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Reducing expenditure on NHS agency staff: rules and price caps
NHS Improvement are taking steps to support NHS providers to reduce their agency staff bills and encourage workers back into substantive and bank roles. This will help ease the financial pressure facing the NHS
Contents
- Rules and price caps
- Approved frameworks
- How to reduce use of agency staff: a diagnostic tool
- Toolkits for making effective use of temporary staff
- Who the rules apply to
- Interim very senior manager pay
- Contact us
- Related content
Rules and price caps
link,Working through intermediaries: IR35 update
An update to guidance on IR35, agency and locum rules starting on 1 April 2017.
Approved frameworks
From 1 April 2016, trusts in scope of the rules are required to procure all agency staff via the framework agreements or arrangements approved by NHS Improvement.
List of approved framework agreements
Trusts are required to use these agreements when procuring agency staff. We’ll continue to review applications for approval on an ongoing basis and keep trusts updated of any changes to the list of approved agreements.
How to apply for framework agreements to be approved
Guidance for framework operators to secure approval for their framework agreements. It is the responsibility of framework operators, not trusts, to apply to have their agreements approved.
How to reduce use of agency staff: a diagnostic tool
This tool, which has been developed with pilot sites, will allow you to diagnose issues, decide ways forward and implement improvements quickly.
We recently hosted a webinar that outlines the rules and explains how to use our new diagnostic tool. It’s available to watch onlineopens in a new window.
Toolkits for making effective use of temporary staff
The following toolkits will help trusts maximise the use of staff banks, medical locums and reduce overall agency spend:
Who the rules apply to
Organisations
- All NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts receiving interim support from the Department of Health and NHS foundation trusts in breach of their licence for financial reasons
- All other foundation trusts are strongly encouraged to comply
- Ambulance trusts and ambulance foundation trusts are covered by the ceiling and framework rules from 1 April 2016 and the price cap and maximum wage rate rules from 1 July 2016
Staff groups
- The agency rules cover all staff groups: nursing, medical, all other clinical and other non-clinical agency staff
- The agency rules do not apply to substantive/permanent staff or bank staff
Interim very senior manager pay
In addition to the agency rules, we’ve also implemented an approval process for the procurement of interim agency very senior managers (VSMs) earning above £750 a day by trusts.
From 31 October these rules will apply to:
- all NHS trusts
- NHS foundation trusts receiving interim support from the Department of Health (DH)
- NHS foundation trusts in breach of their licence for financial reasons
All other foundation trusts are strongly encouraged to comply with this process.
Interim agency very senior manager approval process
Sets out the approval process for procuring interim agency very senior managers
Interim very senior manager remuneration approval form
Submit this form to seek approval of VSM spend.
Interim very senior manager remuneration approval form for a turnaround director
Submit this form to seek approval for a VSM turnaround director.
Contact us
If you have any queries or concerns, please email nhsi.agencyrules@nhs.net.
Related content
We’ve produced a series of webinars to help you reduce your trust’s agency spend:
- Identifying issues in your trustopens in a new window: explains the rules and demonstrates how to use our diagnostic tool
- Effective rosteringopens in a new window: highlights the principles of efficient rostering, including e-rostering
- Case study in improving A&E staffingopens in a new window: hear how one trust increased recruitment and retention of medical staff in A&E
- Agency rules updateopens in a new window: find out about using approved frameworks for the procurement of all agency staff, and the price caps reduction
- A&E delaysopens in a new window: learn how performance against the 4-hour A&E standard reached its lowest level for more than 10 years
- Reducing reliance on medical agency staffopens in a new window: provides practical steps for trusts to take to reduce reliance on medical agency staff.