2017/19 NHS Standard Contract: November 2016

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

The NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 (November 2016 edition) published below must not be used to enter into contracts commencing from 1 February 2018. For contracts commencing 1 February 2018 onwards, the NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 (January 2018 edition) must be used.

The Contract (in full-length and shorter-form versions) has now been updated from the 2016/17 to the 2017/18 – 2018/19 version. A summary of the changes we have made to the Contracts can be found in section 3 of the NHS Standard Contract Technical Guidance and in the Summary of key changes documents below.

The full –length NHS Standard Contract 2017-19 (November 2016 edition) comprises three parts:

The NHS shorter-form Contract 2017-19 (November 2016 edition) 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 eContract system 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

Contact support and other publications

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

Guidance on the process to effect the mandatory 2017-18-2018/19 National Variation to existing contracts, the terms of which extend beyond 31 March 2017, and the National Variation templates are available below:

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

NHS Standard Sub-contract

Model Collaborative Commissioning Agreements:

Fair Deal for Staff Pensions

Provisions Applicable to Primary Care Services

Please note that Schedule 2L will be updated shortly.

Proforma Contract Management Forms and Change in Control Notification

Awareness raising

The following audio presentations are available on the NHS England YouTube channel:

Presentations (slide pack only)

  1. Overview of the NHS Standard Contract
  2. New policy requirements
  3. Contract management

Transcript of audio presentations

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

Summary of key changes made in response to consultation feedback

Changes to the 2017/18-2018/19 Contract and Consultation drafts

Delta View comparison documents showing the changes made from the 2016/17 Contract to the 2017/18-2018/19 Contract are available here:

Delta View comparison documents showing the changes made from the consultation drafts of the 2017/18-2018/19 Contract published in September 2016 to the final draft published in November 2016 are available here:

Consultation – September 2016 (Now closed)

We have now published, for consultation, the draft NHS Standard Contract (in both full-length and shorter-form versions) for 2017/18 and 2018/19. We have also published the associated Technical Guidance in draft form.

The consultation paper below describes the main, material changes we are proposing in the Contracts for 2017/18 and 2018/19, and we would welcome comments from stakeholders on our proposals, along with any other suggestions for improvement.

Comments on the draft Contracts should be sent by 21 October 2016 to england.contractsengagement@nhs.net. We also welcome comments on the draft Technical Guidance.

Engagement – August 2016 (Now closed)

We are now engaging with stakeholders about how we can improve the NHS shorter-form Contract for 2017/18. Commissioners and providers are welcome to provide feedback using a short questionnaire, by Friday 16 September 2016. If you have already provided feedback on the shorter-form Contract as part of the NHS Standard Contract 2017/18 engagement during July – August 2016, there is no need for you to respond to this engagement on the shorter-form Contract, unless you wish to do so.

Engagement – July 2016 (Now closed)

We are now in the early stages of developing the NHS Standard Contract and the NHS shorter-form Contract for 2017/18.

From NHS England’s perspective, our key priority for 2017/18 is 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).  With this in mind, we are intending to make only essential changes to the Contract for 2017/18.

We are 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 2017/18. 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 Wednesday 3 August 2016.

We plan to run an additional engagement on the NHS shorter-form Contract during the autumn.

Previous contracts and guidance

  • The NHS Standard Contract published since 2013/14 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.