{"id":325671,"date":"2025-12-20T01:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T01:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/325671\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T01:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T01:30:11","slug":"dhsc-says-health-reorganisation-redundancy-bill-could-hit-1-3bn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/325671\/","title":{"rendered":"DHSC says health-reorganisation redundancy bill could hit \u00a31.3bn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Redundancy costs associated with plans to merge NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care \u2013 cutting 18,000 jobs as part of the\u00a0wider\u00a0process, could\u00a0reach \u00a31.3bn, MPs have been told.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

An update on the reorganisation plans from DHSC perm sec Samantha Jones to members of parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee\u00a0gives a\u00a0redundancy-cost estimate\u00a0of \u201capproximately \u00a31bn to \u00a31.3bn\u201d for the project,\u00a0first\u00a0announced in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n

July\u2019s 10-year Health Plan for England confirmed the aspiration for a 50% cut in \u201ccentral headcount\u201d to result from the merger. As of March, DHSC had around 3,500 staff in the core department, while NHSE had some 15,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones told MPs that the government\u2019s ambition\u00a0remains\u00a0for that 50% cut in staffing to be realised by March 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The overarching job-reduction target of 18,000 includes\u00a0headcount cuts\u00a0at Integrated Care Boards, which\u00a0are\u00a0responsible for\u00a0planning local health services, working with hospitals and GPs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her letter to PAC members<\/a>, which was dated 11 December but only published by the committee on Monday this week, Jones said the \u201c\u00a31bn to \u00a31.3bn\u201d cost expectation related to DHSC, NHSE and ICB job reductions. She added that the costs would be borne by those organisations and Commissioning Support Units.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones said most staff exits were expected to take place in the\u00a0remainder\u00a0of the current\u00a0financial year\u00a0and in 2026-27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DHSC launched a voluntary\u00a0exit\u00a0programme in April, weeks after prime minister Keir Starmer announced that NHSE would be scrapped.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones told MPs that the first 100 DHSC\u00a0staff to go as part of that programme had done so last month. \u201cAround 250 more staff are due to leave over the coming weeks,\u201d she said.\u00a0Jones added that final exits as part of the programme would happen in the first quarter of 2026-27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The perm sec said that as an\u00a0additional\u00a0measure, tight recruitment controls had been put in place in both DHSC and NHSE, with work being \u201cactively reprioritised\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly critical roles are being recruited to, and these are being filled internally unless there is a critical skills gap,\u201d she\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

An\u00a0NHSE\u00a0voluntary redundancy\u00a0scheme\u00a0was opened\u00a0to applications from December 1-14. Jones said the first exits\u00a0expected from that\u00a0are\u00a0expected from mid-March next year.\u00a0A similar scheme for ICB staff is expected to be introduced.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is for as many staff as possible to leave via [a] voluntary mechanism over the next two years, with early exits prioritised,\u201d Jones said. \u201cFinal numbers will depend on voluntary scheme applications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said that\u00a0DHSC was pointedly not looking to merely\u00a0bring\u00a0NHSE back \u201cin house\u201d at the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will not be a simple merger of DHSC and NHSE, where both organisations\u2019 current functions are simply added together,\u201d she\u00a0told MPs.\u00a0\u201cRather, it is a fundamental redesign of the centre to streamline priorities and accountability,\u00a0eliminate\u00a0duplication and maximise value, and free up time to focus on delivery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added that the joint executive team for DHSC and NHSE<\/a>, which went live last month,\u00a0would \u201cplan future structures to deliver a fundamentally different department\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones said ministers are working with leader of the House of Commons Sir Alan Campbell\u00a0on\u00a0an\u00a0\u201cappropriate timetable\u201d for the legislation that will be\u00a0required\u00a0to support the reorganisation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0anticipate that the\u00a0bill will support most NHSE functions and associated resources transferring to the new DHSC, although some may move elsewhere in the health system (for example through the proposed transfer of some direct commissioning services to ICBs),\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones said\u00a0planning for the future department\u00a0is \u201cindependent of current restructuring\u201d for the 2025-26 and 2026-27\u00a0financial years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Redundancy costs associated with plans to merge NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-325671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}