Supporting new standards for board members

Ensuring high standards of leadership in the NHS is crucial. To support this, we have published a suite of board level learning and development opportunities. These resources sit alongside the Fit and Proper Person Test (FPPT) framework.

Working with system colleagues and wider stakeholders, we have published the new NHS leadership competency framework (LCF) for board level roles. The LCF will help inform the ‘fitness’ assessment in the FPPT in line with the recommendation made by Tom Kark KC in his Review of CQC Regulation 5: Fit and proper persons: directors, that NHS board members should meet specified standards of competence. It takes account of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, NHS People Promise and integrated care board (ICB) formation and will support the development of a diverse range of skilled and proficient leaders to deliver the best outcomes for our patients, workforce, and wider communities.

The LCF comprises a set of leadership competencies incorporating the skills, values and behaviours required in NHS board roles and establishes what good looks like in leadership terms, providing a new and consistent national standard of leadership.

The current NHS Chair appraisal framework (CAF) has been updated to include the new NHS leadership competency framework.

A new NHS board member appraisal framework (BMAF) will also be published, incorporating the LCF, by September 2024.