As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government has set an ambition on eliminating agency spend by the end of this Parliament.
The previous Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Jim Mackey, the Chief Executive of NHS England, wrote to trusts and integrated care boards at the beginning of June last year to emphasise the need to cut agency spend.
The NHS Planning Guidance states that trusts should reduce their spend on agency by 30% for the 2025/26 financial year. Where providers or systems are behind or at risk of not delivering their targeted reductions, there will be increased scrutiny and support to ensure that they deliver their agreed reductions.
NHS England is working to support the development of in-house staff banks for all staff groups in National Health Service trusts. In-house staff banks, and especially collaborative banks, create a larger pool of temporary staff, ensure continuity of care, and reduce agency spending.
NHS England also drives and monitors compliance with price caps, limiting the amount a trust can pay to an agency for temporary staff, and the use of approved frameworks for procurement of agency staff.
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