied by realistic time per item, including the admin around it. Estimates are fine; consistency matters more than precision.
- Mark which are fixed and which flex. A monitoring recall cycle is fixed. A review backlog can be worked at whatever rate capacity allows.
- Convert hours to whole-time equivalent. Then compare that against the allocation.
The gap between what the workstreams need and what the allocation buys is the actual planning problem. Working it out in September rather than February is most of the value.
Build the split deliberately
Once the workload is sized, the split becomes a real decision rather than a default. Three questions decide most of it.
What can only the network do? Work that spans practices, or that is cheaper run once than five times, belongs at network level. Shared searches, shared recall cycles, and workstreams where a single protocol serves every practice. Anything genuinely practice-specific is usually better funded and run by the practice.
What is fixed cost and what is variable? A substantive post is a fixed commitment for the year. A commissioned workstream can be sized to the work and adjusted. Networks facing an uncertain year often keep a proportion of the allocation in the variable column deliberately, so they retain room to move.
What happens if this role is vacant for three months? Every allocation plan should survive one vacancy. If a single unfilled post stops a whole workstream, that workstream needs either cover arrangements or a different delivery model. Recruitment lead times in primary care pharmacy are long enough that this is a when, not an if.
The GP option and what it displaces
The 2026/27 change to the GP element inside ARRS is significant for planning because of what it displaces. The salary element rose from £82,418 in 2025/26 to £118,759 in 2026/27, with £120,921 for GPs in London. Including proportionate employer on-costs the maximum reimbursement amounts are £152,900 outside London and £155,698 with London weighting.
A network that takes up the GP option without adjusting the rest of the plan will find the allocation goes further into the year and covers less of it. That may still be the right call, and for some networks it clearly is. It is a call worth making with the numbers in front of you rather than discovering in the autumn.
A quarterly review that takes an hour
An allocation plan that is never revisited becomes a historical document. A short quarterly review keeps it useful. Four questions:
- Is each workstream being delivered at the rate we planned? If not, is that capacity, or is the estimate wrong?
- What is the current run rate against the allocation? Project it to March. A run rate that lands short is easier to fix in October than in February.
- Where has the work grown? Discharge volume and query volume both move with local secondary care activity and neither respects a plan.
- What would we stop first? Deciding this while nothing is on fire produces better decisions than deciding it in March.
Where a commissioned workstream helps the planning
Two situations recur where buying a defined workstream is easier to plan around than a post.
The first is a backlog with an end point. A review backlog, a monitoring catch-up, or a letters queue is a known quantity of work. Sizing capacity to clear it and then stopping is straightforward, and it does not leave a fixed commitment behind once the work is done.
The second is cover for a known gap. Recruitment takes time and people take leave. A workstream that has to keep running through both is easier to hold with capacity that can be scaled than with a single post that has a single point of failure.
The planning advantage is that the cost is attached to the work rather than to a headcount, which makes the quarterly review easier to run and the following year’s plan easier to justify.
What to have written down before the next quarterly review
A one-page plan is enough, and more than most networks have. It should say what the network is committed to delivering this year, roughly what each commitment costs in hours, how the allocation is split, what the network would stop first, and when the plan gets reviewed.
Networks with that page tend to spend the year adjusting. Networks without it tend to spend the year reacting.
If you want a second view on how your allocation maps to your medicines workload, talk to us.
Reimbursement figures are taken from NHS England’s published 2026/27 GP contract and Network Contract DES material, read in August 2026. Check the current NHS England publication before relying on a figure for planning.
Frequently asked questions
How should a PCN start planning its ARRS allocation?
List the workstreams the network is committed to, size each in hours using volume multiplied by realistic time per item, mark which are fixed and which flex, then convert to whole-time equivalent and compare against the allocation. The gap between the two is the actual planning problem.
How much does the GP option cost within ARRS in 2026/27?
NHS England's published material gives a salary element of £118,759, and £120,921 in London, up from £82,418 in 2025/26. Including proportionate employer on-costs the maximum reimbursement amounts are £152,900 outside London and £155,698 with London weighting.
What should a quarterly ARRS review cover?
Whether each workstream is being delivered at the planned rate, the current run rate projected to March, where the work has grown, and what the network would stop first.
When is commissioning a workstream easier to plan than recruiting a post?
Two situations recur. A backlog with a defined end point can be sized and then stopped without leaving a fixed commitment. And cover for a known gap suits capacity that can scale, because a single post carries a single point of failure.
