ARRS funding, the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, is the line every PCN uses to pay for extra clinical roles, but the mechanics behind it rarely sit in one place: how big the national pot is, how a network’s own allocation is worked out, and what NHS England will and will not reimburse. This page covers exactly that: the confirmed 2026/27 figures, the formula behind a PCN’s allocation, and what happens when some of it goes unspent.
It is written for PCN clinical directors, practice managers and finance leads who need the funding numbers stated plainly. If you want a role-by-role breakdown of what ARRS-funded pharmacists and technicians actually do, that lives in a separate guide, linked further down this page. If you are ready to look at how a commissioned remote clinical pharmacy service works, that is covered further down too. This page itself stays with the money: what comes in, how it is worked out, and how it goes back out again.
What ARRS funding is
The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) is part of the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES), the national agreement between NHS England and Primary Care Networks. It is the mechanism NHS England uses to reimburse PCNs for the salary costs of a defined list of additional roles, including clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, on top of a practice’s existing GP and nursing establishment.
ARRS money reaches a PCN as reimbursement tied to specific roles and specific maximum amounts, all set out in the Network Contract DES guidance NHS England publishes each year alongside the wider GP contract, not as a single grant to spend freely. Every figure in this guide is cited to that guidance, or to NHS England’s own GP contract publications, so you can check it against the source documents your PCN’s finance team will already be working from.
How much money is in the ARRS pot
ARRS sits inside a much larger settlement. NHS England’s 2026/27 GP contract is worth £13,863 million in total, a 3.6% cash increase and a 1.4% real-terms increase against the GDP deflator, and that total includes a £485 million uplift on the year before. NHS England publishes those figures in its summary of the 2026/27 GP contract changes. That figure covers the whole GP contract, not ARRS specifically, and the two are worth keeping apart: ARRS is one funding stream inside the Network Contract DES, which is itself one part of that wider contract.
NHS England publishes a national ARRS total of £1,767,716,000 for 2026/27 in its Network Contract DES Part B guidance, section 7.3 and Table 1. A PCN’s indicative ARRS sum is £27.668 multiplied by its PCN Contractor Weighted Population at 1 January 2026, as set out in section 10.5.4 of the contract specification. This is subject to the DES and any approved local variation.
These are the published 2026/27 figures. The 2025/26 national ARRS total was £1,710,877,000; it is a historical comparison, not the current allocation rate.
How your PCN’s ARRS allocation is calculated
The same weighted-population formula that sets the national total also sets what an individual PCN receives. Your PCN’s population is not a simple headcount. It is adjusted using the Carr-Hill formula, the same weighting NHS England applies to the core GP contract global sum, before the per-point rate is applied.
Using the 2026/27 rate of £27.668, a PCN Contractor Weighted Population of 30,000 gives an indicative annual ARRS sum of £830,040; 50,000 gives £1,383,400. Use the weighted population at 1 January 2026 and check your commissioner’s allocation statement. Your weighted population is different from your raw registered list, and approved local variations may affect the calculation.
This total is a ceiling on what your PCN can claim, worked out before a single role is filled. What you actually receive back depends on which roles you recruit or commission against it, up to each role’s own maximum reimbursable amount, covered next.
What ARRS actually pays
ARRS reimbursement is limited by role eligibility, actual eligible salary and employer National Insurance and pension costs, the role-specific cap and the PCN’s allocation. Additional hours, overtime and recruitment or retention premia are not reimbursable under the standard rules. Mental health practitioner arrangements differ: the first adult role is normally 50% ARRS-funded; subsequent adult roles may be reimbursed up to 100% with the required written agreement and commissioner support. Children and young people’s roles have separately agreed arrangements. Check sections 7.3 and 10.5 of the 2026/27 specification.
The confirmed GP reimbursement rate for 2026/27
The clearest confirmed figures for 2026/27 apply to the ARRS-funded GP role. NHS England’s Network Contract DES guidance sets the maximum reimbursable salary element at £118,759 for 2026/27, up from £82,418 in 2025/26, and £120,921 for a GP working in London. Including employer on-costs, National Insurance and pension, the combined maximum reimbursable amount for 2026/27 stands at £152,900 outside London and £155,698 including London weighting.
The restriction limiting ARRS-funded GP roles to those within two years of gaining their Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) has been removed for 2026/27. A GP must not normally have been substantively employed as a GP by a core network practice of that PCN in the previous 12 months. Temporary maternity or sickness cover does not count as substantive employment for this rule. The DES also permits continued claims for GPs already validly funded under earlier DES arrangements and qualifying transfers from posts funded immediately beforehand through the PCN Capacity and Access Payment or the NHS England PCN Test Sites Programme.
From 1 May 2026, transitional flexibility also covers eligible Band 5 or 6 practice nurses moving from those funding routes into ARRS, subject to the DES conditions and available funding. Check section 7.3 of the current specification before agreeing an appointment or transfer.
This ARRS GP rate is separate from the new practice-level GP reimbursement scheme also introduced for 2026/27, funded by repurposing £292 million from the former PCN-level Capacity and Access Payment. Both involve GP funding for 2026/27, which is exactly why they get muddled. Keep them apart when you are budgeting: the rate above is claimed through the ARRS route described on this page, and the practice-level scheme is not.
Pharmacist, technician and other role rates
For roles other than GPs, PCNs and their employers have more flexibility. NHS England’s guidance offers Agenda for Change bands as a guideline for ARRS roles such as clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, not a mandatory rate. A directly-employing PCN agrees actual salary and terms with the employee; a PCN commissioning a service instead agrees a service fee with its provider. Each role carries a maximum reimbursable amount, published in Table 2 of the 2026/27 contract specification. The agreed service fee and the eligible reimbursable amount are not necessarily the same.
For 2026/27, Table 2 of the Network Contract DES specification sets the national annual maximum reimbursable amount at £71,725 for a clinical pharmacist and £46,447 for a pharmacy technician, including eligible employer costs. London rates differ, and part-time or shared roles must be apportioned appropriately. These are reimbursement caps, not mandatory salaries or a guarantee that the full service fee is recoverable. Our ARRS pharmacist roles guide explains what the roles do.
How PCNs claim ARRS reimbursement
PCNs submit claims in arrears through NHS England’s online claims portal, and reimbursement does not arrive automatically or upfront. Each claim covers the actual salary and on-costs paid for that role over the claim period, up to the role’s maximum reimbursable amount.
Because claims run in arrears, a gap between a role starting and the first payment landing is normal and worth building into cash flow planning, whether the role is recruited directly or delivered through a commissioned service.
Using ARRS funding for an outsourced or remote pharmacy service
A PCN can meet an eligible ARRS role by employing directly or commissioning a third-party organisation, subject to the DES requirements. Part B guidance, sections 8.3.8–8.3.12, specifically explains subcontracted remote clinical pharmacy services, including continuity, training and the full clinical pharmacist role requirements.
A PCN commissioning a remote clinical pharmacy service buys defined delivery under a service agreement. ARRS reimbursement depends on role eligibility, actual eligible salary and employer National Insurance and pension costs, the applicable role cap and the PCN’s available allocation. A managed-service fee may include costs that ARRS does not reimburse. Check the current DES and your commissioner before committing funding. Our ARRS support page explains how we scope a commissioned service.
What PCNs most often fund this way
Where a network commissions a remote clinical pharmacy service, it is buying an agreed workstream delivered to an agreed schedule. In our experience the workstreams networks hand over first are the ones that are steady, protocol-driven and easy to evidence in the record:
- Structured medication reviews, including the complex, care home and housebound patients that take longest.
- High-risk drug monitoring, with recalls, follow-up and escalation of outstanding monitoring under the agreed protocol.
- Discharge and clinic letter reconciliation, assessed and actioned within the agreed service window, with urgent issues escalated.
- Repeat prescribing and acute request triage, worked to the network’s own protocols, with prescription signing by our independent prescribers.
- Long-term condition clinics across hypertension, diabetes, asthma and COPD.
- CQC and quality searches, run through the year so the evidence is current.
A network can take one of these or several together. Our PCN pharmacist services page covers how the work is scoped at network level, and our clinical pharmacist support page sets out how delivery works inside your own clinical system.
What happens to ARRS underspend
Underspend does happen, most often when a role sits vacant partway through a year. NHS England’s guidance is specific about what happens next. ICBs are formally advised not to transfer ARRS underspend between PCNs, a rule designed to stop one PCN’s shortfall becoming another PCN’s overspend risk at ICB level.
Vacancies are handled directly rather than left open-ended. If a role forming part of a PCN’s fixed 31 March 2019 baseline becomes vacant, the PCN gets a three-month grace period to refill it before the associated claim adjusts. It is one of the practical reasons a commissioned service, where cover during any gap in delivery sits with the provider, not the PCN, keeps a claim on the strongest possible footing: continuity of delivery is what keeps it intact.
Frequently asked questions
What is ARRS funding?
ARRS funding is the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, part of the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service between NHS England and Primary Care Networks. It reimburses PCNs for the salary costs, plus employer National Insurance and pension contributions, of a defined list of additional clinical and non-clinical roles, including clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. It sits alongside, not instead of, a practice’s existing GP and nursing establishment.
How much does ARRS pay towards a role’s salary?
Most eligible roles are reimbursed for actual eligible salary and employer National Insurance and pension costs, subject to the role cap and available allocation. Mental health practitioner funding has separate rules, including different arrangements for first and subsequent adult roles. Check sections 7.3 and 10.5 of the 2026/27 specification for the applicable conditions.
How is a PCN’s total ARRS allocation calculated?
For 2026/27, multiply the PCN Contractor Weighted Population at 1 January 2026 by £27.668. Section 10.5.4 of the Network Contract DES specification sets the formula, subject to the DES and any approved local variation. Check the allocation statement issued by your commissioner.
Can ARRS funding be used for an outsourced or remote pharmacy service?
Yes. The Network Contract DES allows eligible roles to be delivered through third-party organisations, subject to its requirements. ARRS reimbursement depends on role eligibility, actual eligible salary and employer National Insurance and pension costs, the applicable role cap and the PCN’s available allocation. A managed-service fee may include costs that ARRS does not reimburse. Check the current DES and your commissioner before committing funding.
What happens to ARRS funding a PCN does not spend?
NHS England’s guidance formally advises ICBs against transferring ARRS underspend between PCNs, to avoid creating an overspend risk elsewhere in the ICB. Beyond that specific rule, NHS England has not published a forfeiture policy or a utilisation percentage for ARRS underspend, so this guide does not state one.
Has ARRS funding increased for 2026/27?
Yes. NHS England publishes a 2026/27 national ARRS total of £1,767,716,000 and a rate of £27.668 per point of PCN Contractor Weighted Population. The ARRS-funded GP maximum reimbursable salary element outside London is £118,759, compared with £82,418 in 2025/26. The wider GP contract’s £485 million uplift is a separate measure.
What is the practical difference between employing an ARRS pharmacist and commissioning a service?
An employed role is a person your network recruits, supervises and covers. A commissioned service is an agreed volume of work delivered to a schedule, where supervision, continuing professional development, indemnity and cover for absence sit with the provider. Either way, prescribing follows protocols agreed with the practice: independent prescribers sign prescriptions within their competence, and anything outside it goes to the patient’s GP.
What happens to the work when a pharmacist is on leave?
Under a commissioned service that is the provider’s responsibility, not the network’s, so the agreed workstream carries on to the same schedule. It is the practical difference most clinical directors ask about first, because it is the part that a single appointment cannot solve.
Related VP resources
This guide covers the funding mechanics: the size of the ARRS pot, how your PCN’s allocation is worked out, and what NHS England will reimburse. Three related pages take the subject further.
- For what ARRS-funded pharmacists and technicians actually do inside a PCN, see our guide to ARRS pharmacist roles.
- For how a commissioned remote clinical pharmacy service works, see our ARRS support page.
- For what the work looks like once it is running, see our clinical pharmacy case studies.
If your PCN is weighing up whether a commissioned service makes sense against its own ARRS allocation, get in touch and we will work through the numbers with you.
Clinical pharmacist support by area
The service is delivered remotely by our UK team inside your own clinical system, and it is available to practices and PCNs across England. These pages set out the commissioner and the local picture area by area:
- Birmingham and Solihull
- Berkshire and Oxfordshire
- The Black Country
- Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire
- Coventry and Warwickshire
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
- Kent and Medway
- Lancashire and South Cumbria
- Leicestershire and Rutland
- Lincolnshire
- Merseyside and Cheshire
- Norfolk and Suffolk
- The North East and North Cumbria
- Northamptonshire
- Nottinghamshire
- South West London
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
- Sussex
- West Yorkshire
