More than 70 staff promoted as merging CCGs cut staff

The merger to form Kent and Medway CCG, completed in April 2020, has resulted in an overall reduction in whole time equivalent staff, from around 570 across the former organisations, to 524 at the consolidated body.

The CCG said there had been a “minimal” number of redundancies, but much of the reduction in posts was achieved by not recruiting to vacancies. Ten senior managers took voluntary redundancy.

In their annual accounts for 2019-20, the predecessor CCGs included provisions for a combined £1.6m in anticipated redundancy costs.

As part of the restructure, staff from the incumbent CCGs were asked to apply for new posts and 77 were promoted, governing body members were told at a meeting in January.

It comes as CCGs are being restructured across England to fit the requirement to have one commissioning body for each of 42 integrated care systems. In the government’s planned NHS bill, CCGs are expected to be fully consumed into new ICS structures.

A spokesman for the CCG said: “The overall number of whole time equivalent posts decreased compared to the previous structure but due to existing vacancies the impact on staff was minimal. As part of the restructure, we actively encouraged career development and the creation of new teams and roles has meant a number of staff have been promoted.

“We have previously stated that the CCG is looking to save £4.7m each year in running costs – which includes office costs and a wide range of other costs as well as staff salaries.”