UK commercial Costing Reference Group Spring meeting summary
Date: 28 March 2023
The UK commercial costing reference group is the multi-stakeholder group bringing together NHS, life-sciences and national bodies. It is hosted by the NIHR to oversee the content of the UK interactive Costing Tool through which the single NHS costing methodology is applied. The Spring Meeting, held in mid March, focused on the revisions for the next financial year. The points to note from the meeting are:
Annual updates for 23/24 interactive Costing Tool: 5% for pay and 2.9% inflation
Recognising the current uncertainty around staff pay rates, which also impacts the calculation of the NHSE cost uplift factor, it was agreed to apply the currently proposed values for annual updates in April and monitor the requirement for further in-year adjustments:
- Non-medical pay rates to be uplifted by 5%, based on the most recently proposed pay increase.
- Medical rates, based at the top of the band, remain unchanged
- Investigations will be uplifted by 2.9% cost inflation factor as outlined in the NHSE 23/25 proposal
- NHSE Market Force Factor will reflect the final year values of a locational factor prior to changes that reflect an Integrated Care Board structure.
Mid-year revisions are likely
Despite this pragmatic approach from April, there may be a requirement to revise these adjustments in-year. The impact on workload this additional change creates is acknowledged and reflects the desire to manage this in a pragmatic way.
Supporting Primary Care Research Participation
The NIHR Primary Care Strategy Group made a recommendation to revise the Patient Identification Centres activities to reflect three levels of involvement. This will be reflected in the interactive Costing Tool 23/34 version. The change includes support to engage with Primary Care representatives to determine the level required for each study. This will be incorporated into the study resource review activities by the Lead NHS provider, in line with the National Contract Value Review.
Stay up to date with the interactive Costing Tool activities by signing up to the NIHR Industry newsletter.