2016/17 NHS Standard Contract

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

The Contract has now been updated from the 2015/16 to the 2016/17 version. A summary of the changes we have made to the Contract can be found in section 3 of the NHS Standard Contract 2016/17 Technical Guidance below.

For the first time, NHS England is publishing a shorter-form version of the Contract, for use in defined circumstances. This will complement the full-length version of the Contract, which will continue to be used (and indeed will remain mandatory) in many situations. Guidance on when each form of Contract should be used is set out in section 9 of the NHS Standard Contract 2016/17 Technical Guidance below.

The NHS Standard Contract 2016/17 comprises three parts:

The NHS shorter-form Contract 2016/17 also comprises three parts:

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

If you would like to be added to our stakeholder list to receive updates on the NHS Standard Contracts, please email your contact details to: england.contractsengagement@nhs.net.

eContract

The NHS Standard Contract eContract system 2016/17 is now available.

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

Contract support and other publications

National Variations to 2016/17 NHS Standard Contract

Guidance on the process to effect the mandatory 2016/17 National Variation to existing contracts the terms of which extend beyond 31 March 2016 and the National Variation templates are available below:

Local Variations to 2016/17 NHS Standard Contracts

NHS Standard Sub-contract

Model Collaborative Commissioning Agreements

We are also working on a model alliance agreement, which would sit alongside existing commissioning contracts. This is now available in initial draft form. If you would be interested to see a copy, please contact england.contractsengagement@nhs.net.

Fair Deal for Staff Pensions

Provisions Applicable to Primary Care Services

Proforma Contract Management Forms and Change in Control Notification

Changes to the 2016/17 Contract

Letter from NHS England and NHS Improvement outlining six new requirements in the NHS standard contract 2016/17 for hospitals to adhere to in relation to the hospital/general practice interface.

NHS Standard Contracts 2016/17 Equality Impact Analysis

Dispute Resolution for 2016/17

The Dispute Resolution Process for the 2016/17 Contracting round is available on the NHS Shared Planning Guidance webpage.

Consultation – February 2016 (Now closed)

We have now published, for consultation, the draft NHS Standard Contracts (both full-length and shorter-form versions) for 2016/17. We have also published the associated Technical Guidance in draft form.

We received over 100 separate responses from individuals and organisations to our engagement in August 2015. The consultation paper on the full-length Contract below summarises the main themes in the feedback we received, and the way we have responded in developing the draft Contracts for 2016/17. There is a separate consultation paper which describes the new shorter-form version of the Contract.

Comments on the draft Contracts should be sent by 16 March 2016 to england.contractsengagement@nhs.net. We also welcome comments on the draft Technical Guidance and User Guide.

Engagement – August 2015 (Now closed)

We are now in the early stages of developing the NHS Standard Contract for 2016/17.

From NHS England’s perspective, we have three key priorities for 2016/17:

  • to work with New Models of Care Vanguards to develop tailored contracts and contracting models to deliver New Models of Care (especially the PACS and MCP models);
  • to produce a significantly streamlined version of the Standard Contract, specifically for use when contracting for less complex services of relatively low financial value (so for the types of contract often held by smaller providers in the voluntary or independent sectors, for instance); and
  • to undertake a further review of the range of financial sanctions which apply under the Contract.

We are also keen to ensure that people who use the Contract in practice – commissioners and providers – have the opportunity to feed in their views about changes which they would like to see for 2016/17. If you would like to make comments or suggestions, about the Contract itself or our Contract Technical Guidance, please email these to england.contractsengagement@nhs.net by Friday 11 September 2015.

Previous contracts and guidance

  • The NHS Standard Contract published since 2013/17 and supporting documents are available via the navigation at the top of this page.
  • Previously published NHS standard contracts are available from the Department of Health website.