High quality care for all, now and for future generations

To: CCG Accountable Officers & CCG Chief Financial Officers

CC: CCG Audit Chairs, NHS England Regional Directors & Regional Finance Directors

Gateway reference: 06702

Date: 06 April 2017

2016/17 Financial Management

Further to my letter of 15th March and in the light of a small number of queries regarding potential discretionary year end payments, I am writing to clarify our expectations for financial discipline as we complete the year end accounting processes for 2016/17.

As communicated previously, it is essential that every CCG delivers its agreed year end financial commitment, which consists of their Month 11 forecast combined with the release of the 1% system reserve as additional in-year surplus. These numbers have previously been confirmed to you by NHS England regional teams, and they are shown in the annex to this letter for additional clarity. These forecasts are central to the delivery of the overall NHS financial position, and it is particularly critical this year that we maintain the excellent track record of CCGs since their inception in avoiding last minute adverse movements.

CCG finance teams will of course now be preparing final accounts on the basis of the usual NHS accounting processes and rules, and using appropriate professional judgement, but you should now have a clear line of sight to the financial position you expect to deliver. Whilst we do not anticipate any deterioration from the Month 11 projections, any CCG which believes it is in the exceptional position of not being able to honour this commitment should send me written notification in advance, and no later than Wednesday 12th April. This should be sent to me at england.chieffinancialofficer@nhs.net, copied to the relevant Regional Finance Director and set out in detail the circumstances leading to the change and evidence personal review of the position by the CCG’s Accountable Officer and Audit Chair. Given the importance of high quality financial close processes, and in view of the fact that the ability to predict financial performance in the weeks leading up to year end is a clear marker of the financial grip we would expect of any NHS organisation, any such late changes may trigger an urgent external review. This will automatically be the case for any changes which emerge at later stages of the final accounts process.

High quality care for all, now and for future generations

As planning for 2017/18 has been predicated on full delivery of the forecast outturn for 2016/17, any late movements of this sort will also be repayable in full as an adjustment to existing 2017/18 control totals.

In a year which has been particularly challenging, not least for CCGs, I am very grateful for your commitment to tight financial management and to the high standards of professional accounting, to which the NHS is rightly committed. If you have any doubt about year end financial management issues, please contact your Regional Finance Director in the first instance, via your local NHS England office.

Yours Faithfully

Paul Baumann

Chief Financial Officer

£mNHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven 2.0NHS Ashford (2.1)NHS Aylesbury Vale 2.5NHS Barking & Dagenham (3.0)NHS Barnet 4.6NHS Barnsley 4.0NHS Basildon and Brentwood (0.0)NHS Bassetlaw 1.5NHS Bath and North East Somerset (0.1)NHS Bedfordshire 2.4NHS Bexley 1.2NHS Birmingham CrossCity 14.0NHS Birmingham South and Central 5.5NHS Blackburn with Darwen 0.2NHS Blackpool 2.8NHS Bolton 4.3NHS Bracknell and Ascot 1.5NHS Bradford City 1.5NHS Bradford Districts 4.8NHS Brent 5.1NHS Brighton & Hove 3.6NHS Bristol (3.3)NHS Bromley 2.8NHS Bury 2.7NHS Calderdale (0.6)NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (4.5)NHS Camden 3.5NHS Cannock Chase (9.4)NHS Canterbury and Coastal 2.8NHS Castle Point, Rayleigh and Rochford 0.0NHS Central London (Westminster) 2.7NHS Central Manchester 2.8NHS Chiltern 3.5NHS Chorley and South Ribble 0.3NHS City and Hackney (0.0)NHS Coastal West Sussex (26.5)NHS Corby 1.0NHS Coventry and Rugby 5.8NHS Crawley (6.9)NHS Croydon (6.6)NHS Cumbria 0.0NHS Darlington 1.1NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley (15.5)NHS Doncaster 4.8NHS Dorset 11.1NHS Dudley 5.6NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield 4.8NHS Ealing 4.8NHS East and North Hertfordshire 7.0NHS East Lancashire 5.8NHS East Leicestershire and Rutland 4.0NHS East Riding of Yorkshire (2.0)NHS East Staffordshire 1.6

Expected Variance from Plan (including system reserve

release)CCG

£m

Expected Variance from Plan (including system reserve

release)CCG

NHS East Surrey (10.4)NHS Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford 2.8NHS Eastern Cheshire (8.5)NHS Enfield 3.9NHS Erewash 1.4NHS Fareham and Gosport (3.4)NHS Fylde & Wyre 2.4NHS Gloucestershire 8.1NHS Great Yarmouth & Waveney (3.6)NHS Greater Huddersfield 0.7NHS Greater Preston (2.1)NHS Greenwich 0.7NHS Guildford and Waverley (5.0)NHS Halton (5.1)NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby (0.6)NHS Hammersmith and Fulham 2.6NHS Hardwick 1.6NHS Haringey 3.4NHS Harrogate and Rural District (7.7)NHS Harrow (1.9)NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees 4.4NHS Hastings & Rother 3.0NHS Havering (8.5)NHS Herefordshire 2.3NHS Herts Valleys (7.3)NHS Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale 3.4NHS High Weald Lewes Havens 2.2NHS Hillingdon 4.1NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex (17.4)NHS Hounslow 3.4NHS Hull 3.8NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk 4.6NHS Isle of Wight 2.3NHS Islington 3.3NHS Kernow (15.4)NHS Kingston 2.4NHS Knowsley 2.9NHS Lambeth 3.2NHS Lancashire North 1.0NHS Leeds North 2.8NHS Leeds South and East 4.0NHS Leeds West 4.5NHS Leicester City 4.8NHS Lewisham 2.4NHS Lincolnshire East (1.3)NHS Lincolnshire West (0.3)NHS Liverpool 2.0NHS Luton (0.4)NHS Mansfield & Ashfield (2.1)NHS Medway 3.5NHS Merton 2.7NHS Mid Essex 0.0NHS Milton Keynes 3.0

£m

Expected Variance from Plan (including system reserve

release)CCG

NHS Nene 7.6NHS Newark & Sherwood (0.8)NHS Newbury and District 1.4NHS Newcastle Gateshead 1.8NHS Newham 0.0NHS North & West Reading 1.4NHS North Derbyshire (1.6)NHS North Durham 3.7NHS North East Essex 4.4NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham 2.8NHS North East Lincolnshire 2.2NHS North Hampshire (1.8)NHS North Kirklees (6.5)NHS North Lincolnshire (6.3)NHS North Manchester 3.1NHS North Norfolk 2.3NHS North Somerset (7.4)NHS North Staffordshire 0.1NHS North Tyneside 3.1NHS North West Surrey 0.3NHS North, East, West Devon (13.2)NHS Northumberland (26.0)NHS Norwich 2.4NHS Nottingham City 4.7NHS Nottingham North & East 2.0NHS Nottingham West 1.3NHS Oldham 5.1NHS Oxfordshire 8.2NHS Portsmouth 2.9NHS Redbridge (0.3)NHS Redditch and Bromsgrove (5.8)NHS Richmond 2.5NHS Rotherham 3.9NHS Rushcliffe 1.5NHS Salford 4.0NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham 9.5NHS Scarborough and Ryedale (2.5)NHS SE Staffs, Seisdon & Peninsular 0.0NHS Sheffield 8.1NHS Shropshire (12.1)NHS Slough 1.7NHS Solihull (5.8)NHS Somerset (9.5)NHS South Cheshire 0.6NHS South Devon and Torbay (6.3)NHS South Eastern Hampshire (1.6)NHS South Gloucestershire (14.2)NHS South Kent Coast 2.7NHS South Lincolnshire 2.2NHS South Manchester 2.6NHS South Norfolk 2.7NHS South Reading 1.5NHS South Sefton (2.4)

£m

Expected Variance from Plan (including system reserve

release)CCG

NHS South Tees 4.6NHS South Tyneside 2.4NHS South Warwickshire 3.6NHS South West Lincolnshire 1.8NHS South Worcestershire 3.8NHS Southampton 3.5NHS Southend 0.0NHS Southern Derbyshire 9.9NHS Southport and Formby (2.7)NHS Southwark 2.4NHS St Helens (5.8)NHS Stafford and Surrounds (6.9)NHS Stockport 4.3NHS Stoke on Trent (0.2)NHS Sunderland 6.9NHS Surrey Downs 3.5NHS Surrey Heath 1.1NHS Sutton 2.6NHS Swale (3.4)NHS Swindon 2.6NHS Tameside and Glossop 3.7NHS Telford & Wrekin 3.3NHS Thanet 2.1NHS Thurrock 0.0NHS Tower Hamlets 0.0NHS Trafford 1.7NHS Vale of York (10.4)NHS Vale Royal 0.3NHS Wakefield 0.1NHS Walsall 0.0NHS Waltham Forest 0.0NHS Wandsworth 4.6NHS Warrington 0.0NHS Warwickshire North 2.3NHS West Cheshire (2.6)NHS West Essex 3.7NHS West Hampshire 4.1NHS West Kent 6.0NHS West Lancashire 0.1NHS West Leicestershire 4.6NHS West London (K&C & QPP) 6.1NHS West Norfolk 2.3NHS West Suffolk 2.9NHS Wigan Borough 4.9NHS Wiltshire 5.7NHS Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead 1.7NHS Wirral (7.5)NHS Wokingham 1.9NHS Wolverhampton 4.2NHS Wyre Forest 1.5