General Practice Enhanced Service Specification: COVID-19 and Adult Influenza Vaccination Programmes: 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027

Objectives

The national General Practice Enhanced Service for COVID-19 and adult influenza vaccination operates from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. It enables NHS England, as Commissioner, to commission participating General Medical Services, Personal Medical Services and Alternative Provider Medical Services practices to provide enhanced vaccination activity beyond core contractual services; the national specification cannot be varied locally.[1][2][3][4]The service seeks to protect people at greatest risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 and influenza, maximise uptake and clinically appropriate co-administration, and improve the convenience, accessibility and equity of vaccination.[5][6][7]

• Provide both COVID-19 and adult influenza vaccination, or adult influenza vaccination alone, for patients in cohorts authorised by the Commissioner and informed by Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advice and the UK Health Security Agency Green Book.[3][8]
• Prioritise eligible registered patients, including people living in care homes, housebound people, people with learning disabilities, specified health and social-care workers, people experiencing homelessness and frontline patient-facing practice staff where the detailed eligibility provisions apply.[6][9][10]
• Offer COVID-19 catch-up or additional doses to year-round pathway patients outside seasonal periods where permitted by the Green Book and supported by clinical judgement.[11][9]
• Improve access through proactive call and recall, written offers, flexible appointments, delivery in appropriate settings and reasonable adjustments for patients with protected characteristics or who cannot attend practice premises.[7][12]
• Support vaccination for eligible patients registered elsewhere, particularly residents of aligned care homes and patients served by practices within the same Primary Care Network, subject to consent and agreed arrangements.[6][9][10]

Implementation

Implementation is delivered through participating practices and Primary Care Networks, under NHS England commissioning and contract-management arrangements. Practices must opt in, meet workforce, clinical, supply, recording and payment requirements, and deliver vaccination only during Commissioner-authorised commencement and end dates.[13][14][15]The specification may be amended as programmes develop or following ministerial decisions, with immediate variations possible and withdrawal arrangements for practices unable to meet revised requirements.[3][16]

• Register participating practices through the Calculating Quality Reporting Service National system, notify the Commissioner whether both programmes or influenza-only delivery will be provided, and submit planning assumptions by the relevant 2026 deadlines.[14][15]
• Use the Federated Data Platform for COVID-19 vaccine ordering, stocktakes and inventory oversight; manage centrally supplied COVID-19 vaccines according to planned use, and order recommended licensed influenza vaccines in accordance with the Flu Letter and Green Book.[13][5][6]
• Maintain cold-chain, storage, transport, preparation, clinical-waste and stock-management arrangements consistent with medicines legislation, manufacturer instructions and national guidance; minimise wastage, as COVID-19 wastage above 30% may result in reduced or paused supply.[5]
• Ensure staff have appropriate experience, competence, training, legal authority and current clinical knowledge, including anaphylaxis recognition and initial treatment, safe vaccine handling and refresher training; retain evidence of training and competence.[15]
• Deliver vaccinations mainly from practice premises, while using patients’ homes, care homes or suitable community venues where appropriate; obtain Commissioner consent for other locations.[12]
• Use trained registered healthcare professionals to confirm eligibility and clinical appropriateness, provide information, and obtain and record informed consent or refusal. Provide or direct patients to relevant manufacturer patient information leaflets.[12][17]
• Coordinate with Primary Care Networks to offer a joined-up service for linked care homes, including cooperation across practices and networks for aligned or geographically external care homes.[10][7]
• Permit subcontracting to another practice within the Primary Care Network or another party, subject to statutory, regulatory and primary medical services contractual requirements; require subcontractors to provide delivery information to the Commissioner when requested.[17]
• Record vaccinations on the day of administration in an appropriate recording system, or as soon as systems are restored in exceptional circumstances, and notify the Commissioner of delays. Collaborating practices may use the NHS Record a Vaccination Service where the Commissioner has authorised this arrangement.[1][16]
• Maintain secure access controls for recording-system users, including prompt creation of access for new staff and removal for staff who leave or no longer work scheduled shifts.[18][16]
• Monitor influenza activity monthly through ImmForm and maintain COVID-19 vaccination, stock and inventory records through the required systems. These data support uptake monitoring, national reporting, official statistics, forecasting, payment calculation and post-payment verification.[5][18][16]
• Report patient-safety incidents to the Commissioner’s Screening and Immunisation Team and follow UK Health Security Agency guidance on vaccine storage, handling and administration errors.[18]
• Submit validated payment claims within three months of vaccination, normally for monthly payment, and provide accurate information requested by the Commissioner. Payment may be withheld, deducted or recovered for non-compliance, inaccurate claims or delayed recording.[19][18][16]
• Pay an item-of-service fee of £8.70 for each eligible registered patient receiving COVID-19 vaccination from 1 September 2026 to before 1 February 2027, and £10.06 for COVID-19 vaccinations in the remaining specified periods and for eligible influenza vaccinations.[17][20]

Monitoring & Evaluation

Monitoring and accountability centre on timely vaccination recording, activity reporting, stock oversight, claims validation and post-payment assurance. Practices must use national systems and comply with Commissioner, contractual, legal and clinical-data requirements; the specification does not set vaccination-coverage targets or a broader formal evaluation framework.[3][18][16]

• Record each vaccination in an appropriate recording system on the day of administration, or as soon as systems are restored in exceptional circumstances, and notify the Commissioner if recording is delayed.[16]
• Use the Calculating Quality Reporting Service National as the national system for practice approvals, reporting and payment calculations, and submit validated claims and accurate supporting information within three months of vaccination.[3][19]
• Maintain vaccination records for patients registered elsewhere where applicable, including records of non-registered patients vaccinated under the service and consent or refusal information.[10][12]
• Maintain records of call-and-recall contacts, cooperate reasonably with national call-and-recall arrangements, and inform patients that anonymised service information may be used for delivery, evaluation and research.[7][12]
• Monitor COVID-19 vaccine stocks, inventory, ordering and wastage through the Federated Data Platform, including required stocktakes; wastage above 30% may result in reduced or paused vaccine supply.[13][5]
• Report influenza activity monthly through ImmForm, including monthly vaccination counts, to support uptake monitoring, achievement assessment, national reporting and official statistics.[16]
• Retain evidence that relevant staff have completed required training and remain competent, including safe vaccine handling, anaphylaxis recognition and initial treatment, and maintain procedures for reporting concerns and checking updated clinical guidance.[15]
• Use relevant clinical codes and re-code records where necessary to support payment calculations, national data capture, audit and verification of delivery.[18]
• Report patient-safety incidents to the Commissioner’s Screening and Immunisation Team and follow UK Health Security Agency guidance on vaccine storage, handling and administration errors.[18]
• Facilitate post-payment verification and audits of claims, with subcontractors required to provide delivery-related information to the Commissioner on request.[17][16]
• Meet recording deadlines because a vaccination entered more than 15 days after administration is ineligible for the item-of-service fee and associated additional payments, and previously claimed payments may be recovered.[16]

The supplied material does not specify numerical outcome indicators, vaccination-coverage thresholds, reporting frequencies other than monthly influenza reporting, independent evaluation methods, a review timetable, or wider surveillance arrangements beyond vaccination, stock, safety and activity-recording requirements.[2][18][16]

Costing & Financing

Financing is primarily based on item-of-service payments and monthly validated claims, conditional on compliance with service, eligibility, recording and information requirements. The material specifies selected payment rates but does not provide a total programme budget, funding gap, resource-mobilisation plan, or wider economic assumptions.[17][20][19]

• Pay Pounds sterling 8.70 for each COVID-19 vaccination administered to an eligible registered patient from 1 September 2026 until before 1 February 2027, subject to compliance with the enhanced-service requirements.[17]
• Pay Pounds sterling 10.06 for each COVID-19 vaccination administered to an eligible registered patient from 1 April 2026 until before 1 September 2026, and from 1 February 2027 to 31 March 2027.[17]
• Pay Pounds sterling 10.06 for each influenza vaccination administered to an eligible registered patient.[20]
• Submit validated claims to the Commissioner, normally monthly; make payment by the last day of the month following claim validation.[19]
• Require claims to be supported by a vaccination recorded before the data-extraction date after the monthly reporting period, with the patient in a Commissioner-authorised eligible cohort at vaccination.[20]
• Allow the Commissioner to withhold, deduct or recover payments for unmet entitlement conditions, inaccurate calculations, late recording or other breaches; withheld amounts may be reimbursed where a breach is remedied.[19][18][16]
• Exclude specified employee-related influenza vaccinations from payment, vaccine-cost reimbursement and personal administration fees unless the person meets the relevant age, clinical-risk and registration conditions.[20]
• Address payment entitlement for patients registered with another practice, withdrawal or contract termination, mergers and new or varied contractual arrangements, including discretionary payments where standard merger provisions would be inequitable or impractical.[20][16][4]

COVID-19 vaccines are supplied centrally by NHS England and ordered through the Federated Data Platform according to planned usage, while practices are responsible for stock management and may request additional supply when activity exceeds forecasts.[5]No overall expenditure ceiling, funding source beyond central COVID-19 vaccine supply, costed workforce requirement, resource allocation, funding shortfall or economic modelling is specified in the supplied material.[5][20][19]