ICBs should ‘refrain’ from applying the recently announced pay uplift to senior manager staff until after organisations have been segmented under the new performance assessment framework.
In a letter to ICB and trust chairs and chief people officers, NHS England’s chief workforce, training and education officer, Dr Navina Evans, said that though very senior managers (VSMs) had been granted a pay rise of 3.25% in May, this should not be applied yet.
The Government accepted the Senior Salaries Review Body’s headline pay recommendation of 3.25% for 2025/26 on 22 May, to be backdated to 1 April 2025.
However, the Government also revealed a new performance-based pay system for NHS leaders in May, which links pay rises to performance.
The performance assessment framework will allocate every ICB with a ‘segment’ score from one to five to indicate level of delivery. One will be high performing, four poorly performing and five will indicate the most intensive support needed.
Under level five, Dr Evans confirmed that VSMs will not be eligible for the 2025/26 pay rise.
‘On 15 May 2025, the new NHS VSM Pay Framework was published. As set out in the new framework, VSMs who work in an organisation designated segment 5 under the new (soon to be launched) NHS Performance Assessment Framework (NPAF), will not be eligible for this annual pay award, unless they meet the requirements of an exemption (see section 3.3 of the VSM pay framework for exemption criteria),’ she said.
‘We therefore advise local remuneration committees to carefully consider the appropriate time to implement VSM pay awards and arrears, and to refrain from applying the pay uplift before the segmentation for their organisation is known.’
She added that the initial data for determining segmentation was expected to be published ‘during this summer’.
Most NHS staff will receive their 2025/26 pay award this August, she added.
It comes as more ICBs have unveiled plans to merge as a way to reduce costs amid the cuts to the system.
