2017/19 NHS Standard Contract: updated May 2018

The NHS Standard Contract is mandated by NHS England for use by commissioners for all contracts for healthcare services other than primary care.

Where commissioners are placing new contracts with providers, they must now use these updated versions of the relevant Contract with immediate effect.

A summary of the changes we have made to the Contracts can be found in section 3 of the NHS Standard Contract Technical Guidance.  Details of the changes can be found in the comparison documents below.

The full–length NHS Standard Contract 2017/18-2018/19 (May 2018 edition) comprises three parts:

The NHS shorter-form Contract 2017/18-2018/19 (May 2018 edition) also comprises three parts:

If you have a query on the NHS Standard Contracts, please email: nhscb.contractshelp@nhs.net.

Enforcement of Service Condition 19.4-19.6

An update on NHS England’s action to reduce sales of sugary drinks is available on the NHS England website.

Providers have made significant progress in reducing the sale of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) on their premises. Accordingly, Commissioners are, for the time being, instructed not to enforce the provisions found in Service Conditions 19.4-19.6 of the full length Contract.

eContract

The NHS Standard eContract system is now available and reflects the May 2018 updates.

The eContract hosts both the full-length and shorter-form Contracts and allows tailoring of the contract to reflect the specific services provided, so that only the relevant Service Conditions and Schedules appear. We strongly recommend that commissioners and providers utilise the eContract system.

If you have a query on the eContract system, please email: england.econtract@nhs.net

Contact support and other publications

National Variations to 2017/18 and 2018/19 NHS Standard Contracts

Guidance on the process to effect the mandatory 2017-19 National Variation to existing contracts, the terms of which extend beyond 25 May 2018, and the National Variation templates are available below.  Commissioners must now ensure that the appropriate National Variation is implemented for all of their contracts, to take effect from 25 May 2018.

Local Variations to 2017/18-2018/19 (May 2018) NHS Standard Contracts

NHS Standard Sub-contract

Model Collaborative Commissioning Agreements

Fair Deal for Staff Pensions

Provisions Applicable to Primary Care Services

Proforma Contract Management Forms and Change in Control Notification

NHS Standard Contracts 2017/18 and 2018/19 Equality Impact Analysis

Lessons learned from contract dispute resolution

NHS England and NHS Improvement have produced a document containing ten helpful hints for commissioners and providers to avoid conflict

Integrated Care Provider variant of the NHS Standard Contract (consultation now closed)

The consultation on contracting arrangements for Integrated Care Providers (ICPs) is now live and closes on 26 October 2018. The consultation materials, and information on how to respond, are available on the NHS England website.

Consultation – evidence based interventions (now closed)

NHS England is now consulting on proposals on evidence based interventions. The consultation includes some proposals to changes to the NHS Standard Contract which would take effect from 1 April 2019. The consultation is available via the evidence based interventions consultation page and closes on 28 September 2018.

Changes to the 2017-19 (January 2018 edition) Contract

Comparison documents showing the changes made from the NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 (January 2018 edition) to the NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 (May 2018 edition) are available here:

Changes to the 2017-19 (March 2018 consultation draft) Contract

Comparison documents showing the changes made from the consultation drafts of the NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 published in March 2018 to the NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 (May 2018 edition) are available here:

Consultation – March 2018 (now closed)

The NHS Standard Contract was updated in January 2018 to update the Contract in line with legislative and policy changes. With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force on 25 May 2018, a further National Variation is now required.

We have now published, for consultation, proposals for in-year National Variations to the NHS Standard Contract 2017/18 and 2018/19 (Full Length) and to the NHS Standard Contract 2017/18 and 2018/19 (Shorter Form).

The consultation papers below describe the main, material changes we are proposing in the Contracts, and we would welcome comments from stakeholders on our proposals.

Comments on the National Variations should be sent by 3 April 2018 to england.contractsengagement@nhs.net.

Full length

Shorter form