Morale falls at nearly all ICBs

More than 700,000 staff responded to the survey between September and December – a 48 per cent response rate, up from 46 per cent in 2022. 

Nationally, across all provider types, 61.1 per cent said they would recommend their trust as a place to work – up around 4 percentage points since 2022, and at a three-year high.

But ICBs bucked this upward trend from 2022 to 2023.

Of 37 ICBs which have a staff survey score for 2022 and 2023, all but three saw a fall in the proportion saying they “would recommend their organisation as a place to work”. Several didn’t take part in 2022, and Humber and North Yorkshire did not participate in 2023.

Having been created out of clinical commissioning groups in summer 2022, the government ordered a steep cut in ICB administration costs a year ago. Many have been, and still are, carrying out internal restructures, with substantial staffing cuts.

On the staff survey “morale” sub-score, which is based on several different questions, 29 ICBs saw a year-on-year fall, out of 37 with a result for both years (78 per cent). 

The tables below show the proportion of respondents who “agree” or “strongly agree” that they ”would recommend their organisation as a place to work”.

ICBs sorted by change in the proportion of staff who would recommend it as a place to work - 2022 to 2023

ICBs sorted by the proportion of staff who would recommend it as a place to work