The Cabinet Office has raised the threshold at which point trusts must get government signoff for spending from projects worth over £10m to those worth over £20m.
The move follows the Cabinet Office’s introduction of the £10m threshold in 2022.
As revealed by HSJ, the 2022 rules required them to submit details of all planned procurements over £10m for the lifetime of a contract.
But this threshold has now been increased to £20m, according to a letter sent by NHS England to trusts and other procurement organisations seen by HSJ. The document does not explain why the threshold has been raised.
It will only affect procurements in five of the seven NHS regions, however. The original restrictions were introduced in a phased process, with London the first region involved in 2022.
The £10m limit was then also imposed on the South East, South West, East of England, and the Midlands, but it had not reached the North East and Yorkshire and the North West regions. They will now see the spend controls brought in at the new £20m limit.
This shift has not changed the process trusts must follow. They must still send all planned procurement activity over the limit to the NHSE spend controls team.
This procurement pipeline is then funnelled to the Cabinet Office to go through an assurance process to determine if it needs to be subjected to further scrutiny.
The letter, from NHSE chief commercial officer Jacqui Rock, said: “It is key that we key continue to operate within these requirements.”
“Any commitments to third party spend that are made outside of the Cabinet Office controls will be deemed as retrospective by the Cabinet Office and therefore classed as irregular spend”.
Source: HSJ
Date: 15 August