Recommendation 6

There have been inappropriate unauthorised payoffs made to staff by health bodies, and the planned large-scale NHS restructuring increases the risk of this happening again. Special severance payments when staff leave public service employment should be exceptional and they require Treasury approval because they are often ‘novel, contentious and repercussive’. Three Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) approved and paid special severance payments without following the required authorisation process. The C&AG qualified his regularity audit opinion on the NHS England 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts in respect of one of these—an unapproved special severance payment made by Berkshire West CCG to its former Accountable Officer. There are currently 106 CCG’s, which as part of the planned re-organisation of the NHS will become 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) on 1 July 2022, increasing the likelihood of future payoffs and further non- compliance with the rules that apply over the value of exit packages. Recommendation: The Department should write to us alongside its Treasury Minute response setting out how it will monitor and control the approval of all redundancy payments made by entities within the Departmental Group to ensure such payments are properly authorised in advance and are not irregular.