South Central transition costs to top £80m this year

The SHA’s strategic and operational plan says that all primary care trusts have allowed for a 2 per cent top slice to their budgets for 2011-12, making £110m available.

Of this, £80.7m has been set aside for non-recurrent uses “to support change”. Where the funding has been passed to trusts, it is with a clear agreement around how the funding is to be used to ensure the costs are genuinely one-off.

The SHA said funds will be released to cover costs “on the business cases and actual demonstration of commitment of costs to be approved during the year”.

The plan says that redundancy costs of £7.6m have been budgeted for PCTs, £10.2m for acute trusts and £7.8m for foundation trusts. A further £7m in redundancy costs will be incurred in the SHA itself.

Other non-pay transition costs will total £18.5m. In addition, pathway redesigns will cost £8.8m, and “double running costs” involving the establishment of new organisations such as commissioning consortia, are forecast at £20.8m.