The full extent of the ARRS underspend for 2023/24 has been revealed by the primary care minister, Stephen Kinnock.

Responding to a written parliamentary question on what the underspend for the ARRS scheme was in the most recent year, Mr Kinnock said this was £88m.

He said: ‘The most recent complete year for which data is available on underspend for the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme is 2023/24.

‘The maximum value of PCN level entitlements available under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme in 2023/24 was £1.4bn. Total expenditure by PCNs in 2023/24 was £88 million below the maximum entitlements.’

This figure is almost double what was uncovered by an FOI investigation by sister title Pulse PCN in June 2024.

Our investigation found that there was at least £45m of underspend across the 39 ICBs that responded.

It comes as all ARRS funding is to be added to ICB allocations from 2025/26, rather than drawn down separately via the system development fund (SDF).

The former arrangements meant that ARRS funding could be clawed back by NHS England as it was ringfenced for ARRS alone. However, NHS England has confirmed to Pulse PCN that this will now be kept by ICBs.

Dr Sarit Ghosh, clinical director at Enfield Unity PCN in London, said: 'It is good to see the year on year expansion of roles that are eligible for ARRS funding and this flexibility will perhaps lead to less of an underspend in future years.

'However, I do believe the £88m should be reinvested in primary care in some way and it would be refreshing to see that approach from the Government.'

Earlier this year it was revealed that millions of pounds from SDF was used to meet other financial pressures across 26 ICBs in 2023/24.

Last year, Pulse PCN revealed that some PCNs lost out on additional money due to variation in NHS England's advice to ICBs regarding bidding for unspent funding for ARRS.

A version of this article was first published on our sister title Pulse PCN.