Reeves Rejects Plea For £1bn Of Extra Cash To Cover Nhs Redundancy Payouts

Rachel Reeves has rebuffed a plea from Wes Streeting for an emergency injection of £1bn into nan NHS’s fund to screen nan costs of wide redundancies.

The chancellor’s determination is simply a setback for nan wellness secretary, who had been lobbying down nan scenes successful Whitehall for other money to salary disconnected 18,000 unit who are losing their jobs.

The Treasury has alternatively allowed nan Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to overspend its allotted fund by astir £1bn this financial year. But this is connected nan knowing that it will person little money successful 2026-27 – and nary caller rate overall.

Streeting had spent months trying to seduce nan Treasury to assistance further backing to alteration nan NHS’s 42 integrated attraction boards to commencement slimming down their role. They person been asked to make astir half their 25,000 unit redundant.

The £1bn is needed to fto nan boards yet shrink their workforces – a process that had been owed to decorativeness by nan extremity of December. It besides covers payoffs to an chartless number of labor astatine NHS England, which is being abolished and merged pinch nan DHSC successful 2027.

The process had crushed to a halt amid disagreement complete who should ft nan measure for nan redundancies. The occupation losses are portion of a extremist restructuring of nan wellness work successful England which Streeting had ruled retired erstwhile Labour was successful opposition.

NHS bosses successful England past period told ministers they needed £3bn much this twelvemonth to screen nan costs of redundancies, strikes by resident doctors – 5 days of business action start this Friday – and rises successful supplier prices. All 3 were unforeseen erstwhile nan NHS’s fund for this twelvemonth was set, they argued.

Sources opportunity nan Treasury offered to make a woody pinch nan DHSC successful which it would supply other money for redundancies if nan section agreed to sorb nan costs of higher supplier prices.

However, nary statement was reached, pinch nan other costs of medicines apt to beryllium significant.

Streeting will corroborate that nan attraction committee redundancy programme is astatine past opening erstwhile he addresses nan yearly convention of NHS Providers successful Manchester connected Wednesday.

He will show nan hospitals group that nan abolition of “18,000 administrative posts” successful attraction boards is portion of a process of “stripping distant endless reddish portion and bureaucracy” that will prevention nan NHS £1bn a twelvemonth by 2029.

The DHSC confirmed that “funding arrangements person been agreed pinch HM Treasury and will beryllium from wrong nan existing backing settlement”.

NHS services would beryllium protected, it added, saying: “We will not beryllium cutting immoderate finance to nan NHS, frontline aliases backroom.”

Jim Mackey, NHS England’s main executive, said: “This is bully news for NHS unit and patients, allowing our organisations to move guardant and supply greater certainty astir nan early for each our unit and leaders.”

Jon Restell of Managers successful Partnership, a national that represents galore NHS bosses, said: “Today’s redundancy backing announcement ends months of inaction by nan authorities which person caused avoidable distress to our members arsenic moving group and placed attraction committee leaders successful an intolerable position.

“The destiny of important attraction committee functions, specified arsenic continuing healthcare, remains uncertain and managers pinch integer and readying expertise will beryllium sacked, undermining nan government’s ain 10-year wellness plan.”