PRACTICE
MANAGER SALARY & BONUS SURVEY 2008
We are pleased to announce that our insurer
partners Towergate MIA are our sponsors again for this year's Practice Managers' salary survey.
Towergate MIA and First Practice Management joined together in a partnership in 2006. Since then, hundreds of
FPM Members have taken advantage of specially discounted offers on Surgery and Home insurance; this year
Towergate MIA have added a special offer on Locum insurance.
For quotations or more information about discounted insurance offers from Towergate MIA, call 0800 013 7777
quoting your FPM usernumber, email fpm.mia@towergate.co.uk or visit www.towergatemia.co.uk and click on the
FPM logo. The teams at Towergate MIA will be happy to help.
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Introduction
to the survey
Our
survey of Practice Managers' salaries in the UK took place in June
and July 2008; we received over 1300 responses (a 5% increase on
the 2007 survey) representing over 15% of the Practice Managers in
the UK. The
results are analysed by Region as well as nationally, and cover basic
salary and bonus.
Methodology
All averages, numbers etc. are calculated directly from source data – there are no “averages of averages”, therefore “total” lines are actual averages for the region or category, and are not averages or additions of the data lines above. Similarly, all data used relating to previous years for comparison is derived from source.
Some
other points about the methodology
- Responses
are linked to counties based on postcode
-
Counties are grouped into broad geographical “Regions”
for analysis only
-
County groups within regions are based on proximity
- In
some of the bonus boxes the figure “nil” is entered –
this means that there were no declared bonuses in that category
-
Where “NAS” is used that is because there were not enough
responses in that category or location to ensure that we could protect
the anonymity of Managers.
Percentage
changes since last year's survey
This year Basic Salary shows a percentage average rise in pay of 2.16%, compared to 5.31% in 2007, a reduction in the rate of growth of 59%. The reduction of 16% which we saw in 2007 in the average bonuses paid to managers in the year has now been followed by a further reduction in these bonuses of 17.35% this year. The resultant average overall increase in Practice Managers’ remuneration therefore is just 1.47%, which would appear to reflect the increased financial pressure on Practices resulting from a further year of nil growth funding. There are now 319 managers on an income of £40,000 or over compared to 325 for 2007. This probably reflects the further reduction in the bonuses paid.
Key points
Basic salary:
- Scotland has seen a fairly consistent increase in basic salary across the list size range
- Greater London has seen the highest percentage increase in basic salary for Practice Managers with a list size exceeding 14000. This reflects the high level paid to a relatively small sample of managers
Bonus:
- Nationwide, Practices with over 14000 patients show the highest increase in bonuses with the exception of the Midlands, which shows the biggest decline on the table
- Across the other list sizes, there is a general decline recorded with the exception of the Midlands and Greater London within the list sizes of 5000 – 10999
- The high percentage increase recorded in Greater London in the larger Practices reflects the high level of bonuses paid to a relatively small number of managers (see also above)
- The bonus category overall varies a great deal however the overall picture across all ranges show a decrease of between 22% and 38%
- The number of practices not paying a bonus has increased again this year with 61% not paying a bonus compared to 55% in 2007
Overall:
- The overriding trend is still positive despite the reduction in bonuses. Bonuses remain a small proportion of overall income so even a large percentage reduction in bonus payments has a much smaller effect on total income figures. In 2007, bonuses were 2.67% of income. In 2008 this has reduced to 2.18%
Summary:
- 1.47% overall increase in managers’ incomes when compared to last year (2006 to 2007 was 4.6%)
- Basic pay actually rose by 2.16% but the overall figure was reduced to 1.47% by the decline in bonuses of -17.35%
- Average Manager’s total income is £36095 compared to last year’s average which was £35,556
- The average total manager’s income for the smallest practice size (<5000) is £29,875 (2007 - £29,500)
- The average total manager’s income for the largest practice size (>14000) is £44,225 (2007 - £41,800)
- Average bonus was down by over 17% to £785, from £951 in 2007
- Managers of the smallest practices experienced a 7.86% increase in income overall – a similar result to 2007
- The most common bonus paid was £1000 (61 managers – the same as last year) followed by £500 (46 managers – last year the second most common bonus was £2000)
Responsibilities
of the post of 'Practice Manager'
There
is of course the hugely vexed question of the responsibilities a post
carries, which has the title “Practice Manager”. We know
responsibilities range widely. While it was suggested to us that we
should first agree and define the responsibilities, we concluded that
this was simply not possible for our purposes, and so we simply based
the results on responses from those who carried the title “Practice
Manager” or similar.
Go
to the survey
UK
Practice Manager salary survey designed and collated by
David
Stephen (IT) Design for First Practice Management;
August 2008
