GP & Medical Practice Loans

GP practice finance in the UK usually funds partnership buy-ins, surgery premises, fit-out, equipment, clinical IT and partners’ tax. Lenders assess partnership profits, NHS contract income, list size and the partnership agreement, and premises lending also looks at the building and its rent reimbursement. Professional Practice Loans, a specialist whole-of-market broker, searches the market for lenders who understand GP partnerships.

• Who it suits: GP partnerships investing in premises or capacity, new partners buying in, and practices merging.
• How it works: a new partner’s capital is usually a personal partner capital loan; buying, extending or refinancing the surgery uses commercial mortgage-style lending; equipment and IT suit asset finance; and self-assessment bills can be spread with partners’ tax funding.
• What lenders look at: several years of partnership accounts, the contract type, list size and trend, the partnership deed, premises arrangements and existing borrowing.
• What to watch: lease and premises liabilities that stay with remaining partners when others leave, and contract changes that affect forecast income.

NHS England funds practices through the GP contract, and publishes the changes to the GP contract for 2026/27, so lenders read your forecasts against the current contract. Our guide to becoming a GP partner covers the buy-in in detail, or you can get instant quotes.

Most medical practice borrowing funds a specific project: extra consulting rooms, a refurbishment, diagnostic equipment, clinical IT or a tax bill. Smaller projects can often be funded with an unsecured practice loan, assessed on the practice’s income rather than its property, while equipment suits asset finance.

Larger projects, such as buying or extending the surgery, are usually secured. For private clinics and consultants’ practices, see private healthcare finance.

A new GP partner is often asked to fund a share of partnership capital and, where the partners own the building, a share of the premises. A partner capital loan is normally made to the individual and repaid from their profit share. Partner buy-in finance explains the options, and our partner capital loans guide covers how lenders read the partnership agreement.

Buying, extending or refinancing a surgery is usually funded with commercial mortgage-style lending. In England, the NHS (General Medical Services Premises Costs) Directions 2024 set out how premises cost payments to GP contractors are calculated, and lenders look at that position alongside the building’s value. See practice premises finance.

Lenders that fund medical practices work across the UK, including London, and assess each case on the practice’s income, the partnership and the premises rather than its postcode. Where property values are higher, the premises element of a buy-in or purchase is often larger, which makes structuring the capital and property shares separately more important.

Practices that merge or acquire another practice can fund the transaction through practice acquisition finance.

It can go a long way towards it, but lenders do not treat it as a guarantee. In England, partners who own their surgery can be reimbursed for premises costs under the NHS (General Medical Services Premises Costs) Directions 2024, which took effect in May 2024, and an owner occupier chooses either notional rent or borrowing costs, not both. Notional rent is reviewed every three years, so it can rise or fall during the life of a mortgage. Professional Practice Loans, a specialist whole-of-market broker, sets the reimbursement position out for lenders that understand GP premises.

• The current figure. The latest notional rent determination and when the next triennial review falls.
• Grant conditions. Where an improvement grant helped pay for the building, notional rent is abated for a period and the practice commits to a guaranteed minimum period of use, which under the 2024 Directions runs from 6 to 18 years depending on the grant size.
• Who owns the building. Whether all partners or only some hold the property, and what the partnership deed says when an owning partner retires.
• The loan term. How it lines up with the careers of the partners who will be repaying it.

Yes, for new claims under the 2024 Directions. A practice that wants its borrowing costs reimbursed must tender for the loan with at least three regulated lenders, and reimbursement is paid at the lower of the actual interest and the prescribed percentage NHS England publishes. Practices already receiving borrowing costs under the 2013 Directions stay on those terms. Because we search the market across lenders that fund surgeries, we can gather comparable terms for the tender at the same time as finding the right loan.

NHS England sets out the changes in its guide to primary care premises policy. See practice premises finance, or get instant quotes for a surgery purchase or refinance.

Yes. GP partners pay income tax personally through Self Assessment on their share of partnership profits, and a large bill can be spread over monthly instalments with partners' tax funding, or with an HMRC payment plan where the amount and record allow. Lenders look at your profit share, the practice accounts and your tax calculation. We arrange tax funding for individual partners and for whole partnerships that fund their partners' bills together.

• Two payments at once. The 31 January deadline can combine last year's balancing payment with the first payment on account for the current year, each payment on account usually being half of the previous year's bill, and the second falls on 31 July.
• A rising profit share. Taking on a retiring partner's share, or extra sessions and enhanced services, raises the next bill and both payments on account.
• Pension tax. Pension growth above the £60,000 standard annual allowance, or a lower tapered allowance for very high earners, creates a charge that is reported on your Self Assessment return.

GOV.UK explains payments on account. See partners' tax funding, or get instant quotes for the bill.