NHSE to cut a further 2,000 posts
NHS England plans to cut around a further 15 per cent of its headcount — about 2,000 posts — it has told staff this morning.
HSJ understands NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard announced the fresh wave of job cuts in an all-staff meeting with Wes Streeting. It follows around 7,000 posts having already been cut during a major restructure over the past two years.
Officials believe the move is necessary to free up more money amid a tight settlement, and to show leadership as local organisations are asked to make “tough decisions” about staff and services.
Ms Pritchard said in a message to staff today that the move “does not require a full restructure, as we did with the Creating the new NHS England programme”. But it adds: “Our first step is to review all our activity as part of our 2025-26 planning, to make sure we are as efficient and effective as possible… We need to reduce duplication and add real value to the work of the NHS, complementing DHSC’s role…
“It is also right that we are taking the same steps we are asking of the wider NHS. We all have an equal responsibility to look at where we can make savings and efficiencies, maximising the resources available for patient care.
“This means we will be taking actions to save £150m of non-pay resources and reducing our staffing costs by a further £175m, equivalent to around 15% of our new NHS England structures – giving £325m to support the frontline over the coming year.
“We want to complete this work as quickly as we can to give you clarity. National directors will lead work in their areas to identify where the targeted changes may need to be made. Then, in around a week’s time, the executive will review this work and agree where the focus will be. We will then lay out the next steps and engage with the staff and functions affected.”
In the meantime most recruitment to vacancies will be paused, the message said.
Wes Streeting this morning said a “culture of overspending” in the service was over, and imminent NHS planning guidance is expected to tell systems they must balance their books at all costs.
Department of Health and Social Care teams are also expected to be affected.
It is understood the restructure will look at moving staff to focus on the new government’s priorities, particularly delivering the smaller set of core targets; eliminating some duplication with the DHSC; and devolving more responsibilities to integrated care boards.
Staff were told this morning that directors would be working on proposals in coming weeks, they reported.
Ms Pritchard has said before that the previous restructure, which brought together NHSE with NHS Digital and Health Education England, was “really hard” for many staff, and that she hoped to avoid another major restructure.
Updated with further message to staff at 1.30pm on 30 January