NHSE sets ‘expectation’ CCG board members will transfer to ICSs

A new HR framework, published today, says ICSs should seek to find suitable alternative roles for these senior staff, but does not offer any guarantee they would retain the same terms and conditions.

It says ICSs — which, under current proposals, will become statutory in April next year — will be responsible for carrying out redundancy processes where alternative roles cannot be agreed.

HSJ has previously reported how CCG staff below board level have been given a continued employment promise when ICSs are created, meaning they will “lift and shift” into guaranteed jobs with the same terms and conditions.

Previous guidance did not extend this guarantee to board level staff, nor did it state they were expected to transfer to ICSs.

The new guidance refers to “integrated care boards”, which are the NHS boards within ICSs, and which will subsume the current functions of CCGs.

It says: “The expectation is….that [CCG] board level colleagues will transfer to ICBs along with other colleagues.

“Discussions about roles and responsibilities for CCG and ICB board-level colleagues should begin in good time before the transition, with a view to securing alternative roles by agreement wherever possible.

“The aim in this change is to retain as many people as possible, however, where suitable alternative roles cannot be identified for senior colleagues, either locally or in the NHS regionally and nationally, and following full and timely consultation, redundancy on contractual terms may be appropriate…

“All board level colleagues in place on the transfer date will be part of the transfer scheme and will transfer into the new ICB, whether in a new designate role or in a displaced position.”

The guidance says any redundancies will be implemented by the receiving ICB.

It adds that if someone is dismissed by a CCG before being transferred, because there is no role for them in the ICB, their dismissal is likely to be “automatically unfair”, with the legal liability for that transferring to the ICB.

Some ICB chairs have been appointed and others are out to recruitment at present. Chief executives are expected to follow shortly, although a timetable published by NHSE this week stated the deadline for this was the end of November. It said finance director, medical director, director of nursing and other ICB executive roles would be designated by the end of March next year — immediately before the ICBs will take on statutory powers, if the current timetable is maintained.