Title

TRANSFORMATION

ICBs pause or postpone redundancy programmes due to lack of funding

A number of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have paused or postponed their redundancy programmes due to a lack of funding.

(c) Anthony/Unsplash

(c) Anthony/Unsplash

A number of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have paused or postponed their redundancy programmes due to a lack of funding.

ICBs have been asked to cut running costs by half, with a blueprint document earlier this year calling on them to detail how they will achieve a £18.76 per head of population operating cost envelope.

North East and North Cumbria ICB chief executive Sam Allen told a board meeting that plans had been put on hold due to a lack of funding, with redundancies expected to cost £1bn nationally. Other ICBs have similarly paused or postponed plans.  

An NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB spokesperson today said: ‘The ICB is awaiting the national information needed to move forward, particularly in relation to redundancy funding arrangements. Until this clarity is provided, the ICB is not in a position to begin consultation or offer a voluntary redundancy scheme. This message has also been relayed to staff via internal communications.'

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has offered some flexibility on the £18.76 operating cost envelope to individual ICBs in order to reflect local circumstances, with NHS England expected to provide further information on how the reduction should be delivered in the coming days.

A DHSC spokesperson said: ‘We have underlined the need for trusts and ICBs to cut bureaucracy and duplication to invest even further in the frontline so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and better value for taxpayers' money.'

An NHS England spokesperson added: ‘ICBs have worked flat out to identify savings that can be reinvested back into patient care and a number of them have well-developed plans in place for redundancies, which we are supporting them with.'

TRANSFORMATION

AI and tech – the evolution of care

By Simon Guerrier | 22 September 2025

Simon Guerrier examines what AI and technology-enabled care are, the benefits they can bring, the risks and costs to consider, and the lessons from one local...

TRANSFORMATION

Councils can't wait for reform

By Joanne Pitt | 22 September 2025

Drawing on assurance work by CIPFA, Joanne Pitt sets out the challenges driving the growing reliance on Exceptional Financial Support and outlines the urgent...

TRANSFORMATION

'Devolution in name only': Lib Dem Vikki Slade talks local government reform

By Heather Jameson | 19 September 2025

As the Lib Dems head to Bournemouth for their party conference, local government spokesperson Vikki Slade – the former leader of post-reorganisation Bournemo...

TRANSFORMATION

The neighbourhood challenge

By Matthew Taylor | 17 September 2025

Matthew Taylor looks at the critical factors dictating the success or failure of neighbourhood health.

Lee Peart

Popular articles by Lee Peart