Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted
Several NHS providers continue making special severance payments without required HM Treasury approval.
Conclusion
Special severance payments always require prior HM Treasury approval, as they are usually novel or contentious.34 In 2023–24, two NHS Trusts and two NHS Foundation Trusts between them made five special severance payments totalling £180,868 without the required approval. In his report on the 2023–24 Consolidated Provider Account, the C&AG reported that, while most NHS providers were following the correct procedures when proposing to enter a special severance payment arrangement, some NHS providers were still not following the requirements set by HM Treasury.35
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's findings, stating NHS England is redrafting guidance on all exit packages and approval mechanisms. This new guidance will be communicated by end of Summer 2025 via regional workforce teams and the NHS England website, to impact exits from 2025-26 and address non-compliance.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Target implementation date: end Summer 2025 6.2 NHS England is currently redrafting the guidance around exit packages and the associated approval mechanisms. This guidance will include instruction on all types of exit packages including voluntary severance, Mutually Agreed Resignation schemes (MARS), compulsory redundancies, and special severance cases. This guidance will be communicated via the regional workforce teams as well as via the NHS England external website. This should have an impact on exits agreed from 2025-26. 6.3 Where instances arise with compliance with the approval mechanism for exit packages, NHSE conducts a lesson-learnt exercise and reiterates the approval rules via several avenues. For example, NHSE directly liaises with the organisations involved to ensure the rules are understood, and through financial control events where NHSE promotes good practice and reminds delegates of the governance arrangements for certain types of transactions. So far for 2024-2025 NHSE has seen fewer instances of non-compliance, but the final assurance process on this is not fully complete as of May 2025. 6.4 Regarding the future arrangements for exit packages, the oversight mechanism will depend on where the legal powers reside after the integration of NHSE into the future Department of Health and Social Care. NHSE will ensure it is picked up in the transition process.