NHS England » Guidance on developing joint capital resource use plans 2024/25

Updates between versions will be documented in the table below and highlighted in yellow.

Version	Date	Changes
V1.0	22 December 2023	Initial Version
V1.1	20 March 2024	Updates: Clarified date for sharing published 2024/25 joint capital resource use plans

Introduction

This guidance supports integrated care boards (ICBs) and their partner NHS trusts and foundation trusts (referred to collectively in this guidance as partner trusts) to develop their joint capital resource use plans (JCRUPs) with system partners.

The National Health Service Act 2006, as amended by the Health and Care Act 2022 (the amended 2006 Act), requires ICBs and their partner trusts to prepare their JCRUP before the start of the financial year.

It should be read alongside guidance on NHS priorities and operational planning, including the capital planning guidance.

Action required of ICBs and their partner trusts

ICBs and their partner trusts must:

prepare a plan setting out their planned capital resource use, before the start of each financial year (by 1 April)
publish the plan and give a copy to their integrated care partnership, health and wellbeing boards and NHS England

The relevant sections of the Health and Care Act 2022 can be found here – see sections 14Z56 and 14Z57.

The boards of the ICB and its partner trusts will approve their JCRUP and will expect to see clear alignment with the capital plan, the system’s joint forward plan (JFP) and the ICS infrastructure strategies. ICBs must report against the plans in their annual report.

ICBs and partner trusts should agree the process for finalising and signing off the JCRUP. The final version must be published in an easily accessible place on the ICB website, with a copy given to the integrated care partnership, health and wellbeing boards and NHS England. The ICBs and their partner trusts will be held to account for its delivery.

Purpose of the joint capital resource use plan

Legal responsibility for the timely preparation and publication of the JCRUP lies with the ICB and its partner trusts.

Systems have flexibility to determine their JCRUP’s scope as well as how it is developed and structured. However, we encourage systems to use the supporting materials in this guidance, so as a minimum, the JCRUP describes how capital is contributing to ICBs’ priorities and delivering benefits to patients and healthcare users.

The published plans aim to provide transparency for local residents, patients, NHS health workers and other NHS stakeholders on the prioritisation and expenditure of capital funding by ICBs to achieve their strategic aims. This aligns with ICBs’ financial duty to not overspend their allocated capital and to report annually on their use of resources.

Relationship with NHS planning

ICBs and their partner trusts will continue to separately submit specific operational and financial information as part of the nationally co-ordinated NHS planning process. We will seek to avoid duplication and ensure alignment between NHS planning submissions and the public facing JCRUP.

Developing the joint capital resource use plan: Guidance and requirements

Overview

To help ICBs fulfil their legal duties, this guidance document has been developed alongside both the JFP guidance on financial duties and estates requirements (which have been shared as part of the planning guidance), and the ICS infrastructure strategies.

The boards of the ICB and its partner trusts will approve their JCRUP and will expect to see clear alignment with the system’s JFP, the ICS infrastructure strategies and the financial planning process.

Supporting materials

NHS England has developed the following materials to help systems prepare their plans. These are included as appendices to this document and can also be found on the NHS Planning – FutureNHS Collaboration Platform.

Plan checklist (Appendix A)

ICBs and their partner trusts should use this checklist to produce their JCRUP. It sets out the minimum requirements for what should be included in the plan and aims to support local considerations when developing a robust capital plan. ICBs and their partner trusts should develop their plans in accordance with local circumstances, building on existing work within systems.

System capital delegated expenditure limit (CDEL) table (Appendix B)

ICBs and their partner trusts should use this table in their JCRUP to present a high-level summary of the total CDEL impact of system plans for the forthcoming financial year.

Figures should be based on the total ICB spend plus the sum of total provider CDEL from all providers in the system and must be consistent with the final system (IPR) and provider (FPR) financial plan submissions.

The table includes a section for narrative on the main CDEL categories of expenditure, where details of the key schemes, such as new buildings and developments, backlog maintenance or other types of expenditure, can be outlined, including any other information not included in other sections of the JCRUP.

This should give the reader additional information on how capital is prioritised and spent in the system to support its strategic objectives and ultimately deliver benefits to patients.

JCRUP template (Appendix C)

Systems can use this non-mandated template to present their information. It is a suggested layout and is not a separate document that needs to be prepared or submitted in addition to the final published JCRUP. Please note the template contains the same requirements as the checklist.

Overall, ICBs and their partner trusts can publish their final JCRUP in a format of their choice, providing, at a minimum, that the final published plan meets the requirements set out in this document.

Publication

Once finalised, systems must publish their JCRUP and share it with:

the integrated care partnership for the board’s area
relevant health and wellbeing boards
NHS England

A copy of the published plan or link to the website must be shared with NHS England at england.capitalcashqueries@nhs.net.

Submission

No formal submission will be required in 2024/25.

Unlike 2023/24, ICBs and their partner organisations do not have to separately submit a template plan in line with the final financial plan submission date and then subsequently formally submit, or provide a link to, the final published plans to NHS England by a specified date.

However, you must share a copy of the final plan with NHS England once it is published, but this does not constitute a formal submission. Plans should be sent to england.capitalcashqueries@nhs.net.

We request the published capital plans are shared by 30 June 2024.

Revision of joint capital resource use plans

The published plan may be revised if changes need to be made. If an ICB and their partner trusts makes significant changes to their capital plans, a revised plan must be published and shared with the bodies outlined above within 1 calendar month. If the changes are not significant, a document setting out the changes must be published.

While revised plans may be published and shared, any financial planning information as submitted in final system and provider financial planning submissions will not be updated. Instead, any revisions to joint capital resource use plans should be treated as a revised forecast. The exception to this is when a formal capital plan resubmission process is required.

Annual report

ICBs are required to produce an annual report detailing how they discharged their functions in the previous financial year.

The report must review the extent to which the ICB board has exercised its functions in accordance with the plans published – that is, ensure a capital resource use plan has been prepared by the start of the financial year, it is published, and it is shared with the relevant bodies.

Questions

Any queries on these materials should be sent to england.capitalcashqueries@nhs.net

Appendix A: Joint capital resource use plan 2024/25 checklist

ICBs and their partner trusts can use this checklist to produce their joint capital resource use plan. The checklist’s content is also included in Appendix C in a template format.

Download the PDF version of this document for printable version of the checklist.

		Item	Guidance
1.1	☐	Region	Name of the region
1.2	☐	ICB/system	Name of the ICB or system
1.3	☐	Date published	Date of publication
1.4	☐	Version	Version identification
Introduction
2.1	☐	ICB statement	Provide a brief statement about the ICB, including the number of employees, services provided, size of the estate, population served, geography and any other background information, such as population demographics, which inform infrastructure planning and a list of the NHS/foundation trusts and local authority partners.
2.2	☐	Vision, aims and objectives	Outline the ICB’s vision, key aims and objectives, including any key estate or capital priorities.
2.3	☐	Strategic priorities	Based on the final 2024/25 financial capital plan (IPR and FPR) submitted, provide an outline of the key strategic priorities and schemes for the year including any contextual background – that is, an overview of the planned CDEL position including any PDC funding sources, and an overview of existing PFI schemes including scheme name, overall value, end date, annual payments.
2.4	☐	Governance	Provide details of the ICB’s governance relating to estates, including information about the estates team, the role of the SRO and reporting mechanisms.
2.5	☐	CQC rating	Provide information on how organisations in the system plan to improve their CQC ratings, supported by a system-level capital strategy.
2024/25 CDEL allocations and sources of funding
3.1	☐	Funding allocation	Provide details of the overall CDEL funding allocations which the system will manage its capital expenditure within, including the split between ICB and providers, system operational capital and details of national programme funding awards.
3.2	☐	Assumptions	Include any assumptions regarding capital planning, sources and quantum of CDEL funding.
3.3	☐	Risk	Explain any related risks associated with the assumed sources and quantum of CDEL funding. The risks identified should be specific to ICB and providers and cover those other than general risks such as inflation, depreciation, access to capital and slippage.
Capital prioritisation
4.1	☐	Prioritisation process	Outline how the schemes in the capital plan have been prioritised (ICB and provider level) in system operational capital allocations. You should also list examples of schemes that have not progressed due to the outcome of any prioritisation process.
4.2	☐	Criteria	Include details of any criteria or bidding process applied to prioritised schemes.
4.3	☐	Resources	Provide details of how the system is prioritising available resources to maximise efficiencies within an affordable allocation. Please also detail any surplus land that has been sold or could be sold in the future.
4.4	☐	Contribution	Outline how schemes contribute to the ICB’s vision, aims and objectives including supporting the ICB wider infrastructure strategy – that is, prioritising and planning for the development of its estate and future use of assets.
4.5	☐	Prioritisation	Explain the decisions around the reallocation of funding taking into account scheme changes, IFRS16 impact or strategic priorities.
Capital planning
5.1	☐	Types of capital expenditure	Provide an outline of the areas and types of expenditure the capital plan is seeking to address, with values, including but not limited to the level of expenditure to address backlog maintenance and critical infrastructure risk (CIR), equipment replacement and new build schemes. It is recommended that categories should align with the spend categories as set out in the provider planning template (FPR).
5.2	☐	Types of capital expenditure	You can use a table to break down the areas of spend into types of expenditure, for example, backlog maintenance and CIR, committed and uncommitted, priority schemes and any other categorisation used by the ICB depending on the prioritisation process. Show how the planned expenditure supports the existing ICB priorities identified in 2.2 above.
5.3	☐	Backlog maintenance	Please include information on backlog maintenance including the total backlog maintenance value by classification (high, significant, moderate and low). Please also show the level of planned spend during the year to address the backlog, plus the overall amount required to improve the estate condition – that is, the amount required to eliminate backlog maintenance and critical infrastructure risk.
Overview of ongoing scheme progression –
6.1	☐	Main schemes	Provide details of the key ongoing schemes within the ICB and each provider This should include schemes funded by national programmes and also those schemes funded by ICB and provider own capital sources. Provide information on scheme value, delivery timetable including start/ completion dates, funding arrangements, location, and links to key strategic objectives. The plan should provide information on how the ICB and provider is prioritising and utilising its capital resources. Please provide separate information on all schemes over £10m (total allocation across all years).
6.2	☐	Scheme progress	Provide details of the progress to date including work planned during the year.
6.3	☐	Funding sources	Clearly identify funding sources for the schemes for both the CDEL cover and any cash funding support where applicable. If schemes have a significant revenue impact, this should also be disclosed.
6.4	☐	Dependencies/constraints	Include any dependencies or constraints on the delivery of any aspects of the programme.
Risks and contingencies
7.1	☐	Key risks	Provide details of the key risks in delivering the capital plan. The risks identified should cover those other than general risks such as inflation, depreciation, access to capital and slippage. The risks should be specific to the ICB and providers and their capital schemes, and should be detailed in the plan. Please outline any revenue affordability pressures.
7.2	☐	Mitigation	Set out the mitigations to address the identified risks.
7.3	☐	Monitoring	Explain how the risks have been assigned and monitored, recognising the impact of any risks on the delivery of the ICB strategic aims and objectives.
7.4	☐	Risk rating	Include details of any value or RAG ratings applied to the risks.
7.5	☐	Contingencies	Outline any contingencies affecting delivery of the capital plan or programme.
Business cases in 2024/25
8.1	☐	Submissions	Provide an update on business cases referenced in the previous year’s submission, including those which are in construction, or are yet to be delivered. Provide details of the key business cases within the system (ICB and providers) expected to be submitted to NHS England in 2024/25, including values, progress to date and potential submission dates respectful of commercial sensitivities.
8.2	☐	Business cases within delegated limits	Provide a short description of business cases in the ICB which are within ICB and provider delegated limits, including values and progress to date.
8.3	☐	Benefits	Reference how the schemes are contributing to the delivery of the overarching ICB aims and objectives.
8.4	☐	National programmes	Details should include any bids for national programmes, planned funding assumptions, and both the CDEL cover and any cash funding support where applicable.
Cross-system and collaborative working
9.1	☐	Cross-system working	Provide details of any cross-system or collaborative working with other partners in relation to the planning of the 2024/25 capital plan with other ICBs, providers and organisations outside the system. Please include schemes funded or managed in conjunction with external parties including local authorities.
9.2	☐	Collaboration	Outline details of collaborative working to deliver the capital plan with other providers outside the ICB area.
9.3	☐	Partner organisations	Include details of partner organisations which will include other providers, ICBs, local authorities and other community services.
9.4	☐	Cross-system and collaborative working	Overall demonstrate how the system capital plan is coordinated with other systems or providers located in other systems.
Net zero carbon strategy
10.1	☐	Policy, strategy and progress	Outline the ICB policy, strategy and progress consistent with the NHS target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2045. Provide information on net-zero capital schemes previously delivered by the ICB or its providers, and the funding sources
10.1	☐	Net zero carbon schemes	Outline how the capital plan and the schemes within it support the achievement of net zero carbon emissions.
System CDEL
11.1	☐	System CDEL	Published plans must include financial information in the format set out in Appendix B. Data must be consistent with information in the final system (IPR) and provider (FPR) financial plan submissions.

Appendix B: System CDEL template for joint capital resource use plan 2024/25

Presentation of financial data must include a version of this table applicable to the ICB and its partner organisations. The data must be consistent with information in the final system (IPR) and provider (FPR) financial plan submissions.

Download the PDF version of this document for a printable version of the template.

Appendix C: Joint capital resource use plan 2024/25 template

Systems can use this non-mandated template to present their information in their published plans.