The NHS provider licence

The NHS provider licence forms part of the oversight arrangements for the NHS. It sets out conditions that providers of NHS-funded healthcare services in England must meet to help ensure that the health sector works for the benefit of patients, now and in the future.

All NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts are required to hold a licence. NHS controlled providers and independent providers of NHS services are required to hold a licence unless exempt.

Modifications to the licence

The NHS provider licence was first introduced for NHS foundation trusts in 2013 and extended to NHS trusts from April 2023. It was introduced for independent providers in 2014.

A separate licence for NHS controlled providers was introduced in 2018.

The licence has now been modified following a statutory consultation to bring it up to date to reflect current statutory and policy requirements. These modifications also merge the NHS provider licence and the NHS controlled provider licence.

The consultation response document provides further information on the modified licence conditions. Details on licence conditions which have not been modified from 2013 can be found in the original 2013 consultation response document.

Further information