The government isn’t introducing a £10 charge for GP appointments

Videos posted on social media claim that Sir Keir Starmer has announced upfront £10 charges to see an NHS GP alongside a possible £30 fine for missed appointments that will supposedly come into force from 1 November 2025.

These videos, which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and TikTok (sometimes with slightly different dates for these supposed new charges) are false. There has been no mainstream reporting or government announcement of any such charges coming into effect.

These videos, which feature audio that sounds like the Prime Minister, claim that the government is bringing in the fees “to reduce missed appointments”, adding “today it’s £10 for an appointment and tomorrow it could be more”.

A Google News search for announcements about charges for NHS GP appointments coming into effect from 1 November 2025 does not show any credible news sources reporting this change.

A search on Hansard, the record of what is said in Parliament, and gov.uk, don’t show any evidence of such an announcement since July 2024, when Mr Starmer became Prime Minister.

Any such policy would also contrast with ministers’ often-repeated commitment to keep the NHS as a free at point-of-use service.

Who is speaking in the video?

There are clear clues that the audio used in these videos is also not genuine. A reverse image search for a clip of Mr Starmer used in one of these videos reveals it is actually from an appearance before the House of Commons Liaison Committee in December 2024, which did not discuss any changes to how GP appointments work. Full Fact matched Mr Starmer’s outfit to the one in the viral video, as well as the people sitting directly behind him.

Another clue that the audio is not real is the implausibility of Mr Starmer criticising a supposed policy he is announcing as feeling “more like an added financial burden for families”.

We’ve not been able to conclude whether the clip was generated with artificial intelligence, or simply features an impersonator, but we’ve not seen any evidence to suggest it is real.

You can read more about how to spot AI audio, and the challenges of doing this, in our guide.

Proposals to charge to see the GP

There have been previous proposals to charge for missed NHS GP appointments, which were not put into practise. While running to be Conservative leader in July 2022, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to create a temporary £10 fine for some missed GP appointments, but the policy was dropped when he was in office.

A recent paper backed by former Conservative health secretary Sir Sajid Javid, suggested charging £20 for most GP appointments, but this policy has not been adopted by the Labour government.

We have fact checked many videos in recent weeks making false claims about fake government policies, often with inauthentic audio of the Prime Minister, such as false claims of a driving crackdown, new parking rules, or a new £15 clean water levy.

Before sharing videos such as this that you see online, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source. You can find guides and tips in our Full Fact toolkit to help you navigate information online.