About this toolkit

In the 5 years since the first version of this toolkit was published (Enabling staff movement toolkit, 2019), key NHS strategies have made several commitments on faster and easier movement of staff:

• The NHS long term workforce plan (June 2023) recommends the use of tools such as the NHS digital staff passport to reduce duplication of employment checks and mandatory training, enabling easier and faster deployment of staff.
• The NHS people plan for 2020/21 (July 2020) proposes that “systems should develop workforce-sharing agreements locally, to enable rapid deployment of our people across localities.”
• The Interim NHS people plan (June 2019) states, “We will significantly increase flexible working [and remove] practical barriers to movement of staff between organisations.”
• The NHS long term plan (January 2019) supports flexible working and commits that staff will be enabled to move more easily from one NHS employer to another.

Over this period, workforce sharing arrangements and memoranda of understanding (MOU) have become increasingly common among healthcare providers, allowing large numbers of staff to move between NHS organisations and local integrated care systems (ICSs).

These agreements prevent repetition of form filling, employment checks, statutory and mandatory training, etc that slow down the movement process and increase burden on HR teams.

For the transfer of individual employees, secondment agreements remain the preferred option for most NHS organisations.

2024 version of the toolkit

This toolkit restates the recommendations and relevant guidance of the first toolkit by:

• setting out the different types of staff movements
• introducing the NHS digital staff passport, its role in the digitalisation of the process, plans for further development
• adding to the useful information, sample warranty text and example agreements to help you set up a workforce sharing arrangement for temporary staff movements

The first version of this toolkit also provided some useful case studies. This version includes some sample workforce sharing agreements and a generic workforce sharing agreement template.

Staff movements overview

Every type of staff movement requires a distinct approach that allows a smooth and efficient transition, while maximising safeguards and equity for other staff and patients. The focus of the enabling staff movement programme is to help staff move efficiently and safely, creating a positive staff experience and a sense of effective people practices without barriers to workforce movements

Types of movement can be broadly described as changes in role/organisation, working arrangement or sector. These are examined below:

Role/organisation changes

Internal substantive move

A change of role within the same employer.

Permanent external substantive move

A permanent change of role and change of employer.

Temporary external move

Where a staff member remains employed by a single employer and is temporarily deployed to fulfil a role at another organisation, including:

• secondments – typically for an agreed fixed period
• fixed term contract with an external organisation
• staff portability via a workforce sharing arrangement
• emergency movements
  • for example during the COVID-19 pandemic or surges, when staff are voluntarily deployed to a Nightingale Hospital, a Seacole Centre, a vaccination hub or another trust

Lead employer move

Where a staff member is employed by a lead employer organisation and is deployed or rotated between other ‘host’ organisations.

For example, approximately 37% of resident doctors in training, and the ‘Bring Back Staff’ campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple assignments

Where a staff member regularly works for more than one organisation. For example, multiple part-time employment contracts, a part-time secondment or a staff member on an honorary contract to carry out research or deployment across a system footprint.

NHS staff often have multiple assignments with the same employer but switching between them would not be considered a type of staff movement.

Changes in working arrangements

Bank worker movements

• Substantive to bank
  • where a member of staff is first employed substantively and then moves to working only on the staff bank
• Bank to substantive
  • where a person is first registered on a staff bank and is then successfully recruited to a permanent or substantive role

Volunteers to bank or to substantive

Where a volunteer joins the bank or is employed in a substantive role, such as the Bring Back Staff campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sector changes

Also, we need to consider the sources of staff movements, particularly with the development of ICSs:

• NHS to NHS movements
  • from one NHS organisation to another
• NHS to/from health and social care sector
• NHS to/from primary care
  • including GP trainees
• NHS to/from education
  • including students, clinical educators, newly qualified staff joining the NHS, healthcare workers joining full-time educational courses and resident doctors in training taking academic research posts as part of their training
• NHS to/from private health providers
  • including those providing NHS services under NHS contracts
• NHS to/from public and other private sectors
  • for example, corporate services roles such as IT, finance and HR

Standards and frameworks

Employment checks standards

Recruiting staff into NHS positions (including volunteers, temporary workers and contractors) must be undertaken in accordance with the NHS Employment Checks Standards (NHS Employers website).

These set out the minimum requirements and allowable variations for checks prior to and during employment. They are:

• identity checks
• professional registration and qualification checks
• employment history and reference checks
• right to work checks
• work health assessments
• criminal record checks

When producing a workforce sharing arrangement, organisations should decide the employment checks specification required to provide assurance under a warranty to the receiving organisation.

To make the process as efficient as possible, as a minimum we recommend this should cover the 6 NHS employment check standards listed above.

If a staff member is required to undertake duties different to those that they perform under their contract of employment, the warranty may not be sufficient, and the receiving organisation may need to make relevant employment checks.

Some checks may need to be updated periodically. You may decide to include these additional or updated checks under a warranty, depending on your local needs.

Warranties

A warranty is a legally binding confirmation that the receiving organisation can rely on from the employing organisation.

It confirms that they have completed the employment checks in accordance with the NHS employment checks standards, and that training has been completed adequately.

Your legal advisers will be able to advise you according to your arrangements. Annex A of this toolkit gives a sample warranty text that can be modified to fit your circumstances.

Statutory and mandatory and training

Each organisation will have its own set of statutory and mandatory training for staff to complete. As part of the NHS England’s Statutory and Mandatory Training Programme, NHS organisations in England have been directed to meet the minimum learning outcomes set out in the latest version of the Core Skills Training Framework (Skills for Health website).

To make staff movements as efficient as possible, we recommend including the 11 subjects of the core skills training framework as part of any workforce sharing arrangement and associated warranty. These are:

• conflict resolution
• equality and diversity and human rights
• fire safety
• health, safety and welfare
• infection prevention and control
• information governance and data security
• moving and handling
• preventing radicalisation
• resuscitation
• safeguarding adults
• safeguarding children

You may want to agree specific training levels or additional training modules depending on the staff being deployed and the work they do.

Consider indemnity arrangements

Since employers are statutorily obliged to carry out certain checks and provide certain training, organisations will want to consider whether any workforce sharing arrangement affects their indemnity arrangements.

Please contact NHS Resolution at CNST.helpline@resolution.nhs.uk where appropriate.

Development of trusted frameworks

While the above standards and frameworks provide good reference points for staff movements to take place, local variation in processes and risk assessments can lead back to the default: that checks and training are repeated/duplicated to meet local requirements.

The Enabling Staff Movement Programme is looking at strengthening and evolving these frameworks into ‘trusted frameworks’, whereby organisations can more confidently rely on checks and training completed externally for the different types of staff movement.

This will provide a template for other trusted frameworks to be established – for example the care certificate and clinical skills.

Temporary movements

To enable temporary moves for staff, the following components are important.

Components of temporary movements

Workforce sharing arrangement

These can take various forms, such as a workforce sharing agreement or a service level agreement (SLA).

The basis of staff movement should be a framework agreement signed by 2 or more organisations (for example, within an ICS or region) that sets out the parameters for staff movements between their organisations.

It will set out the process and should include the obligations of each organisation (in the form of warranties), any associated liabilities, indemnities and data sharing arrangements. If using an SLA, then there may be public procurement considerations to consider.

If an NHS organisation is paying another party for a service under an SLA, this may trigger the requirement to comply with relevant procurement legislation and policies; and so it is important to obtain procurement and/or legal advice if considering use of an SLA.

Agreement with individual staff member to move

This involves a discussion with the staff member, including their agreement to move and any factors that need to be considered.

It is recommended that staff are asked to sign a licence to attend agreement.

Proof of identity and relevant passporting information

It is essential that the identity of the staff member who is moving is verified by the receiving organisation.

Organisations involved will agree what additional information they require about the person to safely deploy them into the proposed role.

This will help identify whether any checks need to be updated, and any training the staff member will need during the time they are deployed to the receiving organisation.

This information is ‘passported’ in the form of a paper or digital passport.

Local induction to welcome a new moving member of staff

Upon arrival, the transferred staff member will need to be inducted, so they can perform their duties safely and to the best of their abilities.

If the statutory and mandatory training has already been completed in line with the core skills training framework (see Standards and Frameworks section above), then this induction will only need to be tailored to what is required locally.

Additional considerations

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

EDI and the associated principles and policies should be duly considered and demonstrated so staff members feel supported by both their employing and receiving organisations.

It is also important there is consistency in who is approached to move under a workforce sharing arrangement.

Health and wellbeing

Health and wellbeing needs of staff, including the need for risk assessments, could be shared between organisations and respective line managers.

The appropriateness of information, level of detail and who will have access must be considered carefully.

It is appropriate to involve the person who will be moving in all discussions, to ensure reasonable adjustments in respect of disability are made where required.

Further guidance can be found in the NHS health and wellbeing framework (accessed via the NHS Employers website).

Logistical considerations and caring responsibilities

These can include travel arrangements (such as parking and rail tickets), uniforms or extra support for staff with caring responsibilities.

Reimbursement of incurred expenses

For example, travel, which should be clearly defined in any local workforce sharing arrangement as to what expenses can or cannot be recouped, and how this is done.

Other support networks

Information on support networks should be made available to staff; for example, professional bodies, trade union representatives, staff networks and freedom to speak up guardians.

Workforce sharing arrangements for temporary movements

Consider which type of agreement best suits your needs

Temporary deployment of staff from one NHS organisation to another will require both the staff member’s agreement and a legal instrument to do this.

Whether you are transferring a single member of staff or many staff members, a formal agreement with other providers for sharing workforce will be needed before staff can move; and you should obtain legal advice when entering into such an agreement.

NHS Employers’ guidance on system working explains your options and the issues you need to consider. The options include:

• a secondment agreement
• a bilateral or multilateral workforce sharing agreement, underpinned by an SLA
• a licence to attend
• another contractual mechanism

Since the guidance was published, MOUs have become a popular means by which large numbers of staff can be moved. For transfers of individual members of staff, secondments remains the preferred option.

When deciding which option best suits your organisation’s needs, you should consider the level of detail you wish to include in any arrangement and how long term it is likely to be.

NHS Employers’ system working guidance provides information on:

• legal considerations
  • these depend on the type of agreement you adopt and include:
  • data sharing
  • working time regulations
  • professional and regulatory supervision arrangements
  • Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) [TUPE]
• practical matters, including:
  • uniforms
  • IT access
  • security
  • travel costs
  • car parking
• ‘secondment’ agreement considerations

and templates for:

• governance arrangements for a ‘sharing agreement models of care’, under which you will need a service contract/SLA
• a ‘licence to attend’

Movement from NHS into social care providers during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a template secondment agreement has been produced (see annex B) for NHS organisations wishing to deploy staff into local care settings as part of their operating as an ICS.

The movement of staff is only for NHS staff into care providers and does not allow movement in the other direction.

This operates as a bilateral secondment agreement between health and care providers, typically within an ICS, and includes a licence to attend under which each staff member agrees to operate.

This temporary agreement was designed specifically for the period of the COVID-19 pandemic but can be adapted to provide intervention during a crisis.

When using this template, it is most important that the parties understand that NHS Resolution indemnity schemes do not cover these staff movements; and as such, it is essential that the NHS organisation reviews the insurance of the care provider to which they intend to second staff, so that staff and the organisation are suitably covered.

Types of staff who can be shared/deployed

Deployment of specific groups or individuals will depend on:

• the staff members’ agreement
• whether your organisation has an existing workforce sharing arrangement that limits the deployment/sharing of staff
• whether certain groups of staff are subject to contractual or other limits – such as collective agreements or agreed training needs – on deployment/sharing (for example, resident doctors in training)

Also, workplace clauses in individual staff members’ contracts may mean that they cannot be expected to work at other places without an agreed variation to the existing clause. An example of a broad mobility clause which enables work elsewhere can be found at schedule 2 of the template workforce sharing agreement at annex E.

You may wish to discuss this further with staff; and/or this may require further discussion with staff-side representatives. The staff member’s line manager or an appropriate senior officer at the employing organisation will need to confirm that they can be deployed.

If the employing organisation has not yet completed any of the pre-employment checks for a staff member, then these need to be completed before deploying or sharing that staff member.

A staff member should not suffer a financial disadvantage from working at an organisation where they are asked to travel. Please refer to the NHS Employers system working guidance for more information.

Engagement with staff-side representatives

Organisations should consider their recognition and partnership agreements and whether they are obliged to consult or negotiate on workforce sharing.

Organisations may wish to discuss planned movements of staff with staff-side representatives at a local, system or regional level (as appropriate) and seek their views on workforce sharing arrangements.

Staff members also may wish to seek advice from local trade union representatives about a proposed movement, so it is beneficial if they have been appropriately engaged.

Line management of deployed/shared staff

Line management of deployed staff will depend on your workforce sharing arrangements.

It is recommended that line management stays with the employer.

If line management remains with the employing organisation, the receiving organisation should ensure it has local management arrangements and a local point of contact to assist deployed staff with any practical arrangements; for example, access to appraisals, health and wellbeing issues, continuous professional development (CPD), etc.

You should obtain legal advice when entering a workforce sharing arrangement, including where you have existing contractual and employment relationships.

Indemnity arrangements

Suitable indemnity arrangements are important in any agreement to ensure all parties are aware of their liabilities in respect of employees being deployed.

As per NHS Employers’ guidance, you should contact NHS Resolution at CNST.helpline@resolution.nhs.uk to verify that workforce sharing is covered by the indemnity schemes you have.

Consider adding a warranty to any agreement or contract between organisations

To make the deployment of staff more efficient, we recommend you include a warranty in the contractual agreement that recognises the transferability of the necessary employment checks and mandatory and statutory training modules (listed in the earlier section of this toolkit).

A warranty should mean that employment checks and training modules do not need to be repeated by the receiving organisation. Up to two days can be spent repeating administration and training each time NHS staff move from one employer to another. This can be frustrating for staff and organisations can incur additional costs too.

Adding a warranty can avoid the need for receiving organisations to repeat employment checks and training modules. This makes the process faster to complete and saves both resources and time, in line with NHS Employers’ guidance.

We recommend adding a warranty to any agreement which specifies that:

• the employer organisation has:
  • carried out the necessary pre-employment checks (including the need to consider right to work restrictions)
  • ensured that the 11 mandatory and statutory training modules of the core skills training framework (CSTF) have been completed
• the receiving organisation will rely on the employer organisation’s assurance that those checks/training modules have been undertaken, recognise the transferability of the training modules and not carry these out itself
  • the receiving organisation can request a copy of the pre-employment check documents or training records if desired

You should seek legal advice about adding a warranty to any new or existing workforce sharing arrangement or contract.

Annexes A and E contain sample warranty text that you can modify to fit your circumstances.

Please note that in providing this sample text, NHS England does not warrant or guarantee that it is relevant or appropriate for any workforce sharing arrangement. You should obtain your own legal advice on your workforce sharing arrangements in general and consider if the sample warranty text should be modified before it is adopted.

If you are already using workforce sharing agreements that do not include a warranty on pre-employment checks and statutory and mandatory training, you should consider agreeing governance arrangements with the other provider(s) and take legal guidance where appropriate.

What about sharing data?

Parties have a legal duty to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. Parties should protect personal information about staff and take all reasonable measures to ensure the confidentiality and security of personal data for which they are responsible, whether computerised or on paper.

If personal data is collected, processed or shared as part of workforce sharing agreements, providers should ensure that their privacy notices are up to date; and, depending on the information being shared, that they have appropriate data sharing and information governance arrangements, taking legal advice as appropriate.

NHS Employers’ system working guidance reinforces the importance of compliance with data protection law, stating that all parties are obliged to comply with GDPR.

Providers may therefore need to update their data policies (including statutory ‘appropriate policy documents’), consider undertaking ‘data protection impact assessment’ and potentially put a data sharing agreement in place, particularly if documentation relating to employment checks is shared under the arrangements.

Consideration needs to be given to who can access what information about staff deployed to a different organisation (and why), and what information will be shared as a matter of course with the originating employer.

Practical steps, for instance ‘registration authority’, smart card access, email accounts and induction to IT systems all need to be considered.

Agreement with each individual staff member to move

Instigating a request for additional staff

The request for additional staff to be deployed from other organisations may be instigated by a neighbouring organisation in response to an urgent or emergency need.

For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, requests to deploy staff to the Nightingale Hospitals, Seacole centres and vaccination hubs came from the organisation hosting that new facility, often referred to as ‘lead employers’ by neighbouring organisations.

The request may be made to a single neighbouring organisation; to several organisations (perhaps within an ICS); or in the case of a crisis, such as the pandemic, requests to whole regions.

The organisation which receives the request may, under the terms of the workforce sharing agreement, have agreed to respond within a pre-agreed timescale with an estimated number of staff that they can supply.

It is recommended that the request process is defined in the workforce sharing agreement. For example, the organisations involved could define a role and a deputy to act as co-ordinators who make and receive requests and track the volumes of staff who are moving between organisations.

Such collaboration among organisations to flexibly deploy staff offers significant advantages to both employees and the organisations involved. This strategic approach not only enhances operational efficiency but also fosters a more agile workforce capable of meeting dynamic demands.

Agreement to move

As stated above, the staff member’s agreement is required prior to the staff movement and there are two steps in this process:

1. To have a discussion with the member of staff to seek their agreement, to answer any questions they may have and to record any special circumstances that need to be taken into consideration.

This is best captured on a record of discussion form*. It is completed by the line manager and signed by the member of staff to confirm their agreement to move.

*(a template that was adapted from Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS is included in annex B)

2. To agree the terms of the move, the member of staff will typically be provided with a licence to attend (or similar agreement) that clearly sets out the arrangements for the temporary move, including the duration.

It should be made clear (to the organisation and the staff member) that the staff member should suffer no detriment because of the move (or if they decline the move), and that they may return to their substantive post at any point.

In the case of moving in response to an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the decommissioned NHS COVID-19 Digital Staff Passport automated the creation of a licence to attend and incorporated a digital signature as part of the process of issuing information onto the passport.

A digital signature for the receiving organisation is also created upon the staff’s arrival, during the act of verifying the information on their passport.

Whether a paper or digital process is adopted, it is recommended that a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions is made available to help communication of arrangements to staff members. Staff-side representatives can help to formulate these.

Proving identity and passporting relevant information

Once the staff member has agreed to move temporarily to another organisation, the next step is to ensure that their identity can be verified when they arrive, and that the receiving organisation has the information they need.

Proving identity

For all types of moves, it is important that the identity of the person who arrives is checked by the receiving organisation.

However, this does not typically require a full identity check as set out in the NHS Employment Check Standards; but it must include at least one form of reliable photo identity, for example a passport, a driving licence.

Passporting employment checks and training records

The workforce sharing arrangement should set out the information to be passported in terms of:

• employment checks
• immunisation and vaccination records
• mandatory training
• position
• areas of work
• any other key information about the person who is moving

Appropriate data sharing and information governance arrangements must be in place.

This information will not only assure the receiving organisation that the checks and competencies match the position that they will be fulfilling, but it also may be important to know the expiry dates of work permits/visas or training, to ensure they remain valid for the duration of the transfer.

This information is also helpful if the staff member is asked to fulfil a different role.

Passporting staff records requires interoperable workforce systems, where data can be securely transferred from one workforce system to another.

The Electronic Staff Record (ESR) is central to this; however, NHS organisations may also use rostering, recruitment, occupational health, learning management systems and other workforce systems to store key information.

For permanent staff movements between NHS organisations, ESR has the capability to enable the transfer of these employment records through its Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) module. However, this is not designed for temporary movements of staff, and it will only work for transfers from one NHS organisation to another NHS organisation.

Paper passports

Some organisations are developing paper passports to transfer information between employers. It is essential that the security of such arrangements are carefully considered to avoid any tampering.

Some workforce sharing arrangements also include a ‘paper passport’ as an appendix to the agreement, setting out the information that the employing and receiving organisations have agreed to provide and accept.

A recent review has highlighted that some workforce sharing arrangements differ in content and the aim is to standardise, where possible, the information that is passported in line with this guidance.

These paper passports are completed by the employing organisation and sent by the HR department of the employing organisation to an agreed email address at the receiving organisation.

Given that this includes personally identifiable information, it is important that organisations comply with relevant data protection legislation and only use secure email addresses for such a transfer, with only those people in the HR teams who are authorised to receive this information having access to it.

NHS Digital Staff Passport

NHS Digital Staff Passport is a service that helps employees to move quickly and easily between NHS trusts.

It aims to enable the secure passporting of verified evidence of identity, employment, professional registration, core skills and immunisations and vaccinations, preventing the need to duplicate form filling, training and pre-employment checks.

The first example of this was the Interim NHS (COVID-19) Digital Staff Passport, which was a significant step towards the ambition to make digital staff passports available to all staff, for all staff movements.

The next step is to deliver the new NHS Digital Staff Passport so that resident doctors can be offered access to digital staff passports to make their training rotations easier.

The NHS Digital Staff Passport will also enable the temporary movement of staff between NHS trusts for an agreed period; this could be to support elective recovery or during a crisis.

For more information about digital staff passports please visit the NHS England Digital Staff Passport webpage or email england.enablingstaffmovements@nhs.net.

Local induction of staff who move

The receiving organisation will need to make sure that the member of staff who is temporarily moving to their organisation is welcomed; given any necessary equipment; and receives the necessary site-specific health and safety training (such as fire safety, infection control).

The receiving organisation’s responsibility extends beyond the mere accommodation of a temporary staff member. It encompasses a comprehensive approach to integration, provision of necessary resources, and adherence to rigorous health and safety standards.

Example workforce sharing agreements

We provide some examples of workforce sharing agreements to show how providers (including those with multilateral workforce sharing arrangements) could agree assurances or warranties relating to employment checks and training.

You may find it useful to refer to these when considering what is the best workforce sharing agreement for your organisation(s). We include contacts for further advice should you choose to set up a similar arrangement.

NHS to care providers COVID-19 agreement (see annex C)

To enable the movement of NHS staff into care providers as part of the response to COVID-19 pandemic, NHS England created a template agreement that ICSs can use. This can be adapted for other relevant or emergency use, with appropriate further advice sought as necessary.

For more information, contact england.EnablingStaffMovements@nhs.net.

London staff movement agreement (see annex D)

The London Staff Movement Agreement (LSMA) was devised to allow NHS staff to work at different hospitals across the region. Originally developed for crisis response, it has evolved into a strategic tool, facilitating collaborative healthcare initiatives across London.

It is intended for any NHS organisation based in any London borough, any ICS and other participating bodies involved in the provision of healthcare services.

By removing bureaucratic hurdles, the LSMA enabled rapid staff deployment and enhanced service transformation beyond immediate emergency needs.

For more information, contact Jodie Gardiner, Assistant Director of Workforce and OD (London Region) via email at jodie.gardiner@nhs.net.

Workforce sharing agreement template (see annex E)

A generic best practice template workforce portability agreement to accompany this revised toolkit. It features:

• a draft mobility clause in schedule 2
• licence to attend
• warranty text
• data protection and confidentiality clauses
• comments regarding issues to consider

This agreement has been drafted on the basis that staff will move within the NHS. Where NHS organisations are considering workforce portability in partnership with other organisations (for example local authorities or independent healthcare providers), we recommend that further advice is sought as to any necessary variations to the agreement, particularly in respect of the NHS recruitment check standards and clinical indemnities. Any amendments will be fact specific depending on the parties involved in portability discussions.

For more information, contact england.EnablingStaffMovements@nhs.net.

NHS Digital Staff Passport

The Interim NHS (COVID-19) Digital Staff Passport which supported staff movement during the pandemic has been decommissioned and replaced by the NHS Digital Staff Passport.

This new and improved service is currently being piloted at select NHS trusts, before wider rollout.

It will initially support resident doctors in training and temporary movers, who remain employed by their current NHS employer and are working at another NHS trust for an agreed period.

Future iterations aim to support broader staff movements as the service evolves and undergoes further enhancements.

More information is available from the NHS England Digital Staff Passport webpage.

Publication reference: PRN01565i